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From Ritual to Romance
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 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.
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 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.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1920
About the author
Jessie Laidlay Weston
86 books13 followersJessie Laidlay Weston (1850–1928) was an independent scholar and folklorist, working mainly on mediaeval Arthurian texts.
Weston was the daughter of William Weston a tea merchant and member of the Salters' Company and his second wife, Sarah Burton, and named after his first wife Jessica Laidlay. Sarah, after giving birth to two more daughters died when Jessie was about seven. William remarried Clara King who gave birth to five more children. The elder siblings were born in Surrey, but youngest son Clarence was born in Kent. Jessie, her sister Frances and brother Clarence later moved to Bournemouth, where Jessie began her writing career, remaining there until around 1903. Her home at 65 Lansdowne Road still stands, as of 2010. Jessie studied in Hildesheim then Paris under Gaston Paris. She also studied at the Crystal Palace School of Art.
One of her first printed works was a lengthy sentimental verse called The Rose-Tree of Hildesheim. A narrative about "sacrifice and denial", it was modelled on the story of the Thousand-year Rose, which grows on a wall at Hildesheim Cathedral. Published in 1896, it was the title verse in an omnibus of her poems.
(from Wikipedia)
Weston was the daughter of William Weston a tea merchant and member of the Salters' Company and his second wife, Sarah Burton, and named after his first wife Jessica Laidlay. Sarah, after giving birth to two more daughters died when Jessie was about seven. William remarried Clara King who gave birth to five more children. The elder siblings were born in Surrey, but youngest son Clarence was born in Kent. Jessie, her sister Frances and brother Clarence later moved to Bournemouth, where Jessie began her writing career, remaining there until around 1903. Her home at 65 Lansdowne Road still stands, as of 2010. Jessie studied in Hildesheim then Paris under Gaston Paris. She also studied at the Crystal Palace School of Art.
One of her first printed works was a lengthy sentimental verse called The Rose-Tree of Hildesheim. A narrative about "sacrifice and denial", it was modelled on the story of the Thousand-year Rose, which grows on a wall at Hildesheim Cathedral. Published in 1896, it was the title verse in an omnibus of her poems.
(from Wikipedia)
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March 29, 2024
Self-actualisation, says Carl Jung, is a lifetime process.
It consists, says Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, of tying together the jarringly disparate elements of our existence, by using the tools of science, art, philosophy and religion unconsciously over a lifetime of work and rework, all together - to produce a comprehensive and totalizing sense of absolute reality.
To others, like Herman Melville, it consists in roping, wrestling onto the ground, and securely binding up, our relentless internal Daemon that erupts from the deep sea chasms of our mind.
All of these men, of course, are describing an impossibly Herculean task. Better not commence the spiritual search: if left unfinished, it will come back to bite you.
A temporary resolution to our search will often be enough for us, for the moment.
For Jung, that resting point was the Collective Consciousness; for Hegel, it was ethically-grounded metaphysics; and for Melville, the sheer catharsis of vivid creative writing.
ALL subduing - for the moment at least - that deadly Daemon.
The Daemon is the primitive male ego - and that ego is the fruit of Dark Knowledge - hence the Fisher King, like me unknowing, is wounded and walks with a limp.
Salvation is also Terror.
But to the primitive, macho ego, that wounded self is perpetually reborn in fertility rites. Not, I'm afraid, my cup of tea!
It’s, as the saying goes: whatever gets you through the night.
Any three of these summarize an individual effort to meld harmoniously the hidden, symbolic, threatening life inside us with the common, luminous, literal outside life of relative innocence we all know.
It starts like ‘breaking’ an orderly cluster of billiard balls. Once the white ball whacks ‘em, the result is haphazard anarchy. It takes a while to get your bearings at first.
That’s what Tolstoy meant when he said all happy families are alike. And all Unhappy families?
Orderliness and innocence go hand in glove to a young, settled mind. Until the sharp whack of that “break.” We all grow up.
So, the way Jessie Weston melds all the conflicts of modern life back together is by finding the shadowy and mythical magic at its foundation.
As Desmond Morris says in The Naked Ape, we ARE our ancient primitive selves, and discovering that self - though I recommend you do this only as Weston does - is discovering the crude reality that underlies our dreams.
Weston gets to that hidden reality by tracing our dreams and stories to fertility rites.
And that idea had an enormous impact on artists as diverse as Eliot, Stravinsky and Kandinsky - but the impact of an idea is, again, as chaotic as the striking of that cue ball, and the idea was already in wide circulation at the turn of the twentieth century when she wrote this.
The seeing of the initially uniting factor, be it the fertility myths of Weston, or the more pivotal suggestions of the great thinkers I named at the outset, can ease the stress of our unconscious mind, though, in the everyday world.
For me, a desultory combination of all four gave great insight to my search, though my Christian faith was the capstone.
That really got me through the night...
And has gotten most of the billiard balls back into the pockets, for now.
But the Road Goes on Forever, and any rest along the way lasts only until the next time that discomfiting spiritual reality comes back to BITE us -
And breaks up those pool balls once more.
It consists, says Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, of tying together the jarringly disparate elements of our existence, by using the tools of science, art, philosophy and religion unconsciously over a lifetime of work and rework, all together - to produce a comprehensive and totalizing sense of absolute reality.
To others, like Herman Melville, it consists in roping, wrestling onto the ground, and securely binding up, our relentless internal Daemon that erupts from the deep sea chasms of our mind.
All of these men, of course, are describing an impossibly Herculean task. Better not commence the spiritual search: if left unfinished, it will come back to bite you.
A temporary resolution to our search will often be enough for us, for the moment.
For Jung, that resting point was the Collective Consciousness; for Hegel, it was ethically-grounded metaphysics; and for Melville, the sheer catharsis of vivid creative writing.
ALL subduing - for the moment at least - that deadly Daemon.
The Daemon is the primitive male ego - and that ego is the fruit of Dark Knowledge - hence the Fisher King, like me unknowing, is wounded and walks with a limp.
Salvation is also Terror.
But to the primitive, macho ego, that wounded self is perpetually reborn in fertility rites. Not, I'm afraid, my cup of tea!
It’s, as the saying goes: whatever gets you through the night.
Any three of these summarize an individual effort to meld harmoniously the hidden, symbolic, threatening life inside us with the common, luminous, literal outside life of relative innocence we all know.
It starts like ‘breaking’ an orderly cluster of billiard balls. Once the white ball whacks ‘em, the result is haphazard anarchy. It takes a while to get your bearings at first.
That’s what Tolstoy meant when he said all happy families are alike. And all Unhappy families?
Orderliness and innocence go hand in glove to a young, settled mind. Until the sharp whack of that “break.” We all grow up.
So, the way Jessie Weston melds all the conflicts of modern life back together is by finding the shadowy and mythical magic at its foundation.
As Desmond Morris says in The Naked Ape, we ARE our ancient primitive selves, and discovering that self - though I recommend you do this only as Weston does - is discovering the crude reality that underlies our dreams.
Weston gets to that hidden reality by tracing our dreams and stories to fertility rites.
And that idea had an enormous impact on artists as diverse as Eliot, Stravinsky and Kandinsky - but the impact of an idea is, again, as chaotic as the striking of that cue ball, and the idea was already in wide circulation at the turn of the twentieth century when she wrote this.
The seeing of the initially uniting factor, be it the fertility myths of Weston, or the more pivotal suggestions of the great thinkers I named at the outset, can ease the stress of our unconscious mind, though, in the everyday world.
