Gertrude Rachel Levy (5 November 1883 – 10 October 1966) was a British author and cultural historian writing about

comparative mythology Comparative mythology is the comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics.Littleton, p. 32 Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes. For example, scholars have used ...

matriarchy Matriarchy is a social system in which positions of Power (social and political), power and Social privilege, privilege are held by women. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege, and control of property. Whil ...

epic poetry In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard t ...

and

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

. She published many of her works under the name "G. Rachel Levy".

Early life and education

Levy was born in

Aliwal North Maletswai (previously Aliwal North) is a town in central South Africa on the banks of the Orange River, Eastern Cape Province. It is a medium-sized commercial centre in the northernmost part of the Eastern Cape. The Dutch Reformed Church was b ...

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

, to Jewish parents Benjamin Levy, a German emigrant, and his wife, Florence Beaver, from Manchester.''1891 England Census'' Her father was a bead and glass merchant born in

Posen Posen may refer to: Places Europe * Poznań (German: ''Posen''), city in Poland * Grand Duchy of Posen, autonomous province of Prussia, 1815–1848 * Province of Posen, Prussian province, 1848–1918 * Posen (region), the south-western part of t ...

. Her maternal grandfather, Louis Beaver, emigrated from Prussia and married Staffordshire-born Rachel Mayer. The family moved to England when she was young and she grew up in

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

. Levy earned an M.A. in Classics in 1924 from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, and worked from 1926 to 1928 with the

Department of Antiquities A Department of Antiquities is a government department with responsibility for cultural heritage management, archaeological research and regulating antiquities trading in some countries. Many were established by British and French colonial admini ...

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

Career

From 1930 to 1936, Levy was associated with an expedition to Iraq, sponsored by the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. Later in life she lived in London, where from 1939 to 1949 she was the librarian of the Joint Library of the Hellenic and Roman Societies. The

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

elected her as a Fellow in 1947. As did

Alexander Marshack Alexander Marshack (April 4, 1918 – December 20, 2004) was an American independent scholar and Paleolithic archaeologist. He was born in The Bronx and earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from City College of New York, and worked for many yea ...

, but earlier, Levy made an observation to the effect that in the earliest known representations of humans and animals together, the humans are shown without weapons. To the theory of hero archetypes, she contributed in ''The Sword from the Rock'' a three-phase evolutionary pattern, considered neglected by Brown and Fishwick: creation narratives, then quest pattern, then fraternal conflict.

Theodore Ziolkowski Theodore Ziolkowski (September 30, 1932 – December 5, 2020) was a scholar in the fields of German studies and comparative literature. He coined the term " fifth gospel genre". Early life Theodore J. Ziolkowski was born on September 30, 1932, i ...

states that Levy included much of ancient epic in the works that can be traced back to ritual. Eleazar M. Meletinsky writes

..the monumental epics of agrarian civilizations undoubtedly use models linked to seasonal rites ..On this point, Levy's work is interesting, despite its exaggerations, and goes beyond
Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American bicycle manufacturer * Murray Motor Car Company, an American car manufacturer * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trus ...
's pioneering efforts.

Levy was an influence on

Northrop Frye Herman Northrop Frye (July 14, 1912 – January 23, 1991) was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century. Frye gained international fame with his first book, ''Fearful Symmetr ...

, as he himself acknowledged, and references to her work are common in his "Third Book" and "Late" notebooks.

Works

*''The Gate of Horn: A Study of the Religious Concepts of the Stone Age, and Their Influence upon European Thought'' (1948; republished 1963, Faber & Faber, ) *''The Sword from the Rock: An Investigation into the Origins of Epic Literature and the Development of the Hero'' (1953) *''The Violet Crown: An Athenian Autobiography'' (1954) *''Plato in Sicily'' (1956) *''The Phoenix' Nest: A Study in Religious Transformations'' (1961) Levy also edited ''The Myths of Plato'' (1905) by John Alexander Stewart for a 1960 edition, with revisions, translation of Greek text, and an introduction.

References

External links

''The Dying God and the Beginnings of Epic Literature'', BBC Third Programme, 7 May 1952 18.45

''Missing archaeological artefacts linking Malta to ancient world'', Times of Malta, June 16, 2002 by Natalino Fenech
discusses theories of Levy and

Henri Frankfort Henri "Hans" Frankfort (24 February 1897 – 16 July 1954) was a Dutch Egyptology, Egyptologist, archaeologist and orientalism, orientalist. Early life and education Born in Amsterdam, into a "Reform Judaism, liberal Jewish" family, Frankfort stud ...

on the culture of ancient Malta
Interview comments
from

John Heath-Stubbs John Francis Alexander Heath-Stubbs (9 July 1918 – 26 December 2006) was an English poet and translator. He is known for verse influenced by classical myths, and for a long Arthurian poem, "Artorius" (1972). Biography and works Heath-Stubbs ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levy, Gertrude Rachel 1883 births 1966 deaths British women writers British non-fiction writers Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London British people in Mandatory Palestine British expatriates in Iraq British Jews British people of German-Jewish descent Alumni of the University of London 20th-century British non-fiction writers Cape Colony emigrants to the United Kingdom