Wild Thought: A New Translation of La Pensée Sauvage

380 Pages·2021·5.088 MB·English

by  Claude Levi-Strauss

WILD THOUGHT

WILD
THOUGHT
A New Translation of
La Pensée sauvage
CLAUDE LÉVI- STRAUSS
Translated by Jeffrey Mehlman and John Leavitt
With annotations by John Leavitt
The UniversiTy of ChiCago Press
Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2021 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in
the case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more
information, contact the University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St.,
Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2021
Printed in the United States of America
30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 20801- 5 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 41308- 2 (paper)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 41311- 2 (e- book)
DOI: https:// doi. org /10 .7208 /chicago /9780226413112 .001 .0001
Originally published in French as La Pensée sauvage © Librairie Plon,
1962. This translation is based on the Pléiade edition of Claude Lévi-
Strauss’s works edited by Vincent Debaene, Frédéric Keck, Marie
Mauzé, and Martin Ruef © Gallimard, 2008.
Published with the generous assistance of the France Chicago Center’s
Collège de France Program.
Frontispiece: The wild pansy (Viola tricolor). Plate from P.-J. Redouté,
Choix des plus belles fleurs (Paris, 1827).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lévi- Strauss, Claude, author. | Mehlman, Jeffrey, translator.
| Leavitt, John Harold, 1952– translator, writer of supplementary
textual content.
Title: Wild thought : a new translation of “La pensée sauvage” / Claude
Lévi- Strauss ; translated by Jeffrey Mehlman and John Leavitt ; with
annotations by John Leavitt.
Other titles: Pensée sauvage. English
Description: Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press,
2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020027878 | ISBN 9780226208015 (cloth) | ISBN
9780226413082 (paperback) | ISBN 9780226413112 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Ethnopsychology. | Folk classification. | Cognition.
Classification: LCC GN451 .L3813 2021 | DDC 155.8/ 2—dc23
LC record available at https:// lccn.loc .gov/ 2020027878
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992
(Permanence of Paper).
In memory of Maurice Merleau- Ponty

. . . and there is pansies, that’s for thoughts
shakesPeare, Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5
Il n’y a rien au monde que les Sauvages, les paysans et les gens
de province pour étudier à fond leurs affaires dans tous les sens;
aussi, quand ils arrivent de la Pensée au Fait, trouvez- vous les
choses complètes.
There is nothing in the world like Savages, peasants, and provin-
cials for studying out their affairs to the bottom and in all their
bearings; thus, when they move from the Thought to the Deed,
you find things complete.
BalzaC, Le Cabinet des antiques, 1836

CONTENTS
Translators’ Introduction
by John Leavitt · xi
Prospectus for La Pensée sauvage, 1962 · xix
Preface · xxi
1 The Science of the Concrete · 1
2 The Logic of Totemic Classifications · 41
3 Systems of Transformations · 85
4 Totem and Caste · 121
5 Categories, Elements, Species, Numbers · 151
6 Universalization and Particularization · 181
7 The Individual as Species · 215
8 Time Regained · 245
9 History and Dialectic · 279
Appendix: On the Wild Pansy · 309
Bibliography · 313
Notes to the Translation · 323
Index · 349