Chapter Claude Levi-Strauss of Critical Theory 2: Structuralism and Existentialism by Literary Criticism

objective. Do pay attention, however, to his three final comments on p. 821b. He says that repetition, in myth as in oral literature, is necessary to reveal the structure of the myth. Because of this need for repetition, the myth is "slated," meaning it tells its story in layer after layer (see the diagram on p. 815). However, the layers, or "slates," aren't identical, even though they repeat key elements in the structure. Because of this, the myth "grows spiralwise," meaning the story it tells unfolds as the myth goes on. In other words, the myth "grows" as it is told; Levi-Strauss points out that this growth is continuous, while the structure of the myth, which doesn't grow, is discontinuous. This is a version of the synchronic- diachronic split mentioned earlier, and of the langue-parole distinction. Levi-Strauss compares this aspect of myth, that it both grows and remains static, to molecules (again enhancing the "scientific" nature of his method). He also says that myths function in cultures to "provide a logical model capable of overcoming a contradiction." Such a contradiction might consist of believing in two precisely opposite things, such as chthonous and autochthonous origins, or selfishness and altruism. The important thing for Levi-Strauss is that every culture has these contradictions, because every culture organizes knowledge into binary opposite pairs of things, and that these contradictions have to be reconciled logically (and again, he wants everything to be explainable through logic and "science). This is echoed in his third point, on p. 822, that the "logic" of myth is just as rigorous and "logical" as the logic of science. It's not that science is somehow smarter or more evolved than myth, but rather that the two modes of understanding and interpreting the world share the same basic structure (that of logic) applied to different things. And yes, one might critique this view of Levi- Strauss' by pointing out that his own explanations favour science over "myth," as he insists that his method of myth analysis is scientific, and therefore better than other methods.