Jealous Potter

Levi-Strauss Claude

As Levi-Strauss freely explores the mythologies of the Americas, with occasional incursions into European and Japanese folklore, tales of sloths and squirrels interweave with discussions of Freud, Saussure, "signification", and plays by Sophocles and Labiche. Levi-Strauss critiques psychoanalytic interpretation and defends the interpretive powers of structuralism.

About the Author

French anthropologist and ethnologist, and has been called, along with James George Frazer, the "father of modern anthropology". His works include the four volumes of "Mythogiques", "The Savage Mind", "Structural Anthropology II", "The Jealous Potter", and (with Didier Eribon) "Conversations with Claude Levi-Strauss", all published by the University of Chicago Press.

Reviews

"Electrifying... A brilliant demonstration of structural analysis in action... Can be read with pleasure and profit by anyone interested in that aspect of self-discovery that comes through knowledge of the universal and timeless myths that live on in all of us" – Jonathan Sharp, San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle

"A characteristic tour de force... One remains awed by him" – Colin Thubron, Sunday Times

"With all its epistemological depth, the book reads at times like a Simenon or a Lewis Carroll, fusing concise methodology with mastery of style" – Bernadette Bucher, American Ethnologist

"[An] engagingly provocative exploration of mythology in the Americas... Always a good read" – Choice

"A playful, highly entertaining book, fluently and elegantly translated by Benedicte Chorier" – Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, New York Times Book Review

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