Overture and Finale
Lévi-Strauss, Music, and Religion
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5776712 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Christopher I Lehrich (Boston University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 305-325 |
| Publication date | 2011-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Method & Theory in the Study of Religion (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0943-3058 • E-ISSN: 1570-0682 |
| Publisher | Brill (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1163/157006811x608403 |
| OpenAlex | W1986519502 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
Claude Levi-Strauss's writings are filled with intricate discussions of music, seemingly intended to clarify his thinking about myth and ritual. His peculiar, idiosyncratic musical remarks point in surprising directions, posing a significant and continuing challenge to scholars of religion. In an important recent book, music semiologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez explicates Levi-Strauss's musical ideas and levels a number of strong criticisms. Drawing on the original texts as well as Nattiez's critique, I argue that while Levi-Strauss is certainly wrong about music, this very wrongness reveals dimensions of his project of considerable importance for our own discipline. Specifically, I find that Levi-Strauss's conception of myth, as it arises in the context of his somewhat bizarre ideas about contemporary music, raises difficult methodological and ethical questions about particularism and the necessity of comparison
Levi strauss · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Media, Communication, and Education · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity
| Citations per year | 0.25 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2014 - 2024 (11) |
| Highly cited | No |