Anthropology

J. G. Fraser (1854 - 1941) wrote “The Golden Bough”. It was published for the first time in 1890.

It spoke about the new interest in mythology and in pre-history.

J. G. Fraser said that art is an instinctual thing. As a matter of fact he thought that sources of art reside in the unconscious part of men's mind.

He affirmed that writers and painters follow set patterns and use old symbols.

He discussed the myth of the Grail (he took inspiration from Tennyson's “Idylls of the King”), primeval customs, fertility rites, etc.. in his work.

He also wished to discover what lies beneath the surface of human because he thought that men hide savagery beneath their “crust”.

J. L. Weston made a complex historical and geographical synthesis of medieval legends of Grail.

She affirmed that we have a romantic literary version of that strange figure that the Grail is.

She thought that the Grail represented to the Arian race a sort of divine or semi-divine ruler.

She also thought that the thief and people who depend on it exist.