|
Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2009 5:53:06 GMT
That was the opening line of Tristes Tropiques by Claude Lévi-Strauss, France's greatest living intellectual, at least until he died on October 31st at the age of 100. Tristes Tropiques is considered to be his masterwork, and Wikipedia says this about it: This book was essentially a memoir detailing his time as a French expatriate throughout the 1930s. Lévi-Strauss combined exquisitely beautiful prose, dazzling philosophical meditation, and ethnographic analysis of the Amazonian peoples to produce a masterpiece. The organizers of the Prix Goncourt, for instance, lamented that they were not able to award Lévi-Strauss the prize because Tristes Tropiques was non-fiction. I am ashamed to say that I have not yet read anything by Claude Lévi-Strauss, but I hope to remedy that soon.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Nov 4, 2009 6:00:07 GMT
I just went and checked.
I am as ignorant as I thought I was -- haven't read him either.
Perhaps this should be my first choice among his œuvre: L'Origine des manières de table, 1968, The Origin of Table Manners, 1978
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2009 6:07:05 GMT
To give an idea of his importance, since his death was just announced yesterday on the day of his funeral, this morning's newspaper has 13 full pages devoted to him.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Nov 4, 2009 6:25:42 GMT
His death was only announced yesterday?!
Didn't he die on the 31st?
|
|
|
Post by hwinpp on Nov 4, 2009 9:21:07 GMT
Yes, he did. But the French Academie (what's its exact name again?) only announced it a day later.
|
|