For me, a desultory combination of all four gave great insight to my search, though my Christian faith was the capstone.
That really got me through the night...
And has gotten most of the billiard balls back into the pockets, for now.
But the Road Goes on Forever, and any rest along the way lasts only until the next time that discomfiting spiritual reality comes back to BITE us -
And breaks up those pool balls once more.
Read
January 8, 2018I've been reading and reviewing books from Sylvia Plath’s library, and decided to explore From Ritual to Romance, by Jessie L. Weston (thanks to St. Louis poet Matthew Freeman for gifting this to me years ago). Notes on LibraryThing say Plath read this book 1954-55, wrote “Sylvia Plath 1958” inside of it, and that there is “much underlining” by Plath. I have yet to go to Emory University, where Plath’s copy is held, to see exactly what was underlined, but I’m excited to make that trip sometime soon.
The author of From Ritual to Romance, Jessie Weston, died in 1928 before Plath was born. Weston was a contemporary of the Cambridge Ritualists, a group of classical scholars influenced by myth and ritual. This movement carried on into Plath’s generation and greatly impressed her. In her first year at Cambridge, Plath wrote, “here all are mystics in various ways” (Unabridged Journals, 221). As a woman in the man’s world of late 19th century Cambridge, Weston was judged by many to be a Theosophist, writing about mystical and occult philosophies. And of course, these philosophies were not taken seriously by Academia at large. The public charge of Theosophy (as a crime!) against Weston came after T.S. Eliot listed From Ritual to Romance as crucial to understanding The Waste Land.
A main point in From Ritual to Romance is that the Holy Grail is not a Christian symbol, but probably pre-Celtic/Pagan, and that the Grail is symbol of self-actualization (the alchemical journey, according to Jung, Campbell, and others). Weston’s academic reputation suffered because she didn’t espouse the traditional views of Arthurian legend. This was a fun book for me to read because, Lord, do I know the feeling of breaking from tradition with my work on Sylvia Plath (my books are Fixed Stars Govern a Life: Decoding Sylvia Plath, 2014, Stephen F. Austin State University Press, and the Decoding Sylvia Plath series on Magi Press). Nevertheless, Weston is considered a primary Arthurian scholar, and Plath loved this book, From Ritual to Romance. [Plath also read another book by Weston in her Medieval Literature class, 1952-53].
Like many of the books from Plath’s library which I’m reviewing, From Ritual to Romance captures attention from the first unnumbered page before the Preface. On the first page is a quote (from Cornford, Origins of Attic Comedy), which I’ll paraphrase, with my own Plath angle in brackets: We can demand more evidence to prove mysticism, or, we can see how mysticism does not conflict with known truths [about Plath], and how mysticism correlates and explains so much [of Plath’s work].
Ah, but today is an age of willful ignorance. There’s a delicious section beginning on page 67 where the author blasts scholars for their specifications, missing the bigger picture.
On the next page, Weston goes on to say about most scholarship: “The result obtained is always quite satisfactory to the writer, often plausible, sometimes in a measure sound, but it would defy the skill of the most synthetic genius to co-ordinate the results obtained, and combine them in one harmonious whole. They are like pieces of a puzzle, each of which has been symmetrically cut and trimmed, till they lie side by side, un-fitting and un-related.” (68) I envision Sylvia reading this chapter, thinking of that whole, working her words always in ritual and in context to the larger picture of everything around her.
In the Preface, the author writes of owing a great debt to Sir James Frazer, who wrote The Golden Bough, also beloved to Plath. In From Ritual to Romance, Weston says she had the goal of writing about the “border-land between Christianity and Paganism.” She wrote:
“I found, not only the final link that completed the chain of evolution from Pagan Mystery to Christian Ceremonial, but also proof of that wider significance I was beginning to apprehend. The problem involved was not Folk-lore, not even one of Literature, but of Comparative Religion in the widest sense.”
We Plathians know how much religion interested Plath. She studied, practiced and used its philosophies, tools and rites without fully embracing any one.
From Ritual to Romance is not a long book, but its intimidating list of foreign topics in scholarly language is not light reading. This is, however, exciting, heady stuff for the introspective, mystically-inclined literary buff, such as Plath. Here are just a few of the subjects in From Ritual to Romance which I first found in Fixed Stars Govern A Life: Decoding Sylvia Plath: the Hindu Rig-Veda, the importance of Waste-Land motif from Arthurian legend, The Holy Grail as Aryan tradition (think of Plath’s poetic Nazism here), the festival of Soma, the symbol of the root, nature cults, creation stories, Greek mythology, Nature cults, Babylonians, Celts, modern parallels with myth, African tribes and culture, The Medicine Man, the elements, The Fisher King, Fish as a Life symbol across Asian religions, the Leviathan, Jewish and Christian symbolism, Irish Finn mythology, fish as the goddess Venus, the danger of speaking of mystical secrets, exoteric and esoteric elements, Neo-Platonism, Mithraism, Life Principle and the Logos, Vegetation cults as vehicles of high spiritual teaching, Christian legend, folk-tales, women not admitted to initiation, and The Templars (Freemasons).
I especially found the whole Aryan aspect fascinating. When Weston wrote of early Aryan literature and drama paving the way for western literature, she actually referred to a primitive Indo-Iranian culture, although this is never really explained in the book. In fact, the source of the word Aryan is probably a reference to Iran. Yet after some 19th century misinterpretations of the Hindu Rig Veda, and then the Nazis adopting the word as the name for a superior race, Plath (and millions of others) likely had the impression that Aryan referenced Germanic culture. No matter the origin, Pagan, Celtic, Norse, Ancient Greek or Babylonian, what Weston and other mythologists point out is that the legends and rituals are essentially the equivalent. Plath knew that much.
One chapter of From Ritual to Romance is entirely about Symbolism, including symbols of the Fertility cult (which happen to coincide with those of the tarot: Cup, Lance, Sword, Stone or Dish), the cauldron, the Four Suits of the Tarot, origin of the Tarot, and use of symbols in Magic. The Decoding work goes on to build the case that these symbols were purposefully embedded in Plath’s work, to activate upon the reader’s subconscious. It seems to have worked.
Weston suggests that strictly secret ritual was recorded and repackaged (my modern words) as myth. Her work was a complement to Frazer’s focus on magic, religion and science and how magic and science are used to control nature. The book’s Foreword, written by Robert A. Segal, says that religion, falling between magic and science, provides both myth and rituals. Magic, however, “involves no gods, it also involves no myths. There is ritual…” (xxiii). Plath, with her sort of atheistic spirituality, would have been tempted by that perspective.
Segal goes on to say that Weston contends that “literature comes from myth, not that it is myth. […] the keenest difference between literature and myth is that literature stands severed from ritual.” I think this is the problem with the masses’ perception of Plath. Plath’s work is literature. It comes from myth, and occultism, but it is not these things itself. Occultism and myth may even be used to construct a literary work, but a Plath poem is not going to be able to be used as an occult tool by anyone other than Plath. It was written by her to work on her audience. All magic stops there.
