From Ritual To Romance: An Account Of The Holy Grail From Ancient Ritual To Christian Symbol
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Condition: Good to fair. Paperback. Page Condition: Good - possible tanning. Markings: possible previous owner inscription.
Few works of scholarship have so profoundly reshaped the cultural imagination as Jessie L. Weston's landmark study of the Holy Grail — a symbol that has haunted Western civilisation for centuries. From Ritual to Romance traces the origins of the Grail legend not to medieval Christian invention, but to the ancient fertility rites and mystery cults of the pre-Christian world, arguing with conviction that the sacred vessel and the Waste Land mythology surrounding it are rooted in the dying-and-rising god traditions of antiquity. Weston's work is a masterclass in comparative mythology and anthropology, drawing on sources ranging from Celtic legend to Gnostic ritual to construct a bold and cohesive thesis. Her influence extends far beyond academic circles — T.S. Eliot famously credited From Ritual to Romance as a foundational source for The Waste Land, cementing her place in the canon of 20th-century intellectual history. For anyone seeking to understand the deeper, stranger currents that flow beneath the surface of Western literature and religion, this remains an indispensable — and endlessly provocative — guide.
Author: Jessie L. Weston
Format: Paperback
Published: 1957, Doubleday Anchor Books
Genre: Religion
Condition remarks:
Condition: Good to fair. Paperback. Page Condition: Good - possible tanning. Markings: possible previous owner inscription.
Few works of scholarship have so profoundly reshaped the cultural imagination as Jessie L. Weston's landmark study of the Holy Grail — a symbol that has haunted Western civilisation for centuries. From Ritual to Romance traces the origins of the Grail legend not to medieval Christian invention, but to the ancient fertility rites and mystery cults of the pre-Christian world, arguing with conviction that the sacred vessel and the Waste Land mythology surrounding it are rooted in the dying-and-rising god traditions of antiquity. Weston's work is a masterclass in comparative mythology and anthropology, drawing on sources ranging from Celtic legend to Gnostic ritual to construct a bold and cohesive thesis. Her influence extends far beyond academic circles — T.S. Eliot famously credited From Ritual to Romance as a foundational source for The Waste Land, cementing her place in the canon of 20th-century intellectual history. For anyone seeking to understand the deeper, stranger currents that flow beneath the surface of Western literature and religion, this remains an indispensable — and endlessly provocative — guide.