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The anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss was one of the greatest intellectuals of the twentieth century. His work has had a profound impact not only within anthropology but also linguistics, sociology and philosophy. In this short book he examines the nature and role of myth in human history, distilling a lifetime of writing into a few sharp insights. It is a crystalline overview of many of the basic ideas underlying his work, including the theory of structuralism and the difference between 'primitive' and 'scientific' thought and shows why Levi-Strauss remains a hugely important intellectual figure.
With a new foreword by Patrick Wilcken.
Foreword to the Routledge Great Minds Edition 1. The 1977 Massey lectures 2. An Introduction 3. The Meeting of Myth and Science 4. 'Primitive' Thinking and the 'Civilized' Mind 5. Harelips and Twins: The Splitting of a Myth 6. When Myth Becomes History 7. Myth and Music