The author of From Ritual to Romance, Jessie Weston, died in 1928 before Plath was born. Weston was a contemporary of the Cambridge Ritualists, a group of classical scholars influenced by myth and ritual. This movement carried on into Plath’s generation and greatly impressed her. In her first year at Cambridge, Plath wrote, “here all are mystics in various ways” (Unabridged Journals, 221). As a woman in the man’s world of late 19th century Cambridge, Weston was judged by many to be a Theosophist, writing about mystical and occult philosophies. And of course, these philosophies were not taken seriously by Academia at large. The public charge of Theosophy (as a crime!) against Weston came after T.S. Eliot listed From Ritual to Romance as crucial to understanding The Waste Land.
A main point in From Ritual to Romance is that the Holy Grail is not a Christian symbol, but probably pre-Celtic/Pagan, and that the Grail is symbol of self-actualization (the alchemical journey, according to Jung, Campbell, and others). Weston’s academic reputation suffered because she didn’t espouse the traditional views of Arthurian legend. This was a fun book for me to read because, Lord, do I know the feeling of breaking from tradition with my work on Sylvia Plath (my books are Fixed Stars Govern a Life: Decoding Sylvia Plath, 2014, Stephen F. Austin State University Press, and the Decoding Sylvia Plath series on Magi Press). Nevertheless, Weston is considered a primary Arthurian scholar, and Plath loved this book, From Ritual to Romance. [Plath also read another book by Weston in her Medieval Literature class, 1952-53].
Like many of the books from Plath’s library which I’m reviewing, From Ritual to Romance captures attention from the first unnumbered page before the Preface. On the first page is a quote (from Cornford, Origins of Attic Comedy), which I’ll paraphrase, with my own Plath angle in brackets: We can demand more evidence to prove mysticism, or, we can see how mysticism does not conflict with known truths [about Plath], and how mysticism correlates and explains so much [of Plath’s work].
Ah, but today is an age of willful ignorance. There’s a delicious section beginning on page 67 where the author blasts scholars for their specifications, missing the bigger picture.
On the next page, Weston goes on to say about most scholarship: “The result obtained is always quite satisfactory to the writer, often plausible, sometimes in a measure sound, but it would defy the skill of the most synthetic genius to co-ordinate the results obtained, and combine them in one harmonious whole. They are like pieces of a puzzle, each of which has been symmetrically cut and trimmed, till they lie side by side, un-fitting and un-related.” (68) I envision Sylvia reading this chapter, thinking of that whole, working her words always in ritual and in context to the larger picture of everything around her.
In the Preface, the author writes of owing a great debt to Sir James Frazer, who wrote The Golden Bough, also beloved to Plath. In From Ritual to Romance, Weston says she had the goal of writing about the “border-land between Christianity and Paganism.” She wrote:
“I found, not only the final link that completed the chain of evolution from Pagan Mystery to Christian Ceremonial, but also proof of that wider significance I was beginning to apprehend. The problem involved was not Folk-lore, not even one of Literature, but of Comparative Religion in the widest sense.”
We Plathians know how much religion interested Plath. She studied, practiced and used its philosophies, tools and rites without fully embracing any one.
From Ritual to Romance is not a long book, but its intimidating list of foreign topics in scholarly language is not light reading. This is, however, exciting, heady stuff for the introspective, mystically-inclined literary buff, such as Plath. Here are just a few of the subjects in From Ritual to Romance which I first found in Fixed Stars Govern A Life: Decoding Sylvia Plath: the Hindu Rig-Veda, the importance of Waste-Land motif from Arthurian legend, The Holy Grail as Aryan tradition (think of Plath’s poetic Nazism here), the festival of Soma, the symbol of the root, nature cults, creation stories, Greek mythology, Nature cults, Babylonians, Celts, modern parallels with myth, African tribes and culture, The Medicine Man, the elements, The Fisher King, Fish as a Life symbol across Asian religions, the Leviathan, Jewish and Christian symbolism, Irish Finn mythology, fish as the goddess Venus, the danger of speaking of mystical secrets, exoteric and esoteric elements, Neo-Platonism, Mithraism, Life Principle and the Logos, Vegetation cults as vehicles of high spiritual teaching, Christian legend, folk-tales, women not admitted to initiation, and The Templars (Freemasons).
I especially found the whole Aryan aspect fascinating. When Weston wrote of early Aryan literature and drama paving the way for western literature, she actually referred to a primitive Indo-Iranian culture, although this is never really explained in the book. In fact, the source of the word Aryan is probably a reference to Iran. Yet after some 19th century misinterpretations of the Hindu Rig Veda, and then the Nazis adopting the word as the name for a superior race, Plath (and millions of others) likely had the impression that Aryan referenced Germanic culture. No matter the origin, Pagan, Celtic, Norse, Ancient Greek or Babylonian, what Weston and other mythologists point out is that the legends and rituals are essentially the equivalent. Plath knew that much.
One chapter of From Ritual to Romance is entirely about Symbolism, including symbols of the Fertility cult (which happen to coincide with those of the tarot: Cup, Lance, Sword, Stone or Dish), the cauldron, the Four Suits of the Tarot, origin of the Tarot, and use of symbols in Magic. The Decoding work goes on to build the case that these symbols were purposefully embedded in Plath’s work, to activate upon the reader’s subconscious. It seems to have worked.
Weston suggests that strictly secret ritual was recorded and repackaged (my modern words) as myth. Her work was a complement to Frazer’s focus on magic, religion and science and how magic and science are used to control nature. The book’s Foreword, written by Robert A. Segal, says that religion, falling between magic and science, provides both myth and rituals. Magic, however, “involves no gods, it also involves no myths. There is ritual…” (xxiii). Plath, with her sort of atheistic spirituality, would have been tempted by that perspective.
Segal goes on to say that Weston contends that “literature comes from myth, not that it is myth. […] the keenest difference between literature and myth is that literature stands severed from ritual.” I think this is the problem with the masses’ perception of Plath. Plath’s work is literature. It comes from myth, and occultism, but it is not these things itself. Occultism and myth may even be used to construct a literary work, but a Plath poem is not going to be able to be used as an occult tool by anyone other than Plath. It was written by her to work on her audience. All magic stops there.
October 14, 2015
Complete rot. Gains an extra star simply for the great works of Modernism it engendered. Riddled with assumptions, huge leaps of "logic" and desperate attempts to make evidence fit her thesis.
September 8, 2007
In this work of pop-anthropology from 1920, Jessie L. Weston puts forth the idea that the romance of King Arthur and the search for the Grail is no mere fairy tale, but rather a mythos that goes back to earliest man's fertility rites and the annual rebirth of the land after winter. Most nowaways would look to this book for anthropology or to help understand the poetry of T.S. Eliot. However, this tome of outdated early-20th century thought is useful for neither purpose.
In FROM RITUAL TO ROMANCE Ms. Weston presents, like Julian Jaynes in his book THE ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE BREAKDOWN OF THE BICAMERAL MIND, a theory that once sounded revolutionary and a great solution but has since been superseded. Late in her life (she was 70 when she wrote this book), Ms. Weston become enamoured with the vegetation ceremony theories of Sir James Fraser, and indeed this book is based upon the ideas Fraser expounded in his multi-volume Victorian work "The Golden Bough." Nowadays Fraser is only mentioned in anthropology courses to give an idea of how the science started and nearly everyone understands now that his is not a valid view on early man (much like Freud, heavily discounted after his death, is presented to psychology students to only show them how psychology started). If the base upon which FROM RITUAL TO ROMANCE is built, i.e. Fraser's theories, is disproven, Weston's thesis comes tumbling down like a house of cards.
