From Ritual to Romance

From Ritual to Romance is a 1920 book written by Jessie Laidlay Weston. The work's current fame partly rests on it being mentioned by T.S. Eliot in the notes to his poem, The Waste Land. 'Not only the title, but the plan & a good deal of the incidental symbolism of the poem were suggested by Miss Jessie L. Weston's book.'Weston's book is an academic examination of the roots of the King Arthur legends & seeks to make connections between the early pagan elements & the later Christian influences. The book's main focus is on the Holy Grail tradition & its influence, particularly the Wasteland motif. The origins of Weston's book are in James George Frazer's seminal work on folklore, magic & religion, The Golden Bough, & in the works of Jane Ellen Harrison.The book appears in the film Apocalypse Now, among those kept by the character, Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando, along with The Golden Bough.Title PagePrefaceContentsQuotesI IntroductoryII The Task of the HeroIII The Freeing of the WatersIV Tammuz & AdonisV Medieval & Modern Forms of Nature RitualVI The SymbolsVII The Sword DanceVIII The Medicine ManIX The Fisher KingX The Secret of the Grail 1) The MysteriesXI The Secret of the Grail 2) The Naassene DocumentXII Mithra & AttisXIII The Perilous ChapelXIV The Author