Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Beacon Press (1971), Edition: 1st., 128 pages
Description
"Levi-Strauss continues his assault on the myth of the primitice as savage by turning to the phenomena of totemism an totoemix classification ... to show, contrary to this myth, that primitive thought rests upon a rich and complex conceptual structure." - Commentary
User reviews
LibraryThing member earthlistener
A very interesting read. However, the book was at times kind of a hard read but considering when it was written and the fact it is very much an academic book, its not surprising. Overall, a good read over non-neopagan or New Age totemism.
LibraryThing member P_S_Patrick
A translation of Claude Levi-Strauss's classic and conclusive short volume on the problem of Totemism - why did it come about seemingly independently, and in so many complex forms, across the world; what human needs does it solve, and why this form here, and another in that place over there. Are
Levi-Strauss deftly runs through the various theories that have been proposed over the years, and then neatly ties up all the loose ends in a very satisfactory conclusion. It is a paradoxical magic trick, by showing the logic behind the mystery, the concept of Totemism itself disappears.
Though his method, Structuralism, is not fully explained here, it is not required really to see the general idea of how he got to where he did. For anyone more interested in this method of analysis (which is in itself as interesting as the topic of Totemism), it would be worth seeking out a separate work such as Edmund Leach's Modern Masters volume on Levi-Strauss, which makes the neatness of this approach more fully appreciable. Perhaps read that first.
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its roots economic, as suggested by some anthropologists, based on a misunderstanding of tribal genealogy or the natural world as suggested by others, or spawned from neurosis and anxiety as Freud suggests? Levi-Strauss deftly runs through the various theories that have been proposed over the years, and then neatly ties up all the loose ends in a very satisfactory conclusion. It is a paradoxical magic trick, by showing the logic behind the mystery, the concept of Totemism itself disappears.
Though his method, Structuralism, is not fully explained here, it is not required really to see the general idea of how he got to where he did. For anyone more interested in this method of analysis (which is in itself as interesting as the topic of Totemism), it would be worth seeking out a separate work such as Edmund Leach's Modern Masters volume on Levi-Strauss, which makes the neatness of this approach more fully appreciable. Perhaps read that first.
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Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1962
Physical description
8.5 inches
ISBN
080704671X / 9780807046715
UPC
046442046718
Local notes
SS