FROM RITUAL TO ROMANCE probably reminds in print because T.S. Eliot, in the footnotes to his great poem "The Waste Land", claimed that the book was a key inspiration for that crucial event in 20th-century literature. However, since the discovery in 1967 of the original manuscripts of "The Waste Land", it has been generally understood that Eliot's footnotes are a red herring, that the poem's source was really his emotional turmoil and despair in 1920 and 1921, and that the footnotes were added only to make the poem large enough to be published in its own volume and to clarify some of the more obscure literary references. Thus, any fan of Eliot searching for illumination on "The Waste Land" in FROM RITUAL TO ROMANCE would come away with less than if he had just read any of the extant biographies of Eliot (and his mentally-ill wife of that time, Vivien).
So, FROM RITUAL TO ROMANCE does not help one to understand either the anthropological source of the King Arthur mythos (which probably doesn't go back very far anyway, says modern archaeology), or Eliot's "The Waste Land". Should one want to understand that work of Eliot's better, I'd recommend getting a copy of the original manuscripts in THE WASTE LAND: A Facsimile and Transcript of the Original Drafts Including the Annotations of Ezra Pound.
In FROM RITUAL TO ROMANCE Ms. Weston presents, like Julian Jaynes in his book THE ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE BREAKDOWN OF THE BICAMERAL MIND, a theory that once sounded revolutionary and a great solution but has since been superseded. Late in her life (she was 70 when she wrote this book), Ms. Weston become enamoured with the vegetation ceremony theories of Sir James Fraser, and indeed this book is based upon the ideas Fraser expounded in his multi-volume Victorian work "The Golden Bough." Nowadays Fraser is only mentioned in anthropology courses to give an idea of how the science started and nearly everyone understands now that his is not a valid view on early man (much like Freud, heavily discounted after his death, is presented to psychology students to only show them how psychology started). If the base upon which FROM RITUAL TO ROMANCE is built, i.e. Fraser's theories, is disproven, Weston's thesis comes tumbling down like a house of cards.
FROM RITUAL TO ROMANCE probably reminds in print because T.S. Eliot, in the footnotes to his great poem "The Waste Land", claimed that the book was a key inspiration for that crucial event in 20th-century literature. However, since the discovery in 1967 of the original manuscripts of "The Waste Land", it has been generally understood that Eliot's footnotes are a red herring, that the poem's source was really his emotional turmoil and despair in 1920 and 1921, and that the footnotes were added only to make the poem large enough to be published in its own volume and to clarify some of the more obscure literary references. Thus, any fan of Eliot searching for illumination on "The Waste Land" in FROM RITUAL TO ROMANCE would come away with less than if he had just read any of the extant biographies of Eliot (and his mentally-ill wife of that time, Vivien).
So, FROM RITUAL TO ROMANCE does not help one to understand either the anthropological source of the King Arthur mythos (which probably doesn't go back very far anyway, says modern archaeology), or Eliot's "The Waste Land". Should one want to understand that work of Eliot's better, I'd recommend getting a copy of the original manuscripts in THE WASTE LAND: A Facsimile and Transcript of the Original Drafts Including the Annotations of Ezra Pound.
Read
December 2, 2008Let's see, I've owned this book for exactly 20 years. I reckon this is at least the FOURTH time I've read it and I STILL don't really understand it, and I have this inner conviction that Miss Weston has actually made it all up, but. But. Something in it deeply appeals to me. The idea that the whole grail legend hearkens back to something more primitive and connected with the earth makes sense to me, in exactly the way it seems obvious to me that both Peredur and Perceval are springboard tellings of an older story.
I like rereading my marginalia in this book; obviously over the years I've had more than one reason for reading it, and the notes appear in layers. There are references to Eliot and then there are references to an unpublished novel of my own and then there are references to my current work of fiction, only a few transformations back. I must admit that, reading it this time, I am pretty sure Miss Weston is not going to tell me anything new.
It's comfort reading, in the way neat gin might be comfort food if you were a serious alcoholic and didn't mind the burn on the way down. Consider this excerpt (underlined, in the book):
"The Exoteric side of the cult gives us the Human, the Folk-lore, elements--the Suffering King; the Waste Land; the effect upon the Folk; the task that lies before the hero; the group of Grail symbols. The Esoteric side provides us with the Mystic Meal, the Food of Life, connected in some mysterious way with a Vessel which is the centre of the cult...a double initiation into the source of the lower and higher spheres of life; the ultimate proof of the successful issue of the final test in the restoration of the King."
GAWD. And I am trying to sublimate this into a KID'S BOOK. idiot idiot idiot
-----------------
ETA: Goodreads comments that "None of your friends have read From Ritual to Romance." geez, wot a surprise.
I like rereading my marginalia in this book; obviously over the years I've had more than one reason for reading it, and the notes appear in layers. There are references to Eliot and then there are references to an unpublished novel of my own and then there are references to my current work of fiction, only a few transformations back. I must admit that, reading it this time, I am pretty sure Miss Weston is not going to tell me anything new.
It's comfort reading, in the way neat gin might be comfort food if you were a serious alcoholic and didn't mind the burn on the way down. Consider this excerpt (underlined, in the book):
"The Exoteric side of the cult gives us the Human, the Folk-lore, elements--the Suffering King; the Waste Land; the effect upon the Folk; the task that lies before the hero; the group of Grail symbols. The Esoteric side provides us with the Mystic Meal, the Food of Life, connected in some mysterious way with a Vessel which is the centre of the cult...a double initiation into the source of the lower and higher spheres of life; the ultimate proof of the successful issue of the final test in the restoration of the King."
GAWD. And I am trying to sublimate this into a KID'S BOOK. idiot idiot idiot
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ETA: Goodreads comments that "None of your friends have read From Ritual to Romance." geez, wot a surprise.
June 30, 2022
In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot in his Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola shows a copy of Weston's From Ritual to Romance next to a copy of Frazer's The Golden Bough. If you know something of the latter, that will tell you a lot about the former. Weston takes a Frazerian approach to the Grail romances (Chrétien de Troyes's Perceval, Robert de Boron's Joseph of Arimathea et. al.), tracing their symbolism to primitive fertility rituals. The style is scholarly, and dense with references to mummers, sword dancers, the Tarot, and Greek and other mythologies.
Personally, I am not particularly knowledgeable with regard to Arthurian legends or texts, and I did not get a lot out of From Ritual to Romance on that level. Initially, I read the book as background for The Waste Land, as T.S. Eliot cites it several times in his endnotes to that poem. I am not sure Weston's book works on that level either, although I suppose there is an argument that can be made that it does.
Although I do not know anything of the Arthurian texts apart from what Weston mentions in her argument, I do like the way she employs Frazerian anthropology and interpretations of the symbolism of myths and folk rituals in her reading of the romances.
The writing style seems very much a product of the time and of the academic approach Weston takes to her subject such that, for me at least, it resembles the kind of work associated with Cambridge school writers such as Jane Ellen Harrison or Gilbert Murray
Acquired Apr 1 1990
The Word, Montreal, Quebec
Personally, I am not particularly knowledgeable with regard to Arthurian legends or texts, and I did not get a lot out of From Ritual to Romance on that level. Initially, I read the book as background for The Waste Land, as T.S. Eliot cites it several times in his endnotes to that poem. I am not sure Weston's book works on that level either, although I suppose there is an argument that can be made that it does.
Although I do not know anything of the Arthurian texts apart from what Weston mentions in her argument, I do like the way she employs Frazerian anthropology and interpretations of the symbolism of myths and folk rituals in her reading of the romances.
