The Crock of Gold 1912 one of three original novels by James Stephens is a work only a master of fiction and folklore could imagine Taking up the major philosophical and psychological concerns of the earlytwentieth centuryover a decade before works by TS Eliot James Joyce and Virginia Woolf among others would cement literary Modernisms place in historyStephens novel is a groundbreaking and important work The text centers on the Philosopher and his wife the Thin Woman who undergo a series of journeys and harrowing trials Faced with danger both human and divine the two characters are forced to weather the winds of change in order to change themselves Divided into six books The Crock of Goldno doubt inspired by the Irish oral tradition of storytellingfollows the Philosophers quest to save the most beautiful woman in the world his encounter with the gods who have captured her his return home and arrest for murder he has been framed by leprechauns incensed at the loss of their crock of gold and finally the Thin Womans quest to find the fabled Three Infinites James Stephens The Crock of Gold is perhaps unparalleled in its ability to weave together ancient narrative techniques mythological sources and such dominant themes of its day as gender equality and humanitys quest for selfunderstanding beyond the traditional boundaries of faith and religion It is also a darkly comic novel full of ironic political commentary and suspiciously human conversations situated within the animal...
