The Way of the Masks

by Claude Lévi-Strauss, Sylvia Modelski (Translator)

Claude Levi-Strauss's fascination with Northwest Coast Indian art dates back to the late 1930s. "Sometime before the outbreak of the Second World War," he writes, "I had already bought in Paris a Haida slate panel pipe." In New York in the early forties, he shared his enthusiasm with a group of Surrealist refugee artists with whom he was associated. "Surely it will not be long," he wrote in an article published in 1943, "before we see the collections from this part of the world moved from ethnographic to fine arts museums to take their just place amidst the antiquities of Egypt of Persia and the works of medieval Europe. For this art is not unequal to the greatest, and, in the course of the century and a half of its history that is known to us, it has shown evidence of a superior diversity and has demonstrated apparently inexhaustible talents for renewal."

In The Way of the Masks, first published more than thirty years later, he returned to this material, seeking to unravel a persistent problem that he associated with a particular mask, the Swaihwe, which is found among certain tribes of coastal British Columbia. This book, now available for the first time in an English translation, is a vivid, audacious illustration of Levi-Strauss's provocative structural approach to tribal art and culture.

Bringing to bear on the Swaihwe masks his theory that mythical representations cannot be understood as isolated objects, Levi-Strausss began to look for links among them, as well as relationships between these and other types of masks and myths, treating them all as parts of a dialogue that has been going on for generations among neighboring tribes. The wider system that emerges form his investigation uncovers the association of the masks with Northwest coppers and with hereditary status and wealth, and takes the reader as far north as the Dene of Alaska, as far south as the Yurok of northern California, and as far away in time and space as medieval Europe. As one reader said of this book, "It will be controversial, as his work always is, and it will stimulate more scholarship on the Northwest Coast than any other single book that I can think of."

Genres: Anthropology, Art, Philosophy, Sociology, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Claude Lévi-Strauss was a French anthropologist, well-known for his development of structural anthropology. He was born in Belgium to French parents who were living in Brussels at the time, but he grew up in Paris. His father was an artist, and a member of an intellectual French Jewish family. Lévi-Strauss studied at the University of Paris. From 1935-9 he was Professor at the University of Sao Paulo making several expeditions to central Brazil. Between 1942-1945 he was Professor at the New School for Social Research. In 1950 he became Director of Studies at the Ecole Practique des Hautes Etudes. In 1959 Lévi-Strauss assumed the Chair of Social Anthroplogy at the College de France. His books include The Raw and the Cooked, The Savage Mind, Structural Anthropology and Totemism (Encyclopedia of World Biography).

Some of the reasons for his popularity are in his rejection of history and humanism, in his refusal to see Western civilization as privileged and unique, in his emphasis on form over content and in his insistence that the savage mind is equal to the civilized mind.

Lévi-Strauss did many things in his life including studying Law and Philosophy. He also did considerable reading among literary masterpieces, and was deeply immersed in classical and contemporary music.

Lévi-Strauss was awarded the Wenner-Gren Foundation's Viking Fund Medal for 1966 and the Erasmus Prize in 1975. He was also awarded four honorary degrees from Oxford, Yale, Havard and Columbia. Strauss held several memberships in institutions including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society (Encyclopedia of World Biography).

Reviews

[Petr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine book. Sometimes it's hard to follow due to the immense amount of facts, legends, myths and stories which Levi-Strauss interwove into a mosaic of more or less loose and solid connections so a great presupposition for reading this book would be (for a reader) to have at least a general overview of the Pacific Northwest Coast indigenous peoples.

Apart from the structuralist method which doesn't need to suit you, you can always learn a great deal of facts from this book, so it could be a good starting point for a deeper study of mythology and symbolism of Pacific Northwest Coast region.

[Ron Peters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Claude Lévi-Strauss’ The Way of the Masks was interesting for the most part. I’m an indigenous person, Tsimshian from the north coast of British Columbia, but I live on the south coast where the masks he analyzes come from. The book is almost entirely about trying to understand the deep meaning of the unusual-looking Sxwayxwey* mask of the Coast Salish, by referring to the origin myths, dances and costumes associated with it. A large part of the book attempts to clarify this by contrasting and comparing it with the Tsonoqua mask which is associated with several tribal groups from various parts of coastal British Columbia. He weaves a huge matrix of elements of the masks, the dance costumes, the dances, the origin myths, related myths, and only kind-of-sort-of related myths.

Lévi-Strauss was the creator and proponent of structural anthropology, which I know nothing about. As far as I can tell, what he does is cherry-pick tenuous connections from innumerable possible aspects of these myths and masks until they ‘prove’ the connections he is looking for. E.g., if I say "this is black" and you say "this is white" the fact that we say the opposite proves that we're saying the same thing. In this sense, it reminds me of other ‘just-so’ pseudo-sciences like psychoanalysis.

What I enjoyed, then, were the many illustrations (some in colour) and the recounting of many, many myths. I've always especially enjoyed all kinds of Tsonoqua stories. The rest of it is all very nice for Claude Lévi-Strauss, but he can keep it.

* There are probably a dozen ways of spelling this in Romanised form, but this comes close to the phonetic sound. Ditto for Tsonoqua.