The writing style seems very much a product of the time and of the academic approach Weston takes to her subject such that, for me at least, it resembles the kind of work associated with Cambridge school writers such as Jane Ellen Harrison or Gilbert Murray
Acquired Apr 1 1990
The Word, Montreal, Quebec
December 22, 2021
I read this as an undergrad years and years ago and thought it was the bee’s knees. I have no idea what I would think of it today. I was talking about the weird books of yesteryear, like this one and Robert Graves’ The White Goddess and Margaret Murray etc., with my husband tonight, and remembered I never put this here on GR. But yeah, back in the day I really liked it.
March 20, 2011
Gonzo Grail interpretation but lots of fun...
February 9, 2009
This book is basically useless when it comes to explaining T.S. Eliot, but what isn't? It is also practically useless as a book of criticism on the Grail legends. However, it is a really great book on the occult. Much of her information about then-modern occult practice came from Yeats, which is hilarious, and her research into the topic is really great. Most other writers on the subject from her era are always saying things like, "If you know what I mean then you know what I mean," and otherwise being spooky and secretive. Not Weston. This book is therefore a good companion to the books of Arthur Edward Waite, et al, and way less irritatingly vague.
November 17, 2014
Having already read Wolfram, Th Malory and Chretian, I was ready for some analysis. This book had been recommended by a popular professor at Grinnell College and was being much read about campus (along with, it might be added, Graves' The White Goddess). Weston did a great job in tying together the various grail legends into a coherant scheme related to a contemporary theory of the development of religious belief out of ritual practice. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have recommended it to others throughout the years since reading it.
July 1, 2010
Weston examines textual sources and folk practices from a variety of cultures, arguing that the Arthurian legend of the Grail is a continuation of pre-Christian Vegetation rituals.
March 25, 2024
Interesting if frustrating examination of the sources and development of the Grail legend; with Weston attempting to prove that bits and pieces of actual folk and pre Christian tradition and ritual were incorporated by various authors over the centuries into the romances (epic tales) that were popular in the 11th and 12th centuries. Intriguing premise is hamstrung by Weston's writing style which at times appears to lack confidence in what she is proposing, her tendency to very long sentences, and for the novice at least, the quotation of passages in their original German or French.
May 1, 2015
This book belongs on the bookshelf of anyone seriously interested in the evolution of religion. It is well-documented with plenty of footnotes. The book includes an index that any researcher could find useful.
Although well written, as some readers have commented on different reviews, the book uses a style of English that is no longer common on either side of the Atlantic. I imagine it was the norm when Jessie L. Weston (1850–1928) wrote this book (1920). I typed one of Weston’s long sentences (from page 62) in Grammarly.com. I selected “General Academic” as the style to correct. It received a score of 5 out of 100. Most likely, that would have been the standard for her time.
Other readers commented on Weston’s frequent use of Latin and French words without any translation. There is also German. For example, on page 114 there is a paragraph with 179 words in four sentences. Out of the 179 words, four are Latin or French words. Although most are recognizable to a monolingual readership, words such as “Manqué,” might require a dictionary. And let me not forget "gar keinem Verhältniss" (of all proportion). I would assume that when she wrote this book, many English-speaking book lovers could also read French and Latin, and possibly Ancient Greek and German, without much difficulty.
"In Indian cosmogony Manu finds a little fish in the water in which he would wash his hands; it asks, and received, his protection, asserting that when grown to full size it will save Manu from the universal deluge. This is Lhasa, the greatest of all fish.” (Pg. 126) Now, that story from the ancient Mahabharata, which Weston quotes, reminds me of more than one Bible story. Notwithstanding the limitations that Weston’s style may present to today’s audience, I would stress that this little book is a jewel for the serious researcher.
Although well written, as some readers have commented on different reviews, the book uses a style of English that is no longer common on either side of the Atlantic. I imagine it was the norm when Jessie L. Weston (1850–1928) wrote this book (1920). I typed one of Weston’s long sentences (from page 62) in Grammarly.com. I selected “General Academic” as the style to correct. It received a score of 5 out of 100. Most likely, that would have been the standard for her time.
Other readers commented on Weston’s frequent use of Latin and French words without any translation. There is also German. For example, on page 114 there is a paragraph with 179 words in four sentences. Out of the 179 words, four are Latin or French words. Although most are recognizable to a monolingual readership, words such as “Manqué,” might require a dictionary. And let me not forget "gar keinem Verhältniss" (of all proportion). I would assume that when she wrote this book, many English-speaking book lovers could also read French and Latin, and possibly Ancient Greek and German, without much difficulty.
"In Indian cosmogony Manu finds a little fish in the water in which he would wash his hands; it asks, and received, his protection, asserting that when grown to full size it will save Manu from the universal deluge. This is Lhasa, the greatest of all fish.” (Pg. 126) Now, that story from the ancient Mahabharata, which Weston quotes, reminds me of more than one Bible story. Notwithstanding the limitations that Weston’s style may present to today’s audience, I would stress that this little book is a jewel for the serious researcher.
November 7, 2018
How snobby are you? If not very, you may enjoy this book for what it contains, myths and legends and references to ancient rituals. Similar to Hamlet's Mill, Weston gathers and archives some fascinating material. Being more interested in Tammuz than I am in Grail Knights, I find her theory - that the Maimed King is a type of Tammuz and the weeping women of the Grail stories are the equivalent of the weeping women mourners of ancient Palestine - makes the Grail legends more accessible. I know this story! Her other theories may not hold water, but who cares? Make the sign of the cross, open this book and let the phallic demons and the armed youth dance!
July 14, 2015
Not actually very good, either as scholarship or as literature. Important mostly because, at the time that T. S. Eliot was writing "The Waste Land," her work was among the most recent and relevant available. He drew inspiration from reading this monograph.
In its time period, this monogram probably was excellent. But it's another of those really great examples of scholarship that relies on methods and theories that are now recognized as erroneous.
In its time period, this monogram probably was excellent. But it's another of those really great examples of scholarship that relies on methods and theories that are now recognized as erroneous.
February 11, 2022
This classic study of the Grail mythos and its components, written over 100 years ago, provides much food for thought for anyone interested in the ageless quest for the Holy Grail. What exactly is the Grail, and what was its original meaning? What rituals were associated with it, in ancient climes and medieval times? Weston asks many questions in this book, and she provides many well-thought-out answers, some of which resonate with recent studies about the hieros gamos and the role that it might have played among some early Christian communities that would later be branded as heterodox by the Christian mainstream. Well worth a careful reading, because Weston reminds us that simple answers to age-old questions are usually not as simple as they seem, and that there are hidden, mysterious, numinous aspects to religion and spirituality that can bring refreshment and new meaning into our individual journeys of faith.
August 21, 2011
This is, top to bottom, an excellent and extremely informative book. Ms. Weston takes an in-depth look into the history behind grail quest literature, looking in part at some of the Arthurian legends, folk-lore, mythology, and the history and alterations of religion.
