Levi Strauss' "The Savage Mind"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Levi Strauss's concepts about art as presented in "The Savage Mind" and looks at how Strauss investigates the concept of bricolage. The paper presents a very negative review of Strauss' views and suggests that Strauss' concepts are of no possible use to the artist.

From the Paper:

"It is fortunate that Claude Levi-Strauss wrote The Savage Mind in the mid-1960s, with publication in 1966. It is without doubt a work of a pre-holistic age, and as such has relatively little of value to say in a world torn between technology and metaphysics; it should be noted, of course, that technology is, in some ways, merely the tactile expression of metaphysics. Whether, for example, the computer programmer knows she is using theories of quantum physics to perform her task-and whether the 'alternative minister' some levels below Deepak Chopra knows he is doing the same in the affirmations used to access Truth-doesn't matter. It is apparent that in a universe in which string theory is a topic of conversation among the pseudo-scientific intelligentsia, and the proverbially grinding poverty of the increasingly (by comparison) less developed nations is given short shrift by almost everyone (in favor of Entertainment Tonight and its fripperies about hollow people doing hollow things), Levi-Strauss is a fossil."

More papers on Levi Strauss' "The Savage Mind":

• Book Review # 113621 : "Claude Levy-Strauss' "The Structural Study of Myth"
• Case Study # 73077 : "Levi Strauss: Case Study"
• Case Study # 69460 : "Levi Strauss Case Study"

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