audiobooks
Cover of Golden Bough. A Study in Magic and Religion. Part 5. Spirits Of The Corn And Of The Wild. Volume 2

Golden Bough. A Study in Magic and Religion. Part 5. Spirits Of The Corn And Of The Wild. Volume 2

James Frazer

Length
11 h 15 min
Chapters
14
Language
English
First published
1919

The eighth volume in The Golden Bough collection, and second volume of The Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild. The investigations into the superstitions and rituals to propitiate fertility in primitive agriculture are expanded further to cover the link between the belief in the dying and reviving gods to the transmutation of the souls of animals into crops. Frazer discusses his speculation of the evolution belief systems depending on the level of agricultural development between hunting, grazing, and farming, and the relics of totemism and taboo. Divine animals, Gods portrayed as and replenished from totem animals, rituals of hunting, gathering, harvesting, eating, and sacrifice, and special attention to man's relations with his favoured animals are addressed in depth. - Summary by Leon Harvey

Chapters

From LibriVox, read by volunteers and in the public domain. LibriVox page (opens librivox.org), the text (opens archive.org), all files on the Internet Archive (opens archive.org).