While having read at least some medieval literature does help put a lot of what Weston says into clearer context, such readings aren't really necessary to understand the ideas and arguments she puts forth. I've studied parts of this book in the past, as I've read pieces like Chretien de Troyes's Arthurian Romances<\i> and T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land," and I finally got a good chance to go back and read it cover to cover. I was absolutely fascinated by the ideas of the Nature Ritual and initiation, and the overlapping features of the Nature and Mystery cults, Mithraic belief, the Messianic Feast, and Christianity. The blending of folk lore, mythology, history, psychology, religion, and good ol' imagination in the formation and continuation of the grail romances is simply astounding, and it isn't easy to see how far-ranging and intertwined such themes really are in medieval literature (and by tradition, in more modern pieces as well) -- and why such pieces arouse such fascination -- until they're examined in such a context as Weston postulates. Her theories are straightforward and well-put, and she provides plenty of textual evidence to both support and illustrate her points. I was as enthralled with Weston's book as I usually am by Arthurian legend and other medieval works (and trust me -- I LOVE such writings!).
I would absolutely recommend this book to any and all readers who enjoy history, culture, religion, religious history, paganism, Christianity, Judaism, medieval literature, King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, Grail Quests, mythology, folk-lore, and the like. For those who enjoy this book, I would also recommend Sir James George Frazer's The Golden Bough<\i>, as it discusses in much more depth many of the ideas that Weston relies on. Both are excellent and highly informative studies in literature, folk-lore, mythology, history, and culture.
While having read at least some medieval literature does help put a lot of what Weston says into clearer context, such readings aren't really necessary to understand the ideas and arguments she puts forth. I've studied parts of this book in the past, as I've read pieces like Chretien de Troyes's Arthurian Romances<\i> and T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land," and I finally got a good chance to go back and read it cover to cover. I was absolutely fascinated by the ideas of the Nature Ritual and initiation, and the overlapping features of the Nature and Mystery cults, Mithraic belief, the Messianic Feast, and Christianity. The blending of folk lore, mythology, history, psychology, religion, and good ol' imagination in the formation and continuation of the grail romances is simply astounding, and it isn't easy to see how far-ranging and intertwined such themes really are in medieval literature (and by tradition, in more modern pieces as well) -- and why such pieces arouse such fascination -- until they're examined in such a context as Weston postulates. Her theories are straightforward and well-put, and she provides plenty of textual evidence to both support and illustrate her points. I was as enthralled with Weston's book as I usually am by Arthurian legend and other medieval works (and trust me -- I LOVE such writings!).
I would absolutely recommend this book to any and all readers who enjoy history, culture, religion, religious history, paganism, Christianity, Judaism, medieval literature, King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, Grail Quests, mythology, folk-lore, and the like. For those who enjoy this book, I would also recommend Sir James George Frazer's The Golden Bough<\i>, as it discusses in much more depth many of the ideas that Weston relies on. Both are excellent and highly informative studies in literature, folk-lore, mythology, history, and culture.
August 28, 2015
Possibly the best thing that finally caving in to acquiring a smartphone in the year 2015 has enabled me to do to date is downloading this book off Project Gutenberg and reading it on the subway. After all it is a big influence on two of my early influences, namely The Waste Land and The Winter Prince, so it is great to finally read it and put a few more pieces together. And it's applying The Golden Bough to the Grail Romance, so how could it not be delightful? I feel a bit bad giving it only three stars, but she goes off the deep end enough that the empiricist in me can't quite stomach more. At least it's not as bad as The White Goddess, which I had to give up on out of outraged rationality. But that's not to say that this isn't a fascinating read. The connections she draws between the symbols of different myths and rituals are, if not always totally convincing, suggestive; her attempt to pinpoint a specific historical origin rather less so, but all engrossing. I am particularly fond of the idea of the suits of the Tarot being the same as the symbols in the Grail legend. And it makes a nice counterpoint to rereading Ms. Wein's whole sequence. Not that I don't love her newer books, but I hold out a desperate hope that their success will spur some publisher to take a chance on The Sword Dance so I can read it. Alas, not yet.
Anyway it is probably time to go on an Arthurian reading bender. Malory awaits.
Anyway it is probably time to go on an Arthurian reading bender. Malory awaits.
March 12, 2018
Weston's From Ritual to Romance is an excellent read for cultural anthropologists, folklorists, psychologists and sociologists interested in the transmission of ideas through cultures (talk about memes! Talk about the childhood game of telephone (which nobody plays any more, I'm sure)!). It's a deep read that requires fluency in several languages to appreciate fully and it's still worth a read if all you can manage is English. Fantasy writers interested in the Grail stories, King Arthur stories, the origins of medieval romance, et cetera, will also find this a good read, I'm sure.
December 28, 2013
I read this mostly because Eliot cited it in his notes to The Waste Land; I gather the scholarship is specious. It's certainly full of leaps of logic based on analogies: she says things like, "Given the similarities between the two stories, this is very likely." So you have to give her credit for the courage of her convictions. And it did make me want to go back and read some of the legends in question, so props to her for that. Otherwise, spare yourself or read The Golden Bough.
December 3, 2020
Analisi storica e antropologica dell'origine del mito del Sacro Graal, con particolare riferimento ai culti misterici e a riti di iniziazione e vegetazione.
L'autrice oltre a presentare la versione corrente in merito, formula alcune teorie alternative. A tratti molto specifico, interessante.
L'autrice oltre a presentare la versione corrente in merito, formula alcune teorie alternative. A tratti molto specifico, interessante.
February 20, 2017
The ending was far better than the rest. I just simply love when the root of everything is Wales.
September 24, 2017
Medieval Grail romances interpreted as preserving details of Mystery cults going back thousands of years. It's an interesting idea. Weston's argument is mostly based on similarities between elements of the Grail story and known features of ancient nature religions and various occult traditions. How these ideas were passed on from prehistory to medieval times is less clear.
'The King, though regarded with reverence, must not be allowed to become old or feeble, lest, with the diminishing vigour of the ruler, the cattle should sicken, and fail to bear increase, the crops should rot in the field and men die in ever growing numbers. One of the signs of failing energy is the King's inability to fulfill the desires of his wives, of whom he has a large number. When this occurs the wives report the fact to the chiefs, who condemn the King to death forthwith, communicating the sentence to him by spreading a white cloth over his face and knees during his mid-day slumber. Formerly the King was starved to death in a hut, in company with a young maiden but (in consequence, it is said, of the great vitality and protracted suffering of one King) this is no longer done.'
'Some years ago, in the course of my reading, I came across a passage where certain knights of Arthur's court, riding through the forest, come upon a herb "which belonged to the Grail." Unfortunately the reference, at the time I met with it, though it struck me as curious, did not possess any special significance, and either I omitted to make a note of it, or entered it in a book which, with sundry others, went mysteriously astray in the process of moving furniture. In any case, though I have searched diligently I have failed to recover the passage, but I note it here in the hope that one of my readers may be more fortunate.'
'Yet, on the basis of the theory now set forth, is it not possible that there may be a real foundation of historical fact at the root of this wildly picturesque tale? May it not be simply a poetical version of the disappearance from the land of Britain of the open performance of an ancient Nature ritual?'
'But the ritual, in its higher, esoteric form was still secretly observed, and the traditions alike of its disappearance as a public cult, and of its persistence in some carefully hidden strong-hold, was handed on in the families of those who had been, perhaps still were, officiants of these rites.'
'At the risk of startling my readers I must express my opinion that it was because the incidents recorded were a reminiscence of something that actually happened .... For this is the story of an initiation (or perhaps it would be more correct to say the test of fitness for an initiation) carried out on the astral plane, and reacting with fatal results upon the physical.'
