The Jealous Potter

About this book

As Lvi-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. Lvi-Strauss critiques psychoanalytic interpretation and defends the interpretive powers of structuralism. "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 Bndicte Chorier."Wendy Doniger OFlaherty New York Times Book Review