Myth and Meaning: Cracking the Code of Culture Review

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Myth and Meaning: Cracking the Code of Culture ReviewMYTH AND MEANING is a short and easily-digestible work based on a series of interviews and discussions delivered by the venerable French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss and broadcast by Canadian radio in 1977. Its informal and conversational style (based on his responses to a series of questions posed by the CBC producer who is interviewing him) allows us broad-stroke insight into Lévi-Strauss's development of structuralism and his theories about science.
A self-professed "non-scientist" with a strong interest in science, Lévi-Strauss begins by outlining the divergence between science and "mythical and mystical thought" which began to occur around the 17th century in European intellectual traditions. The result is, we are lead to believe, that we have somehow lost something: something we may yet strive to regain or at least try to understand better.
Lévi-Strauss makes the argument that `primitive' thought is as rich and complex as so-called `civilized' thought, debunking various functionalist and traditional viewpoints that deny the savage mind has the ability to think both disinterestedly and intellectually. "In order for a culture to be really itself... its members must be convinced of their originality and even... of their superiority over the others." Mythical thinking may be the originality that we have lost in modern life.
One gets the sense that Lévi-Strauss develops his theories as he speaks-extemporaneously. He almost admits as much in his introduction: "I forget what I have written practically as soon as it is finished... I have the feeling that my books get written through me and that once [finished], I feel empty and nothing is left." Some of his explanations of particular myths, though entertaining, are a bit "out there" and border implausibility. One may reproach him for his methods or dispute his theories, but no one can deny that MYTH AND MEANING provides a fascinating glimpse into the mind of this original and controversial thinker.
Jeremy W. ForstadtMyth and Meaning: Cracking the Code of Culture Overview

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Meaning of Folklore: The Analytical Essays of Alan Dundes Review

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Meaning of Folklore: The Analytical Essays of Alan Dundes ReviewDundes's understanding of folklore is not only broad in conception, but also internally mixed, involuted in a way like a finely-woven sweater. The involution is not from confusion or lack of command; but rather an intellectual, methodological, and subject matter circuitry which makes for illumination and depth of insight and relevance. This is why Bronner put the time in to collecting, organizing, and writing knowledgeable introductory essays to the 20 articles divided into the two sections of (1) Structure and Analysis and (2) Worldview and Identity.
Dundes's conception of folklore and practice of exploration of it in all its forms obviously is not confined to academia or the study of remote, dying aboriginal societies. This perspective was not only by intention and inclination, but also articulated in his self-conscious theory of folklore and frequent lectures on it. "Dundes did not think of traditions [the central subject of folklore] as relics of the past and often took to the lectern to show that folklore was very much a part of the modern technological world...[he was] the champion of the modern view that folklore was an artistic process rather than a dusty artifact...It is not something that is relegated to primitivized others--historically or socially--but rather a behavioral pattern that everyone exhibits." Dundes not only championed this modern view, but played a major role in expressing it and legitimizing it.
Dundes (d. 2005) was ahead of his time in his understanding and promulgation of folklore. His conception and activity dovetailed with the present-day interest among scholars, social observers, those in the relatively new field of cultural studies, and such in popular culture with its fetishes, tribalism, rites (e. g., shopping), and other features. Modern culture--postmodern culture--does not make any sense without applying principles, terms, etc., from folklore to it. Dundes instinctively realized this with respect to any culture. For him, folklore was not simply the subject matter of a discipline, but an approach to the world; in fact, a necessary means of gaining a meaningful, pertinent understanding of it.
"The body of material Dundes worked on was, broadly stated, culture...Folklore is prime evidence of culture, indeed of humanity." Folklore is central to individual and group identity, behavior, manner of development, and other elements found in any individual, group, or culture. Dundes uniquely and exceptionally embodied and manifest folklore as a prime contemporary field of the humanities.Meaning of Folklore: The Analytical Essays of Alan Dundes Overview

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The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols (Dictionary, Penguin) Review

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The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols (Dictionary, Penguin) ReviewThis is a thinker's dictionary, not a guide to road signs and icons. The editors took the trouble to recruit symbol experts from many different professions, ranging from the paranormal to the skeptical academic. The result is a dictionary with entries that have more depth than the usual "quick hits" that other symbolism dictionaries give you. Chevalier is not afraid to give contradictory or contrasting meanings of icons. (He is not a universalist, but a relativist.) He is usually careful to identify the culture in which a particular meaning is given. I keep this in easy reach on my bookshelf, reminding myself, however, that no dictionary on this subject can possibly cover all the meanings a symbol may have. It is worth having around.The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols (Dictionary, Penguin) Overview

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Crossing and Dwelling: A Theory of Religion Review

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Crossing and Dwelling: A Theory of Religion ReviewKafka writes, "When the sage says: 'Go over,' he does not mean that we should cross to some actual place." Likewise, the genius of this work is not in its literal examples -- its religious documentation and theoretical viruosity -- but in its metaphoric ambition. For Tweed, religion is mobility, negotiation, exchange. While many theologians and historians put religion in neat chronological boxes, or dissect it like a frog pinned to a platter, Tweed attempts to understand religious life as it is lived: in daily negotiations, imaginations, and revelations. A book for the scholar and the believer alike, this imaginative and intensely intellectual study will revolutionize the way you understand contemporary fundamentalism, New Agism, and transnational religious movements.Crossing and Dwelling: A Theory of Religion Overview

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Elsevier's Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery: In English (With Definitions) Review

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Elsevier's Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery: In English (With Definitions) ReviewA dictionary of imagery as given by Ad de Vries gives the reader an entrance into often difficult symbols and the connections between them. The book leaves the reader a lot of room to distill his or her specific meaning (from allegories, metaphors, signs, types, psychology, myth etc.) from the sought after symbol. For that reason several meanings are given that may apply simultaneously (or in interconnection with each other) giving the user the necessary space for a very personal interpretation. The dictionary thus recognizes the fact that, when intuitively used, the meaning of one image can often lead to a deeper source which the lay person would not easily have distinguished. The book does have a possible drawback in that the material chosen from has been restricted to "Western" civilisation. However, a drawback can also be seen as a positive point in focus.Elsevier's Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery: In English (With Definitions) Overview

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