J.G. Frazer (1854-1941) was born and educated in Glasgow, where he attended the University before going to Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1871 he became a Classics Fellow at Trinity. He was knighted in 1914. He translated work from Greek and wrote fiction, but he is best known as a pioneer of social anthropology and comparative ethnography. Although he has many other titles to his name, none were to have the wide-ranging social and imaginative impact of The Golden Bough (first published in 1890).
* Frazer's work has epic scale yet mesmerizing fineness of detail. We see the great structures of civilization forming and melting against a background of elemental mystery. The effect is cinematic and sublime. What I took from Frazer is his narrative sweep, multicultural sympathy and structuralist technique ... The Golden Bough is like music - the dark resonance of Johannes Brahms' four symphonies, which inspired my "reading" of Western culture and its recurrent themes. -- Camille Paglia * Equally remarkable for its vast assembly of facts and its unusual charm of presentation. Few men of such learning have written more attractively. Concise Cambridge History of English Literature
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