Acceso usuarios
Stefano Acerbo
The edition of the "Library" published by James George Frazer in the 1921 is still a reference edition in the English-speaking countries and played an important role in the reception of Apollodorus’s work, that has not been completely recognised. At the same time, scholars consider the introduction to this edition an important document to reconstruct the thought of the Scottish anthropologist since it contains the last reflection on the nature of the myths written by him. In the first part of the article, by taking in account the entire work (e.g. notes and appendices) I’ll revise the previous opinion that considers this work a reversion to an intellectualistic approach to the myth and a withdrawal from the euhemeristic and ritualist theories and a renouncement to a unitary vision of the myth. I’ll show that the euhemerism adopted by Frazer derived from the influence of Schliemann’s archaeological discoveries and from the current debate on the nature of the Greek heroes and that it doesn’t contrast with an intellectual approach. Also, the attention paid to the role played by the bards, underlined by the category of folk tales, can be inserted in a global reflection of the myth. However, I’ll show that this reflection, with its criticism to the ritualistic theories, doesn’t imply a real reconsideration of the theoretical frame of the Golden Bough, as shown by the notes to the text. In the second part, I’ll argue that Frazer’s decision to enrich the edition with long notes with «loci paralleli» and his presentation of the mythographer as an ingenuous and faithful compilator of previous good sources, contributed significantly to the success of the "Library" in the XX century, but, at the same time, determined an oversimplified use of this text as a reference work not different from modern encyclopaedic mythological dictionary.
