French Structuralist Anthropologist and Ethnologist
Research Focus - Pre-Literate Cultures of South America
His Main Assertion: "Myth Is Language"
Role of Language in Myth Is Different than in Ordinary Communication
Language of Myth Is More Complex than Other Linguistic Expressions
Meaning of Myth is Greater Than Just the Sum of Its Parts
Elements of Myth ("Mythemes") Function as "Bundles of Relations"
Myths Consist of:
1) Mythemes that Oppose or Contradict Each Other and
2) Mythemes that Reconcile these Oppositions
Principal Book: La Pensée sauvage (1962)