Review

Reviewed Work(s): The Age of Structuralism: Levi-Strauss to Foucault by Edith Kurzweil

Review by: Paul Heyer
Source: Leonardo, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Winter, 1983), pp. 65-66
Published by: The MIT Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1575057
Accessed: 28-03-2018 12:34 UTC

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 Books 65

3. Simone Lacour, sculptor, Studia Mystica, published by California transformation in individuals as essential to successful reform. In
State University, Spring, 1981. medical treatment, there will be a large-scale adoption of the 'holistic'
4. Susan Glyn, sculptor, reviewing the 40th National Interfaith approach with an emphasis on human values; recognition of the mind
Conference on Religion, Architecture and the Arts, Phoenix, the primary or coequal factor in all illness; minimal intervention with
Arizona, 1979, in The Tablet, London. 'appropriate technology'. In education, the trend will be toward an
5. Patrick Reyntiens, stained glass designer, in a conference paper egalitarian system, with a priority on self-image as the generator of
distributed by the Societe Internationale des Artistes Chretiens, performance, and the inner experience seen as the context for learning.
1976. In her chapter on Values and Vocation, Ferguson suggests that the
6. Also the title of the principal address at the artists' conference future will include: jobs to fit people; the blurring of work and play;
jointly organised by S.I.A.C. and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur cooperation with nature; spiritual values transcending material gain;
Christliche Kunst, St Florian, Austria, 1981. decentralized operations wherever possible.
7. Living and Knowing by E. W. F. Tomlin (London: Faber & Faber, It is not difficult to find numerous criticisms of this book, and
1955). probably the first one is that it is quite naive; as is the case with many
writers who are seeking the brave, new world, Ferguson approaches the
8. See paintings and sculpture of angels by Epstein, Poliakoff, Gilioli,
Sk6kely, and many of the young Free Russians now working in future with an idealistic vision and neglects the ominous characteristics
Paris. of the future which are now so evident. In a world which is being crushed
9. Christianity and the Visual Arts, (London: Faith Press, 1964). by the burdens of population, pollution and armaments, it is difficult to
10. S.I.A.C. Congress, Salzburg, Austria, 1977. see how the hopeful conspiracy can make much headway. The present
11. Barnett Newman and Susan Glyn debating with Father T. more nearly resembles a state of A Clockwork Orange than a
Matthews, S. J., 1st International Congress on Religion, steppingstone to a new Utopia. In her final chapter, Ferguson writes of
Architecture and the Visual Arts, Hilton Hotel, New York, 1967. the Whole-Earth Conspiracy, but there are few specifics as to the
12. Dennis Hawkins, painter and art teacher, defending symbols of the necessary methods for exporting the conspiracy to other lands and
Resurrection in contemporary art against churchmen present: Arts peoples. The question is not, will it play in Peoria, but will it play in
Symposium, Kintbury, England, organised by R.E.R.U., 1980. Leningrad? Finally, on the question of personal transformation, history
13. Visiting artists protesting 'Where is the Living Christ?' at a shows reformers of all eras ultimately colliding with Montesquieu's
televised exhibition, largely of Crucifixions, organised by Dr stubborn and pessimistic dictum that 'man is the same in all times and
Rombold, theologian and art-historian, in Linz, Austria, 1981. places'.

The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformations in the The Age of Structuralism: Levi-Strauss to Foucault. Edith Kurzweil.
1980s. Marylin Ferguson. J. P. Tarcher, Los Angeles, 1980. 448 pp. Columbia University Press, New York, 1980. 256 pp. Cloth, $26.00.
$15.00. ISBN: 0-87477-116-1. Reviewed by Robert F. Erickson* Paper, $7.70. ISBN: 0-231-04921-8. Reviewed by Paul Heyer*

