Levi-Strauss, Claude. (1908–2009) [Rueff, Jacques. (1896–1978)] [Darwin, Charles. (1809–1882)]
L'Origine des Manieres de Table [The Origin of Table Manners]- Inscribed to Jacques Rueff
Paris: Plon. 1968. 8vo. Paperback. 478 pp. Edges a little stained and worn, else fine. Signed and inscribed on the half title by the important French anthropologist and ethnologist to Jacques Rueff, economist and adviser to Charles de Gaulle."An immense anthropological erudition is here wielded by one of the world's finest minds, and the myths themselves have never been taken more seriously. . . . [Lévi-Strauss] raises issues and then resolves them with the suspenseful cunning of a mystery novelist."—John Updike, New Yorker
"The Origin of Table Manners is the third volume of a tetralogy devoted to American Indian mythology. Unlike the first two volumes (The Raw and the Cooked, From Honey to Ashes), which are devoted to South American myths, the present one establishes relations with North America, which is the subject of the fourth (The Naked Man). . . . In the course of the analysis, the myths link up with ideas of more general interest. Thus, we find discussions of numeration, of morals, and of the origin of the novel. . . . The Origin of Table Manners is thus of special interest to students of American Indian mythology, although it contains ideas of interest to other fields and even to the general reader. (15373)
Signed Document/Item Book Science & Technology Culture, Ethnicity & Gender