'The King, though regarded with reverence, must not be allowed to become old or feeble, lest, with the diminishing vigour of the ruler, the cattle should sicken, and fail to bear increase, the crops should rot in the field and men die in ever growing numbers. One of the signs of failing energy is the King's inability to fulfill the desires of his wives, of whom he has a large number. When this occurs the wives report the fact to the chiefs, who condemn the King to death forthwith, communicating the sentence to him by spreading a white cloth over his face and knees during his mid-day slumber. Formerly the King was starved to death in a hut, in company with a young maiden but (in consequence, it is said, of the great vitality and protracted suffering of one King) this is no longer done.'
'Some years ago, in the course of my reading, I came across a passage where certain knights of Arthur's court, riding through the forest, come upon a herb "which belonged to the Grail." Unfortunately the reference, at the time I met with it, though it struck me as curious, did not possess any special significance, and either I omitted to make a note of it, or entered it in a book which, with sundry others, went mysteriously astray in the process of moving furniture. In any case, though I have searched diligently I have failed to recover the passage, but I note it here in the hope that one of my readers may be more fortunate.'
'Yet, on the basis of the theory now set forth, is it not possible that there may be a real foundation of historical fact at the root of this wildly picturesque tale? May it not be simply a poetical version of the disappearance from the land of Britain of the open performance of an ancient Nature ritual?'
'But the ritual, in its higher, esoteric form was still secretly observed, and the traditions alike of its disappearance as a public cult, and of its persistence in some carefully hidden strong-hold, was handed on in the families of those who had been, perhaps still were, officiants of these rites.'
'At the risk of startling my readers I must express my opinion that it was because the incidents recorded were a reminiscence of something that actually happened .... For this is the story of an initiation (or perhaps it would be more correct to say the test of fitness for an initiation) carried out on the astral plane, and reacting with fatal results upon the physical.'
May 19, 2020
A few months ago, I read Jessie Laidlay Weston's translation of the medieval German epic "Parzival." I especially admired her detailed and informative notes to the poem. When I learned that T.S. Eliot cited her work "From Ritual to Romance" as a principal source or influence for his poem "The Waste Land," I immediately put it on my list to read.
In "From Ritual to Romance," Weston lays out an argument that the story of the Holy Grail has its origin not in Christian theology but in an even more ancient fertility ritual. I can't say every point she made was convincing—she more than once cites other scholars based on their personal correspondence with her, and in one case admits that she remembers reading a certain detail in some medieval manuscript but has lost her citation. Overall, though, I found her thesis intriguing and compelling. It is certainly true that the Holy Grail does not appear in Christian works until the period of the Arthurian romances. And it seems clear to me now that the etymology that I had previously heard—sang real (royal blood) becomes san greal (holy grail)—is not correct.
One annoyance in reading this book is that Weston quotes frequently from sources in French and German without translation into English. This includes excerpts from the medieval texts, where Google Translate is baffled by the archaic language. However, when she cites from Welsh or Sanskrit texts, for instance, she uses translations. Once, she quotes a Sanskrit poem translated into German! In other words, she assumes that the reader will know exactly the same languages that she herself knows. Usually I could figure out the gist of what was being said, but it would have been more enjoyable if she had just provided the English in footnotes or parentheses.
In "From Ritual to Romance," Weston lays out an argument that the story of the Holy Grail has its origin not in Christian theology but in an even more ancient fertility ritual. I can't say every point she made was convincing—she more than once cites other scholars based on their personal correspondence with her, and in one case admits that she remembers reading a certain detail in some medieval manuscript but has lost her citation. Overall, though, I found her thesis intriguing and compelling. It is certainly true that the Holy Grail does not appear in Christian works until the period of the Arthurian romances. And it seems clear to me now that the etymology that I had previously heard—sang real (royal blood) becomes san greal (holy grail)—is not correct.
One annoyance in reading this book is that Weston quotes frequently from sources in French and German without translation into English. This includes excerpts from the medieval texts, where Google Translate is baffled by the archaic language. However, when she cites from Welsh or Sanskrit texts, for instance, she uses translations. Once, she quotes a Sanskrit poem translated into German! In other words, she assumes that the reader will know exactly the same languages that she herself knows. Usually I could figure out the gist of what was being said, but it would have been more enjoyable if she had just provided the English in footnotes or parentheses.
December 11, 2022
"But what were they going to do with the Holy Grail once they found it?"---Anonymous
Look closely at Marlon Brando's Col. Kurtz in APOCALYPSE NOW lying down reading and you will see two books at his feet, Frazier's collection of world myths THE GOLDEN BOUGH (a favorite target of Wittgenstein's tirades against interpretation) and FROM RITUAL TO ROMANCE, another analysis of myth only this one even more central to the Occidental Christian view of the world. The Holy Grail, supposedly the chalice used by Christ to serve wine to his disciples at the Last Supper, is no where mentioned in the Gospels. Does this mean it was a post-Christian invention? No, more like transformation. This explosive study, first published in 1920, shows exactly how unoriginal Christianity was and is, borrowing from so many powerful pre-Christian myths. The hero who on the eve of battle and/or execution asks his followers to drink from his blood is found in multiple myths and legends. This grants him absolute power, infallibility and the promise of resurrection. If the Holy Grail became so potent a symbol for the British (Yes, I'm thinking MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL) it is precisely to the Celtic roots of this story, originally tied up with the harvest and simultaneous death of the king. Kurtz read FROM RITUAL TO ROMANCE because his Khmer tribesmen already worshipped him like a god, "obeying his every order, no matter how ridiculous". We should read it to see how arduous the task, and how great the reward, of making theology out of mythology, and then watching both desiccate as the centuries pass.
Look closely at Marlon Brando's Col. Kurtz in APOCALYPSE NOW lying down reading and you will see two books at his feet, Frazier's collection of world myths THE GOLDEN BOUGH (a favorite target of Wittgenstein's tirades against interpretation) and FROM RITUAL TO ROMANCE, another analysis of myth only this one even more central to the Occidental Christian view of the world. The Holy Grail, supposedly the chalice used by Christ to serve wine to his disciples at the Last Supper, is no where mentioned in the Gospels. Does this mean it was a post-Christian invention? No, more like transformation. This explosive study, first published in 1920, shows exactly how unoriginal Christianity was and is, borrowing from so many powerful pre-Christian myths. The hero who on the eve of battle and/or execution asks his followers to drink from his blood is found in multiple myths and legends. This grants him absolute power, infallibility and the promise of resurrection. If the Holy Grail became so potent a symbol for the British (Yes, I'm thinking MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL) it is precisely to the Celtic roots of this story, originally tied up with the harvest and simultaneous death of the king. Kurtz read FROM RITUAL TO ROMANCE because his Khmer tribesmen already worshipped him like a god, "obeying his every order, no matter how ridiculous". We should read it to see how arduous the task, and how great the reward, of making theology out of mythology, and then watching both desiccate as the centuries pass.
November 7, 2022
It is a bit of a strange book, but extremely interesting from a number of different angles. The author's basic thesis is that the material of the Grail legends within the Arthurian romances originated as part of ceremonial reenactments performed in pre-Christian 'Mystery' traditions, primarily those associated with the gods Attis and Adonis. Over time these became either de-sacralized, as part of the material for spring and harvest festival melodramas held publicly in villages across Europe, or as Weston argues, Christianized and transformed intentionally into stories fit for Chivalric ballads. Is it a slam dunk case? I don't think I know enough about these subjects to say, but Weston certainly was persuasive here, and undoubtably had done quite extensive research and scholarship to arrive at the position she presents in this book.