[Hector · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy buen estudio antropológico de la mitología de las máscaras presentes en varias culturas de la costa Noreste de los EEUU. Estaba un poco desacostumbrado a leer libros tán teóricos, así que en muchas partes mi cerebro divagaba o de plano se bloqueaba, dejándome incapaz de procesar lo que se me presentaba (por eso cuatro estrellas, aunque no sea culpa del autor). Pero creo haber entendido las ideas principales de cómo la mitología, los rituales y su importantísimo lugar social, se transmiten y se comparten, transformándose entre grupos aledaños o conectados en alguna manera, bien sea geográficamente (por ríos, estuarios, etc) o socialmente, por guerra, comercio o casamientos.

Nunca deja de impresionarme la diversidad de culturas presentes en América del Norte antes de la colonización y la brutal purga de sus habitantes nativos en el momento. En un espacio "pequeño" de lo que hoy es un sólo país podemos encontrar hasta 4 o 5 culturas tan distintas pero tan similares y conectadas, y con comportamientos y mecanismos sociales que muchas veces se parecían a aquellos practicados en la alta sociedad Europea.

Recomiendo este libro a quien quiera aprender más sobre lo diverso y particular de este mundo tan extenso que compartimos. Que no extenso por su tamaño (aunque lo sea) sino por su abanico interminable de detalles por descubrir. Por último les dejo esta frase del libro que expresa muy bien un concepto que he tratado de aplicar en mi vida desde hace algún tiempo: la falsedad del concepto de "original".

Teniéndose por solitario, el artista alimenta una ilusión tal vez fecunda, pero el privilegio que se otorga no tiene nada de real. Cuando cree expresarse de manera espontánea, hacer obra original, replica a otros creadores pasados o presentes, actuales o virtuales. Sépase o ignórese, nunca se marcha a solas por el sendero de la creación

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lévi-Strauss begins this book by describing three types of masks produced by the Salish and Kwakiutl peoples of the Pacific Northwest (Northern Washington State, British Columbia, and Vancouver Island), the Swaihwé of the Salish, the similar Xwéxwé of the Kwakiutl, and the opposite type of Dzonokwa, giving a structuralist analysis of both their plastic art and the origin myths connected with them. He goes on to discuss the relation of the myths connected with the masks to the myths about the origins of copper and sums up his conclusions.

In the second part, mainly reworkings of articles he had already published in journals, he considers another type of mask, discusses the probable social structure of the Kwakiutl (which was controversial at the time) making analogies with the noble houses of Mediaeval France, and then enlarges his examination of related myths to the entire geographical/cultural area as far north as Alaska. The book is fairly technical and somewhat difficult, but very interesting.

[Adrik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting overview if the West Coast cultures in British Columbia. Levi-Strauss is eager to show all the connections between the tribes. His approach is highly structuralist and therefore at times strikes the contemporary reader as a little dated. His use of the word Indian is also a bit unfortunate, but then you have to recognize the time in which this book was written and it made me wonder what the current indigenous view of his work would be.

Nevertheless, this book serves as an introduction and certainly raised my curiosity about the West Coast and their mythology as well as their stories and cultural practices.

[Giorgio Feregrino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un libro inmersivo en los mitos que rodean a las máscaras swaihwé, que traza un entramado de relaciones entre las diversas transformaciones y semejanzas presentes con las máscaras de los indios de la costa noroeste de América del norte. "...un payaso ceremonial participaba en las danzas. Llevaba una máscara roja por un lado, negra por el otro, con la boca de través y cabellos en desorden.... Este payaso perseguía a los danzantes enmascarados y procuraba en particular pincharles los ojos...".

[Ernest Hogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Behind the academic style and structure, are stories of magic and monsters, and then there are a lot of beautiful photos of the masks. Masks have become important again. When you put one on, your identity changes. It's happening now, all over the world. We need to become aware of what is happening.

[Pablo Lugo Molinos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un libro curioso que te lleva a conocer mitos de culturas amerindias del noroeste americano. A través de los mitos y las máscaras, Lévi-Strauss nos explica el funcionamiento de estas tribus norteñas con un estilo muy peculiar.

[Can · Rating 4 out of 5]

★★★★☆ 分析西海岸印第安人仪式面具和特征类似的传说有两个角度：家族继承和道德警示。继承法缘利益出发，无严格父系母系，和查理五世、阿基坦的埃利诺一样灵活，家族存在地区名和祖先名；传说隐喻乱伦禁忌及其他反社会行为破坏宇宙秩序，合适距离的婚配才能破除惩罚并带来财富（铜）及繁荣。怪物、面具、传说都是其特征的变形。提炼特征、匹配归类很精彩，不过看完对于Dzonokwa这类形象，以及家族参与土著社会运作的方式还是半头雾水。第一次认真看史陀，惭愧

[Roberto Yoed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mythologies V

[Klaudia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nie przepadam za stylem pisania Straussa, ale typ miał łep. Kwakiutl i ich maski to ciekawy case, ale wolalabym poczytać o nich u kogoś innego.

xwe xwe/swaihwe masks

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic pictures - sort of interesting commentary - not sure i quite got all he was getting at.

[A.K.]

The subject matter should by rights be RIVETING but trying to chew through this has been like trying to eat paper towels for me. I regret to say it but there it is.

[Edoxide · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notevole, a volte difficile da seguire se non sei del ramo