The principal thesis of this book has no restraints on its optimism; it The age of structuralism the author assesses is the period in French
states that mankind is on the eve of the creation of a new world, and that intellectual history following the decline of existentialism. Under the
nearly every individual can find within himself the energy and resources inspiration of anthropologist, Claude Levi-Strauss, a reworking of
social theory took place on a number of fronts. Certain common
to assist in its creation. The title was chosen to signify the 'time of "the
features and influences among the respective writers led to labelling the
mind's true liberation",' an age which will be a 'millenium of love and
light'. The conspirators are individuals and groups who have sensed the
movement structuralist. Not only does Kurzweil examine these features
overwhelming need for changes in attitudes, thought and institutions,and influences, as exemplified by their most representative
practitioners, she also deals with several prominent French intellectual
and who are working to transform not only their own lives and societies,
but the entire world. whose thought developed in opposition to, or was initially at odds with
structuralist tenets. The result is not a book about structuralismper se,
The author is the publisher of Brain/MindBulletin; her previous book
was The Brain Revolution (1973), and she introduces this book as the but about a period when structuralism becomes a sounding board for
summarization of her knowledge about the forces of change which are numerous debates, especially those centering on the political role of the
operating toward social transformation through personal transforma- intellectual.
tion. She relates that the great response she received to her newsletter The various writers under discussion are dealt with in the order in
(Brain/Mind Bulletin) informed her that many people were exploring which they attained notoriety. Levi-Strauss is first. The treatment is
new avenues for change, and, since much of their work was without standard and somewhat sketchy. In my opinion, too much space is
publicity, it could be described as a conspiracy or, 'a leaderless but devoted to his reflections on myth, when a fuller explication of his
powerful network'. The conspiracy is held together by the conviction theory of mind might be more relevant. In addition, I am uncomfortable
that people can change themselves, and that by doing so, the problems with the author's observation that Levi-Strauss is dealing with
of the world can be overcome. The titles of some of her chapters express universally imprinted structures. What I think he is getting at is a
this conviction; thus, 'Transformation: Brains Changing, Minds structuring capacity which mind exerts in the act of apprehending and
Changing; Crossover: People Changing; Healing Ourselves. comprehending-structures are a consequence, not a cause, of this
Where is the evidence for these ideas? Ferguson cites numerous assumed dialectical process.
writers such as David Riesman, Jean-Francois Revel, author of Without The chapter on Althusser's Marxist structuralism is a fine summary of
Marx or Jesus, George Leonard, The Transformation, and others to his development and key premises. Although there are numerous
support the view that America will experience a transformation, both Althusserian-influenced theorists writing today, very few attempt to
spiritual and philosophical. She further deals with new discoveries in analyse, rather than merely apply, his insights; therefore Kurzweil has
science, changes in traditional views about education, the appearance of performed a much-needed service. The chapters that focus on the
numerous groups of the 'self-awareness' type, a growing spirit of opposition to structuralism deal with Henri Lefebvre's humanist vision
community reliance, environmental protests, the anti-war movement of of Marx, Paul Ricoeur's phenomenology and religious interests, and
the Vietnam era, and much more. Acknowledging that in all of these Alain Touraine's integrative sociology. A fuller rationale for this
areas, as yet only a minority of the total population is involved, selection would have been helpful.
Ferguson nevertheless makes a case for the inevitable spread of their The remainder of the book deals with Jacques Lacan's Freudian
influence, and cites Gandhi's movement in South Africa and India as the psychoanalytic adaptation of structuralism, Roland Barthes' literary
prime example of the achievement of great goals through faith and and cultural analyses, and Michel Foucault's extension of structuralist
action. inspired tools to a history of systems of knowledge. Although all three
What will the future look like if these transformations occur? In receive solid treatment, it is intimated that Foucault may be the giant to
government there will be a turning toward decentralization and local emerge from the tradition, as he is covered more meticulously and
control; politics will be determined by a world-view; government respectfully
will than others in the pantheon.
foster growth, creativity, cooperation; there will be an emphasis on A common and important theme that recurs throughout the book,

*Department of Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences, *Dept. of Communication Studies, Simon Fraser University,
Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL 62025, U.S.A. Burnaby, British Columbia, VSA 1S6 Canada.

