The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion

James George Frazer (born Glasgow 1854, died Cambridge 1941) was an influential social anthropologist and folklorist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He studied classics at the University of Glasgow and Trinity College, Cambridge, and spent most of his academic career as a Classics Fellow at Trinity. His wife, Lily Grove; his university mentors and colleagues; field researchers and missionaries; and the thinkers of his day all influenced his development of comparative religious studies and aided in his creation of The Golden Bough.

In 1896, he married French-born British writer and translator Elizabeth “Lily” Grove. Her efforts considerably raised Frazer’s esteem among contemporary critics and scholars. She became Frazer’s editor, promoting his scholarship, which she abridged, translated into French, and adapted for children.

Frazer’s university mentors, including the classicist W. H. Rouse, influenced him by encouraging him to explore the nascent field of anthropology and its relationship to myth and religion, a comparative approach that had not yet been considered. The founder of cultural anthropology, E. B. Tylor, also influenced Frazer, and Tylor’s work on animism (the belief that all objects and beings have a spiritual nature) and the evolution of modern religious thought became the foundation for Frazer’s own comparative work.