The Mythological Structure: Levi-Strauss And The Foundations Of Literary Structuralism

Abstract

This study explores the transition of structuralism from a linguistic framework to a comprehensive anthropological method through the work of Claude Levi-Strauss. By comparing his narrative analysis with the formalist tradition and the psychology of the unconscious, the study illustrates how mythology serves as a collective dream and a subconscious code from our ancestors. The study concludes with a critical reflection on the “savage mind” in the modern era. While Strauss uncovers the hidden blueprints of civilization, he leads the reader toward an ultimate abstraction where the historical and emotional man is lost. Through his “bold realism”, Strauss presents an anthropology where theory stays, but the subject vanishes into the cold abstraction of universal laws.