At the age of eighty, one of the most influential yet reclusive intellectuals of the twentieth century consented to his first interviews in nearly thirty years. Hailed by "Le Figaro" as "an event," the resulting conversations between Claude Levi-Strauss and Didier Eribon (a correspondent for "Le Nouvel Observateur") reveal the great anthropologist speaking of his life and work with ease and humor. Now available in English, the conversations are rich in Levi-Strauss's candid appraisals of some of the best-known figures of the Parisian intelligentsia: surrealists Andre Breton and Max Ernst, with whom Levi-Strauss shared a bohemian life in 1940s Manhattan; de Beauvoir, Sartre, and Camus, the stars of existentialism; Leiris, Foucault, Dumezil, Jacob, Lacan, and others. His long friendships with Jakobson and Merleau-Ponty are recalled, as well as his encounters with prominent figures in American anthropology: Lowie, Boas (who suddenly died in his chair beside Levi-Strauss at a banquet at Columbia University), Benedict, Linton, Mead, and Kroeber. Levi-Strauss speaks frankly about how circumstances and his own inclinations, after his early fieldwork in Brazil, led him to embrace theoretical work. His straightforward answers to Eribon's penetrating questions--What is a myth? What is structuralism? Are you a philosopher?--clarify his intellectual motives and the development of his research; his influential role as an administrator, including the founding of the Laboratory of Social Anthropology and of the journal "L'Homme"; the course of his writings, from "Elementary Structures of Kinship "to "The Jealous Potter"; and his thoughts on the conduct of anthropology today. Never before has Levi-Strauss spoken so freely on so many aspects of his life: his initial failure to be elected to the College de France; his reaction to the events of May 1968; his regrets at not being a great investigative reporter or playwright; his deep identification with Wagner, Proust, and Rousseau. This is a rare opportunity to become acquainted with a great thinker in all his dimensions.

所謂複雜或先進的社會，與被誤稱為原始或古代的社會， 兩者之間的距離遠較人們所認為的小得多。 本書為結構主義大師李維-史陀於一九八九年至二○○○年間，在義大利《共和報》（La Repubblica）所發表的十六篇專欄集結。與其他前作不同的是，李維-史陀以社會時事為出發點，探討當代議題、語言、文明演變及社會結構，相較《憂鬱的熱帶》、《野性的思維》、《結構人類學》、《神話學》等巨著，本書以報紙作為媒介的性質，使讀者更容易感受李維-史陀以神話結構進行社會剖析的特質，及其以古代和現代社會兩相對照呼應的銳利目光。 同時，本書的編排也呼應李維-史陀的論點，「古代社會能夠反應現代社會的特質，而近代社會也能說明古代（遠方照耀了近處，近處也能照亮遠方）」，書中以李維-史陀於一九五二年發表的〈被處決的耶誕老人〉為開篇，透過文化轉移、歷史結構及形象融合，分析耶誕老人的意義遠非孩童的天真幻想，並陳述人類學家難以客觀剖析身處時代的困窘，「在民族學家自己的社會中，並非總是能夠有此機會去觀察一個儀式、甚至是一種崇拜，如此微妙的發展。」 因此，以時事為本的十六篇報章隨筆，成為李維-史陀「遠方照耀了近處，近處也能照亮遠方」的實踐，我們可看到李維-史陀透過狂牛病、戴妃喪禮上史賓塞伯爵的演說、癌症起源、普桑畫作分析、割禮與人權爭議等主題，藉其結構思維，為讀者辨清當代社會。其中狂牛病及食人族同類相食的比照，更將視野拉至全球化之下，人類與食物、動物，甚至自然之間的關係。書中篇章，雖非刻意，但皆成為當代預言。