Claude Levi-Strauss – The Structural Study of Myth – summary, review and analysis - part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4
In his "The Structural Study of Myth" Claude Levi-Strauss uses the famous example of the myth of Oedipus to illustrate his structural methodology for the study of myth. Levi-Strauss divides the different mythemes (structural units that make up the myth) of the Oedipus myth into a chart that provides both diachronic and synchronic, both syntagmatic and paradigmatic, representation of the structure of the myth. Each column in Levi-Strauss' chart of the Oedipus myth expresses variants of the same theme and the development of the plot is represented by the relations between the columns.
In his "The Structural Study of Myth" Claude Levi-Strauss uses the famous example of the myth of Oedipus to illustrate his structural methodology for the study of myth. Levi-Strauss divides the different mythemes (structural units that make up the myth) of the Oedipus myth into a chart that provides both diachronic and synchronic, both syntagmatic and paradigmatic, representation of the structure of the myth. Each column in Levi-Strauss' chart of the Oedipus myth expresses variants of the same theme and the development of the plot is represented by the relations between the columns.
This
method enables Levi-Strauss to locate binary relations in the Oedipus myth. For
example, the first column in Levi-Strauss' chart has meythemes that represent
the attribution of high value to kinship relations (such as Oedipus marries his
mother) while events in the second column represent a downscaling of the family
(Oedipus kills his father). The third and fourth column in Levi-Strauss' chart
of the Oedipus myth represent a binary contradiction regarding the autochthonous
origins of man.
Thus,
Levi-Strauss' chart of the mythemes of the Oedipus myth find two sets of contradiction
which Levi-Strauss finds to be correlated. The validation of the autochthonous
theme is the devaluation of the family and kinship and vise-versa. According to
Levi-Strauss, these contradictions appear in other cultures' mythologies and they
therefore represent a central issue for all cultures.
According
to Levi-Strauss in "The Structural Study of Myth" symbolic
translation of different issues is what makes up the myth in the first place
and what enables it to function. For example, a binary pair like life/death can
be translated into a symbolic pair of sky/earth and eventually find a symbol
which unites the two, such as mist (located between the sky and the earth and
connects them). These relations should, according to Levi-Strauss, the object
of the study of myth.
Claude Levi-Strauss – The Structural Study of Myth – summary, review and analysis - part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4
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Claude Levi-Strauss – The Structural Study of Myth – summary, review and analysis - part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4
