From Ritual to Romance The Roots of the King Arthur Legends

From Ritual to Romance by Jessie L. Weston. From Ritual to Romance is a 1920 book written by Jessie L. Weston. Weston's book is an examination of the roots of the King Arthur legends and seeks to make connections between the early pagan elements and the later Christian influences. The book's main focus is on the Holy Grail tradition and its influence, particularly the Wasteland motif. The origins of Weston's book are in James George Frazer's seminal work on folklore, magic and religion, The Golden Bough (1890), and in the works of Jane Ellen Harrison. The work is mentioned by T. S. Eliot in the notes to his poem, The Waste Land. 'In view of the extensive literature to which the Grail legend has already given birth it may seem that the addition of another volume to the already existing corpus calls for some words of apology and explanation. When the student of the subject contemplates the countless essays and brochures, the volumes of studies and criticism, which have been devoted to this fascinating subject, the conflicting character of their aims, their hopelessly contradictory results, he, or she, may well hesitate before adding another element to such a veritable witches' cauldron of apparently profitless study. And indeed, were I not convinced that the theory advocated in the following pages contains in itself the element that will resolve these conflicting ingredients into one harmonious compound I should hardly feel justified in offering a further contribution to the subject.'