Tristes Tropiques (Penguin Classics)

Tristres Tropiques is regarded as one of the supreme intellectual achievements of the twentieth century. This is no small praise for a century which saw, among other things, Einstein’s relativity theories, quantum mechanics, the novels of Woolf and Joyce and the discovery of DNA. Is Tristes Tropiques really in such exalted intellectual territory?At first sight one would say no. Beginning as a travelogue then evolving into an anthropological study of primitive tribes and then concluding with a brief philosophical meditation, it seems like an interesting enough book but not an intellectual heavyweight.But a closer reading changes Tristes Tropiques from a meandering tale into a staggering intellectual achievement. As much as this can be done in a brief review let me try to provide a sketch.The first question the book implicitly deals with is the problem of the anthropologist. Why does he leave his own society to record and analyze a society some thousands of miles away? Doesn’t this enjoin some rejection of his own society? And how objective can an anthropologist be? Does she not always insert her own society’s biases and prejudices into her study of others?Levi-Strauss ultimately sides with those who cannot eliminate subjectivity from anthropological science. Thus, the first part of the book is not a travelogue but a guide to the subjective element present in the study of primitive peoples.He then uses this anthropological study to advance the idea that all cultures bear within them the perspective and biases of their predecessors. Thus, every individual is to a large extent an anthropologist. We live in one culture while at the same time interacting with our cultural ancestors.The anthropological study thus leads to the ultimate philosophical conclusions of the work. If all cultures are a matter of subjective experience there is no sense in which a culture can be separated from the participant and subjected to comparison by an objective standard. Therefore, our subjective experience of the twenty-five centuries of mythology, philosophy and science that separates the modern West from primitive cultures makes us no better in any objective sense. The ascent of Western culture is just a continuation of a speech that is, in the end, devoid of meaning.All one can do is realize the real presence of human suffering and react with compassion. One can fully participate in the particular human community one finds oneself placed in. This is the ultimate locus of any meaning. The individual, so prized by the modern West, is after all the most entropic of beings, condemned to meaningless speech and final dissolution.I am not asking the prospective reader to share or sympathize with these conclusions. Instead, all I am pointing out is the remarkable intellectual achievement to articulate a meta-theory of anthropology, mixed with a theory of human culture and development into a theory of how to comport oneself in the modern world all by narrating a travelogue and scientific study with concluding philosophical musings. It is a stunning artistic achievement and is deservedly considered one of the greatest books of the twentieth century.As for whether one should read it that is more of a personal decision. Not all great works of literature have to be read by everyone. But if this account of human life piques one’s interest or if one simply wants to share in the pleasure of reading a book that is a deserved classic then Tristes Tropiques might be a good choice. I certainly will remember the themes of the book, which I have only touched on here, for a long time to come.

This "collage" of material, as Lévi-Strauss himself called this work, consists, essentially, of three separate sections: 1.) The beginning of the work which brims with philosophical meditations on the current state of post-war Europe - The book was penned in 1950. - amidst various and sundry other subjects combined with splendid, lyrically descriptive passages. 2.) An account of his fieldwork in Brazil. 3.) A rather odd, and sometimes very "triste" indeed personal reflection upon what the point of being an anthropologist is at all. The second part, whilst it comprises the greater part of the work, is of the least intrinsic interest unique to Lévi-Strauss. One could pick up a random copy of National Geographic and read much the same sort of thing. That being so, I'll concern myself with the two sections - the first and last - which raise the book above the common lot of travelogue, social commentary and random meditation.The first section is primarily, I should say, an elaboration of Lévi-Strauss's observation in the first pages that, "Mankind has opted for monoculture." In many ways, it reminds one of the wistful lamentations of Gregor Von Rezzori, in its subject matter as well as in its stylism. It is a curious mixture of autobiography and a richly worded indictment of Western society as a whole which has the consistency, unusual amongst French writers, of not sparing any amour-propre for France as an exception. The entire landscape comes alive as if in agonised death-throes, as in the following passage:"Towards evening, there was a thunderstorm and the water glistened in the distance like a beast's underbelly. At the same time, the moon was hidden by ragged patches of cloud, which the wind blew into zigzags, crosses and triangles. These weird shapes were lit up as from within, and against the dark background of the sky they looked like a tropical version of the Aurora Borealis. From time to time a reddish fragment of moon could be glimpsed through these smoky apparitions, as it appeared, disappeared, and reappeared, like an anguished lantern drifting across the sky."There are many such stunning descriptions in this first section.The third section, for all its profound and richly historical meditations and its eccentricities, such as Lévi-Strauss's rather involved synopsis of a play he was writing, set in Ancient Rome under emperor Augustus, is essentially an attempt to deal with a personal crisis, stated clearly by our author here:"The world began without man and will end without him. The institutions, morals and customs that I shall have spent my life noting down and trying to understand are the transient efflorescence of a creation in relation to which they have no meaning, except perhaps that of allowing mankind to play its part in creation."What Lévi-Strauss is concluding with here - despite lengthy disquisitions upon such topics as Islam and entropy, amongst others - is nothing less than a question of what he is doing in this world - Quelle est ma raison d'être? - to which, of course, there is no satisfactory answer, though Lévi-Strauss certainly exhausts himself, and the reader, with possible avenues, centred around Buddhism for the most part.In the end, the book is a richly imagined collage of world-searching and soul-searching, especially recommended for those studying, in one way or another, la maladie humaine.

While Levi-Strauss’s theoretical writings are mostly impenetrable to common mortals, this travelogue about getting to the places where a budding anthropologist might study cultures is warm and inviting.

As I have worked my way through the four-volume masterpiece Mythologies I grew ever deeper into the mind of Claude Levi-Strauss. What a joy! Solid analytical understanding of that spontaneous play of the mind we call 'myth.' These works are some of the most significant contributions to the meaning of stories and storytelling I can think of with far reaching implications for all social practices. Finally I am getting around to reading this very ably translated work of the author's 'autobiography.' So fluent, so fluid, so vivid. It's a shame that 'structuralism' was seen merely as another French 'fad' when it fact it offers an entrance into an endless mansion of pleasures.

The descriptions of the indigenous peoples of Brazil were worth the price of admission but this is as desultory as Montaigne essays but that’s a matter of taste. Don’t think it would fly in our politically correct culture not that I care, glad I read it, going to the Amazon and will see some natives 80 years after Levi-Strauss soon

Classic study of an anthropologist's coming of age, intellectually, with searing and prescient writing about the fate of Europe, the European dream of the original other, and Levi-Strauss's own reckoning with his time in Brazil. A must read.

Perfect

Classic.

thanks