'Juliette Wood's Eternal Chalice is a fascinating interdisciplinary study that attempts to answer the question, What is the Holy Grail? In exploring the ways in which the Grail weaves in and out of medieval and modern culture, Wood discusses crucial aspects of the legend that have been overlooked or understudied by previous literary and cultural scholars. Her research is comprehensive: in the course of her wide-ranging investigation, she examines literary works, folklore and mythology, religion and philosophy, medieval and modern history, and esoteric beliefs. And she incorporates texts from Chretien's Perceval to Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, places from Glastonbury to Rosslyn Chapel, groups from the Templars to the Priory of Sion. Drawing on folklorists and literary scholars-including such central figures as James Frazer, Alfred Nutt, Jessie Weston, and R. S. Loomis-Wood analyzes theories of the Grail from the Christian to the pagan to the New Age. One of the strengths of Wood's book is that it brings this diverse material together convincingly, thus revealing the interconnectedness of the seemingly diverse strands of Grail lore. For anyone interested in the Grail, either as a subject of literature and folklore or as a key theme in modern conspiracy theories, Eternal Chalice is essential reading.' - Alan Lupack, Director of the Robbins Library and Adjunct Professor of English, University of Rochester; author of The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend 'The Grail is by definition the most mysterious of objects, and Juliette Wood is a wise and well informed guide to the numerous legends it has spawned. She tells something of a wonder tale, not about the Grail itself, but about the unslakeable thirst to identify it, explain it, and produce conspiracy theories about it wherever evidence is lacking. She explores the various beliefs about its origins in Christianity or Celtic paganism; she discusses the earliest texts in which it appears and the many later adaptations and inventions to which they gave rise. Glastonbury, Shugborough Hall, Rosslyn and Rennes-le-Chateau are all here, as are the Cathars, the Templars, the Freemasons, the Priory of Sion, and all the eccentric personalities who promoted their links with the Grail. The assorted objects that claim to be the thing itself are discussed and illustrated. The book offers interesting insights into the various anthropological movements, psychological needs, wishful thinking and gullibility that have combined to generate our present-day obsessions.' - Helen Cooper, Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English, University of Cambridge
