Levi-Strauss for Beginners

by Boris Wiseman, Judy Groves

Explores and illuminates the major contribution that Claude Levi-Strauss has made to contemporary aesthetic theory.

Genres: Anthropology, Philosophy, History, Nonfiction, Biography, Mythology, Science

175 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful introduction to this complex and important thinker. Read about some of his works, but I am going to have to get my hands on his books (at some point in time) to really look deeper into some of the concepts covered in this book. Definitely have to make reading his works a priority.

[Adriana Scarpin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eu gosto muito dessa série de quadrinhos introducing/para iniciantes, se você conhece os autores é uma boa forma de relembrar e se você não os conhece é uma boa forma de saber do que se trata. Esse do Lévi-Strauss deixa claro o quanto ele deve à Saussure, como desbanca as teorias de Freud e Jung, além de pincelar suas teorias estéticas e antropológicas.

[Zi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous.

[K Olson · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know what it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Some parts were ridiculous while other parts of his theory are plausible. I’m still not a fan of how he completely dismissed the individual, and sometimes fits parts of culture to match his structuralism. Book wise this was decent and somewhat made sense.

[Mohamed Hassan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing

[Castles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like de Saussure, Levi-Strauss is mainly known in cultural studies in the academy as a main figure of structuralism. You tend to forget that his main study was anthropology, and even if you do know, you probably didn’t hear about his conclusions so much. This book is a good introduction to the actual work he did and not just his structuralist context.

[nettie]

love hate vztah se straussem

[bowiesbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This genuinely saved my life for my Social Anthropology degree - one of the most helpful simplified books I’ve ever read!

[Silah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet

Highly enjoyable read, short yet powerful in informing the subject. It is a great starting point for anyone who would like to get to know the great thinker Levi-Strauss.

[Jacob Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff, Maynard. Really eye opening and I'm glad I live in a Hot society. Read it for an explanation.

[Andrew Noselli · Rating 3 out of 5]

An early mention of Maurice Merleau-Ponty caught my attention, I had just finished reading the middle-third of his book, "The Phenomenology of Perception" this afternoon. It's a book about seeing, double-vision and psychic disorders - right up my alley in terms of disabling affectations. And it fits in well with the thoughts of Claude Levi-Strauss, too, as he too symbolically references my position as the forever-virginal hero who does not know how to use words to ask the question that will free him from his psychotic blindness, the question which parallels his insight into the evolutionary development from structuralist male-oriented modern historical time to a female-centered postmodernist multiverse of ideological space. Levi-Strauss' final affirmation that the universe is not a chaos, I found enlightening and gave me reason to look into his work in greater detail. It's my ambition to write a Levi-Straussian critique of Jeff Koons Made in Heaven, which, I plan to reveal, is not about sex at all, but about the signifying order of power-dynamic made concrete in the sexually-encoded images that are simultaneously culturally hot and textually "cool."

[Rosella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Como dijimos en clase: Las ideas de este hombre son un tanto complicadas y confusas, pero cuánta razón tiene en lo que dice.

Una vez entiendes la base de lo que es el estructuralismo se hace más fácil leer lo demás.
A mí particularmente me ha gustado mucho entender su punto de vista. Espero poder leer "Tristes trópicos" muy pronto.

[Gay Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was not expecting this type of book to read

It was an interesting perspective but disliked the primitive illustrations and found the information to be somewhat tedious in my opinion

[Bere Tarará · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encanta este resumen introducción, desconocía esta editorial, pero ahora soy su fan

[Andrew Corsini · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's interesting how many philosophers use myths to convey their ideas.

[ZZ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the 'cooked' version of the raw writings of Lévi-Strauss and its dee-licious!

[Insert name here · Rating 3 out of 5]

More accessible than "Introducing Baudrillard" and "Introducing Foucault," but that is probably mostly because as an anthropology major I was already quite familiar with Levi-Strauss. Still pretty terrible for an allegedly introductory text. This entire series should be retitled "Recapitulating _____."

[Mai Bui · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entire book can be read in one sitting if you invest enough attention. Easy, concise and fun introduction for the lazy learner. A bit too much focus on Levi-Strauss's study of mythology, not enough on his ethnographic works.

[Public_enemy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but it could have been more concise.