“All would agree on the influence of the voluminous oeuvre of Lévi-Strauss within the history of the Human Sciences. To come to terms with it, we need a reliable guide, such as this. Students of kinship, myth, or mythical thinking may disagree with some of Godelier’s positions, but have here a splendid basis on which to build.”<br /> <b>—Nick Allen, University of Oxford</b><br /><br />“Maurice Godelier, eminent French anthropologist, surveys and assesses, sympathetically and critically, the mass of writings on kinship and mythology of another eminent French anthropologist, Claude Lévi-Strauss. This deep engagement of the one with the other is, for readers, both a pleasure and a powerful tool.” <br /><b>—Thomas R. Trautmann, Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan</b> <br /><br /><br />“Cuts through the fog of commentary surrounding the legacy of this most enigmatic of scholars, to address Lévi-Strauss’s legacy in its own, properly anthropological terms. The book is a joy to read.”<b> —Tim Ingold, University of Aberdeen</b>
As a young man, Maurice Godelier was Claude Lévi-Strauss's assistant. Since then, Godelier has drawn on this experience to develop a profound and intimate grasp on the writings of his former teacher, one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century. Meticulously researched, Lévi-Strauss: A Critical Study of His Thought will prove indispensable to students of Lévi-Strauss and to structural anthropologists more generally. It is a compelling and comprehensive study destined to become the definitive work on the evolution of Lévi-Strauss's ideas, at the heart of which lies his analysis of kinship and myth.