From Ritual to Romance
From Ritual to Romance
Regular price
Checking stock...
Regular price
Checking stock...
Proud to be B-Corp
Our business meets the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. In short, we care about people and the planet.
The feel-good place to buy books
- Free shipping in the US over $15
- Supporting authors with AuthorSHARE
- 100% recyclable packaging
- Proud to be a B Corp – A Business for good
- Sell-back with World of Books - Sell your Books
From Ritual to Romance by Jessie L Weston
Acknowledged by T. S. Eliot as one of the chief sources for his great poem The Waste Land, Jessie L. Weston's From Ritual to Romance remains a landmark of anthropological and mythological scholarship. In this book she explores the origins of the Grail legend, arguing that it dates back to a primitive vegetation cult and only later was shaped by Celtic and Christian lore.To prove her thesis, Weston unites folkloric and Christian elements by using printed texts to prove the parallels existing between each and every feature of the legend of the Holy Grail and the recorded symbolism of the ancient mystery cults. Specifically, she finds the origin of the Grail legend in a Gnostic text that served as a link between such cults and later Celtic and Christian elaborations of the myth.
With erudition and critical acumen, the author provides illuminating insights into diverse aspects of the legend: the task of the hero; the freeing of the waters; medieval and modern forms of nature ritual; the symbols of the cult (cup, lance, sword, stone, etc.); the symbolism of the fisher king; the significance of such deities as Tammuz, Adonis, Mithra, and Attis; the meaning of the adventure of the Perilous Chapel in Grail romances; and much more.
Awarded the Crawshay Prize in 1920, this scholarly yet highly readable study will interest any student of the Arthurian legends, mythology, ancient religion, and Eliot's poetry.
Jessie Laidlay Weston (1850-1928) was a self-taught English scholar, medievalist, and folklorist who specialized in mediaeval Arthurian writings.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780486296807 |
| ISBN 10 | 0486296806 |
| Title | From Ritual to Romance |
| Author | Jessie L Weston |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Dover Publications Inc. |
| Year published | 2000-02-01 |
| Number of pages | 240 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |