Ensayo erudito y apasionado, reconstruye el lenguaje mágico de la Europa antigua mediterránea y septentrional, vinculado a ceremonias religiosas populares en honor a la diosa Luna. Graves nos narra cómo en Europa y Oriente Próximo existían culturas matriarcales que adoraban a una Diosa Suprema y que reconocían a los dioses masculinos solo como sus hijos, consortes o víctimas para el sacrificio. Estas culturas fueron eliminadas por la irrupción del patriarcado que arrebató a las mujeres su autoridad, elevó a los consortes de la Diosa a una posición de supremacía divina y reconstruyó mitos y rituales para ocultar el pasado. La conquista patriarcal llegó a Britania y al resto de Europa occidental alrededor del 400 a. de C. En "La Diosa Blanca", Graves mezcla distintos géneros para, a través de los bosques mitológicos de medio mundo, sumergirnos en los antecedentes históricos, tribales y místicos de la poesía, pasando de las mitologías griegas a las simbologías panteístas y naturalistas de los bardos celtas, para terminar, satirizando a la sociedad contemporánea. Es su libro más personal, un ensayo inteligente que muestra la originalidad de Robert Graves y que resulta imprescindible para comprender su obra y su manera de pensar. La presente y definitiva edición de "La Diosa Blanca" la ha llevado a cabo el profesor Grevel Lindop a partir de la última versión y apuntes del autor para la de 1961.

An infuriating, intriguing, delightful book of balderdash and genius. A difficult and ponderous read, despite being very well written. One of those important books both impossible to believe and impossible to describe. Filled with both errors and insights. A must read for any poet, pagan or scholar of either religion or literature. 'Nuff said - read it for yourself. ( )

Sometimes it's hard to tell erudition from bullshit, and at times, The White Goddess seems to me to sort of walk that line. Certainly it is packed full of erudition about ancient history, religions, languages, trees, and customs/rituals, but the breezy way in which Graves strings these things together sometimes seems suspect. It's not so different from what I've read of Frazer's The Golden Bough (whom Graves cites here and there, at times with the modest assertion that old Frazer in his giant work simply hadn't carried things forward to their obvious conclusions), so perhaps there is tradition or prior art for this sort of work.

The book reads at times like the explication of a mythic conspiracy theory -- I can almost see Graves with scrolls and bits of papyrus pinned to his wall with lengths of yarn strung from piece to piece to demonstrate the thousands of connections he makes across myths and histories and languages. Often enough, it felt as if he had an idea in mind and that he interpreted his inputs (or often lack of inputs) to accord with his idea. At times it also reads like the ramblings of an old grandpa who starts in one place and then meanders sort of aimlessly before pausing to ask "now where was I?" and moving on to the next topic.

It is a pretty readable -- that's not to say an easy -- book in spite of its meandering. I'll confess that I didn't delve deep into the logic by which he made various numerological connections to build several variants of ancient alphabets based on tree taxonomy and linked to bardic cyphers and finger languages. I read the words and understood the general idea and trusted that I could come back to it later if ever I decided he was taking me for a ride and I wanted to try to verify for myself. Nor did I carefully cross-reference the thousands of name and story variants he breezily tossed out as if they're common knowledge (they were a veritable alphabet soup to me). Again, I trusted that he was an ok source and otherwise contented myself to be a willing victim to his knavery. I'll further confess that I skimmed some of the particularly name-heavy sections. These shortcuts are what made it readable and helped make the book a pleasure rather than a labor for me.

It's rare for a book to send my mind in so many directions with such enthusiasm. I've walked away from The White Goddess wanting to read The Mabinogion, learn more about Welsh and Irish history, research augury, and maybe get off my ass and learn Latin so that I can read the likes of Catullus in the original. I mean, I won't do most of these things, but a book that's sufficiently stimulating that it makes me want to is one that really struck a chord for me. ( )

> Le livre de référence sur la tradition celte. (Albert SARALLIER)
—Clés, (12), (Juillet-Août 1990), p. 50

A curious extended attempt to discern a unifying body of knowledge and attitude between three poetic universes. He uses the Celtic and Greek canons for his reference corpus. There are many interesting insights, but I did not find the unity that Graves was proclaiming. Still, I have not investigated these lyrics to any great depth, nor read any of the quoted originals. Quite an interesting read, however. My copy was the 1966 edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and the book has had reprints since then. ( )