Anthropology today2001

Robert Deliège's book provides a concise overview of the monumental work of one of the greatest and most prolific thinkers of the 20th century. Claude Lévi-Strauss has had a profound and lasting impact on the course of contemporary anthropology. One could further argue that he has spawned a discipline in and of itself, so widespread has the influence of structuralism been, from linguistics to philosophy to psychology. He had a formative influence on such thinkers as Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, also Ernest Gellner, Jean Piaget, Paul Ricoeur and Vladimir Propp, to name but a few. Lévi-Strauss' visionary work sparked the debate, criticism and fervour that revived social anthropology at a critical point in the development of the discipline. This reappraisal is essential reading for students and indeed anyone wishing to have a handy introduction to one of the world's great minds.