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66 Books

and
and receives
receivesmore
morecomplete
complete
coverage
coverage
in theinconclusion,
the conclusion,
is the influence
is the influence
About Looking. John Berger. Writers & Readers Publishing
of Marx, Freud and Saussure on the structuralist tradition. These Cooperative, London, 1980. 198 pp., illus. Paper, ?2.95. Reviewed by
figures (at least Marx and Freud) have been dominant in French Lucia Adams*
intellectual life for some time, either through appropriation or critical
assessment/rejection. Again, the book deals with structuralism as John Berger is far more of a social critic than an art critic; his bl
French tradition. (Is that why Piaget, a Swiss, is omitted?) Although uncompromising view of contemporary life in the Western world
coverage is somewhat uneven, clear exposition and exceptional all his opinions on art, which is frequently used to exemplify hi
disciplinary range make this a significant addition to the secondary and political beliefs. These beliefs posit the ideal of a rural socialist
literature on structuralism and a useful text for a survey course in the Utopia in which The Family of Man lives in great harmony, a great
area. harmony that probably never existed on this planet, But this naive and
fundamentally conservative belief is the bedrock of every word he
writes. Currently living in a peasant community in France, the setting of
his latest novel Pig Earth, John Berger has previously published all but
Seeing Berger: A Revaluation of Ways of Seeing. Peter two of Fuller.
the essaysWriters
in About Looking
& in New Society, a journal that attacks
and Readers Publ. Cooperative, London, 1980. 40 pp. Paper, ?1.00. prevailing and cultural values in the West and feels that they must be
ISBN: 0-906495-48-2. Reviewed by John Adkins Richardson* radically altered. Whether this should or should not in fact be the case,
the whole issue is outside the scope of art history and art criticism.
Perhaps it is just the taste of grapes gone sour-I grant the possibility- Divided into three broad sections, About Looking starts with an essay
but a great deal of today's critical writing smacks, for me, of vintagecalled Why Look at Animals?, an extended reflection on man's relations
sophomore. Thus, a television program intended to enlighten the British to animals from the time of the cave to the present, which is castigated
public generally has been received as a revelation by a select minority for relegating animals to marginal places in our consciousness. In this
which includes some art critics and historians. John Berger's Ways of critique of corporate capitalism's evil effect, we see artistic expressions
Seeing (1971) was predictably popular among the Left who perceived it, used to illustrate the point about man's rupture with the ancient
correctly, as an intended antidote to the 'bogus religiosity of art' connection with nature and the earth. Replete with existential abysses
presented by Kenneth Clark's stupefyingly successful series, Civiliza- and copious alienations, it reveals Berger's proclivity to search for too
tion. Berger set out to demonstrate in what ways masterpieces of the past much meaning, to see things that in fact do not exist. But regardless of
are in complicity with an elitist economic system. His was, as I noted at this predictable and irritating simplification, not to mention the cosmic
the time, 'an intelligent repudiation of many of the values assumed by scale generalization that has little basis in acknowledged fact, About
those of us engaged in teaching about the arts'. I also remarked that Looking, with the exception of the second section with some execrable
anyone 'even slightly familiar with Marxist or neo-Marxist criticism will essays on photography, a realistic form with which he appears to be at a
find little that is new'. In this last I was quite obviously wrong. loss, is a stimulating and provocative book.
Confronted by Peter Fuller's pamphlet, I find myself in the position of Despite his contempt for the Positivist tradition, Berger uses a Taine-
Dr Johnson upon reading Edward Young's Conjectures-surprised to inspired approach to individual artists in the third and best section,
find the author taking as novelties what I thought very common Moments of Living. Placing the artist in time, place and milieu, Berger's
maxims. After all, Arnold Hauser and Meyer Schapiro had given us perceptions are refreshing and unique. He develops the idea again and
similar analyses that were, respectively, of greater intellectual sweep and again that the environment is instrumental in an artist's development,
infinitely more penetrating long before Berger commenced as art critic. and, surprisingly, the environment is the natural and not the social or
But, then, no art historical writing could possible have had the influence political one. Thus, 'The Thames developed Turner', the cliffs
