The Golden Bough
The critic Camille Paglia has identified "The Golden Bough" as one of the most important influences on her book "Sexual Personae" (1990). In "Sexual Personae", Paglia described Frazer's "most brilliant perception" in "The Golden Bough" as his "analogy between Jesus and the dying gods", though she noted that it was "muted by prudence". In "Salon", she has described the work as "a model of intriguing specificity wed to speculative imagination." Paglia acknowledged that "many details in Frazer have been contradicted or superseded", but maintained that the work of Frazer's Cambridge school of classical anthropology "will remain inspirational for enterprising students seeking escape from today's sterile academic climate." Paglia has also commented, however, that the one-volume abridgement of "The Golden Bough" is "bland" and should be "avoided like the plague."