Beyond the main thesis, it is stuffed with interesting tangentially-related details about ancient religion, the Grail lore's symbolism, medieval Europe, and so on. She not unfrequently quotes other authors in their original French and German, which I could not read in their entirety, but I understood the gist in some of the German passages. Her intended audience for this book was clearly other European folklorists and philologists, but fortunately there is a lot of context around these quotes, so it certainly it does not make reading this impossible or pointless if you can't read them. Definitely a book worth reading and owning for anyone interested in the history of religion and folklore.
Beyond the main thesis, it is stuffed with interesting tangentially-related details about ancient religion, the Grail lore's symbolism, medieval Europe, and so on. She not unfrequently quotes other authors in their original French and German, which I could not read in their entirety, but I understood the gist in some of the German passages. Her intended audience for this book was clearly other European folklorists and philologists, but fortunately there is a lot of context around these quotes, so it certainly it does not make reading this impossible or pointless if you can't read them. Definitely a book worth reading and owning for anyone interested in the history of religion and folklore.
March 22, 2019
Following on my Waste Land reading, I thought I’d give this relatively short book a go. It’s directly mentioned in Eliot’s half-serious, half-mocking footnotes:
The book makes claim that the King Arthur legends in fact are, in a suggestion worthy of a Dan Brown novel, a coded representation of marginalised pagan rituals. It’s not a claim I really feel knowledgeable enough to rule out, but I didn’t feel that Weston’s argument is strong enough to make the broader claim hold water.
A lesser claim, not quite made by Weston herself, but closer to Jung’s later claims of collective unconscious, is that almost all legends and religious stories reflect some deep requirements of human beings. To quote Wittgenstein in his remarks on The Golden Bough: "we act in this way and then feel satisfied”, or to tweak slightly, we find the form of these stories satisfying, and thus we pass them on.
Religions are about more than the stories they tell (large elements of ritual, community and group identification etc are also important), but in this conceptualisation, various stories are shared in groups and those that are the most popular continually get passed from generation to generation, some written down earlier in their existence than others. Only those that speak to multiple generations have come down through the centuries.
Multiple generations retell these stories in the form that speaks best to their peers. In this chain, The Waste Land itself is a modernist retelling of elements of the Arthurian legends, but in a form where the narrative is almost entirely removed (mainly by Pound), leaving a series of loose voices and images.
Weston’s book is, therefore, an interesting part of this chain. Eliot clearly knew the Arthurian legends before reading Weston, but he also chose to give her prime position in the footnotes, presumably because her book prompted his creativity. To a contemporary reader, it’s hard to give it more credit than this. It’s not an electrifying read, and its central argument, like that of Weston’s hero, Frazer, seems to have started from the conclusions and worked back to the premises with limited and often implausible evidence.
Originally posted on Impossible Soul
Not only the title, but the plan and a good deal of the incidental symbolism of the poem were suggested by Miss Jessie L. Weston's book.
The book makes claim that the King Arthur legends in fact are, in a suggestion worthy of a Dan Brown novel, a coded representation of marginalised pagan rituals. It’s not a claim I really feel knowledgeable enough to rule out, but I didn’t feel that Weston’s argument is strong enough to make the broader claim hold water.
A lesser claim, not quite made by Weston herself, but closer to Jung’s later claims of collective unconscious, is that almost all legends and religious stories reflect some deep requirements of human beings. To quote Wittgenstein in his remarks on The Golden Bough: "we act in this way and then feel satisfied”, or to tweak slightly, we find the form of these stories satisfying, and thus we pass them on.
Religions are about more than the stories they tell (large elements of ritual, community and group identification etc are also important), but in this conceptualisation, various stories are shared in groups and those that are the most popular continually get passed from generation to generation, some written down earlier in their existence than others. Only those that speak to multiple generations have come down through the centuries.
Multiple generations retell these stories in the form that speaks best to their peers. In this chain, The Waste Land itself is a modernist retelling of elements of the Arthurian legends, but in a form where the narrative is almost entirely removed (mainly by Pound), leaving a series of loose voices and images.
Weston’s book is, therefore, an interesting part of this chain. Eliot clearly knew the Arthurian legends before reading Weston, but he also chose to give her prime position in the footnotes, presumably because her book prompted his creativity. To a contemporary reader, it’s hard to give it more credit than this. It’s not an electrifying read, and its central argument, like that of Weston’s hero, Frazer, seems to have started from the conclusions and worked back to the premises with limited and often implausible evidence.
Originally posted on Impossible Soul
August 16, 2020
I found this book particularly helpful while researching archetypes from Arthurian mythology. I had just read Frazer's The Golden Bough and a number of versions of the Grail legend and was still having trouble getting my head around how certain symbols connected to the whole. Weston particularly helped shine light on which parts of the Grail legend were from vegetation ceremonies or pre-Christian ritual and which were literary devices added on by later authors (like Troyes) who had the story in hand without (likely) knowledge of the embedded symbols (symbols meant to help people individuate, re: Jung's theory that myth helped previous cultures to "come of age" as it were and cope with the difficult transitions in life).
So... if you're reading this as part of a web of study on the Grail legends, Jung, or Celtic myth, soldier on. This is definitely worth it. But if you're looking for a light and easy read, this is *not* it (even though the book is short! The ideas require a lot of thinking, so reading a single page often required that I either read slowly, or re-read several ideas until I fully ingested them). There are frequent quotations in French and German which are not translated, either, though I sort of intuited what they meant based on the contextual clues (and I still found the book a very profound read, even when I didn't understand the German in particular).
So... if you're reading this as part of a web of study on the Grail legends, Jung, or Celtic myth, soldier on. This is definitely worth it. But if you're looking for a light and easy read, this is *not* it (even though the book is short! The ideas require a lot of thinking, so reading a single page often required that I either read slowly, or re-read several ideas until I fully ingested them). There are frequent quotations in French and German which are not translated, either, though I sort of intuited what they meant based on the contextual clues (and I still found the book a very profound read, even when I didn't understand the German in particular).
April 17, 2018
I didn't actually finish this book, I got halfway through and no longer needed it for the paper I was writing. This book is pretty weird. And not particularly good. Like most people, I read this book in a vain attempt to understand The Waste Land. Turns out Eliot was in part trolling us, it wasn't all that based on it, but that doesn't really matter.
As I said, this book is weird. It theorizes the Grail myth comes from a now-forgotten vegetation cult, which immediately makes me ask if it's forgotten how do you know it existed. Weston kind of wanders around in circles in her discussion. Her support is practically nil, or it's hard to read. The edition I got through Gutenberg had the original version with untranslated French and German, which was not helpful at all. Fortunately the copy I found on Archive.org was a later edition and translated. Still, she doesn't make it easy to identify her sources, like telling what specific story she mentions.
Unless you're into The Waste Land or have some kind of weird Arthurian theory fetish, I don't really recommend this book.
As I said, this book is weird. It theorizes the Grail myth comes from a now-forgotten vegetation cult, which immediately makes me ask if it's forgotten how do you know it existed. Weston kind of wanders around in circles in her discussion. Her support is practically nil, or it's hard to read. The edition I got through Gutenberg had the original version with untranslated French and German, which was not helpful at all. Fortunately the copy I found on Archive.org was a later edition and translated. Still, she doesn't make it easy to identify her sources, like telling what specific story she mentions.
Unless you're into The Waste Land or have some kind of weird Arthurian theory fetish, I don't really recommend this book.
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