that a few moments of television can provide. And it must be said that surrounding Le Havre, Monet, the Jura, Courbet, and so on. The
Fuller is not completely adulatory; the latter portion of his essay takes configuration of the land and other natural phenomena are causative
Ways of Seeing to task for the very thing that annoyed others of us, factors, an interesting idea that harks back to Mme de Stael and 18th-
specifically, Berger's evasive reluctance to deal with the near paradox century aesthetics.
that genius in the service of property surpasses its base purpose. Dealing We are on somewhat more familiar territory with Lowry and the
with this, Berger sounded like a reluctant Trotskyite; Fuller is an eager Industrial North, in which Berger relates the Lancashire primitive to the
one, ready to embrace bourgeois delights if they can but be transferred cultural locale with ease and grace. His approach works well here
to socialist equity. Fuller is very different from someone like Nicos because he does not have to strain a point, molding intractable material
Hadjinicolau, who sees every work of art as being nothing more nor into a preordained form that doesn't fit. For example, in Millet and the
less than an ideological mirror. Hadjinicolau's Art History and Class Peasant, whilst we acknowledge that the events of 1848-51 might have
Struggle (London, 1978) is scarcely more than a cosmetically influenced Millet to paint peasants, it is not for the first time in the
streamlined version of Zhdanov's 'socialist realism'. It draws no European tradition and it does not, at least in this reviewer's opinion,
distinctions between advertisements and Abstract Expressionism. prefigure the modern conflict between the first and the third worlds. In
Berger worried about that in his review of the book. Fuller worries Francis Bacon and Disney, again, this reviewer does not feel that the
about Berger's inability to deal with the difference between works andlatter made 'propositions about the alienated behaviour of society'. On
reproductions. To me, the lot sound like well-read ninnies stumbling the other hand, Between Two Colmars, in which Berger discusses the
around in the dense mysteries that seem always to turn up whenever oneGriinewald Altarpiece in the light of his subjective reactions in 1963,
tries to demystify art by exposing its role in (according to the Marxist then again in 1973, and uses the great artwork as a pretext for writing a
lexicon) the reification of spiritual values. Only a simpleton would moving essay about love, is excellent.
suppose that every art form generated out of a society is absolutely Other essays in About Looking include: La Tour and Humanism,
incompatible with other forms of social organization. Fuller's little Seker Ahmet and the Forest, Hals and Bankruptcy, Ralph Fasanella
book does, however, show some of the problems zealots face when they and the City, Courbet and the Jura, Article of Faith, Turner and the
attempt to accommodate indifferent reality to strictly purposeful Barber's Shop, Rouault and the Suburbs of Paris, Magritte and the
systems rather than proceeding the other way about. Impossible, Giacometti, Rodin and Sexual Domination, Romaine
The internal contest of opinion dealt with in Fuller's essay will be Lorquet and the final essay, Field. This describes in detail the idea that
understood by Marxists as one more instance of the larger conflict in perceiving a scene in art or nature one is only really viewing 'the same
between the schools of Marxist aesthetic known as 'naive' (strict, proportions as your own life'. One must give Berger credit for a true
doctrinaire) or 'critical' (revisionist, Trotskyite). The one thing to be honesty in describing his approach.
said in support of these contestants, in contrast to the similarly tedious As a means of providing deeper insight into oneself and into one's
controversies common in conventional art historical scholarship, is that responses towards one's environment, natural or cultural, this book
the Marxist critics are at least arguing about the constraints imposed makes an effective contribution, especially to those involved with the
upon taste by ideological orientation, whereas their bourgeois practice of art. For those teaching all arts it will also provide some
counterparts are held in working harness by the same kinds of interesting and polemical material for classroom discussion. As plain
constraints. good reading, it can be recommended, but as solid art criticism or
reliable and accurate art history, it cannot.

*Dept.
*Dept. of
of Art
Art and
andDesign,
Design,Southern
SouthernIllinois
Illinois
University,
University,
Edwardsville,
Edwardsville,
IL 62025, U.S.A. *535 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611, U.S.A.

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