%0 Journal Article
%T An unwritten Tristes Tropiques: Claude Lévi-Strauss and Joseph Conrad
%A Pacukiewicz, Marek
%J Yearbook of Conrad Studies
%V 2011
%R 10.4467/20843941YC.11.005.0029
%N Vol. VI
%P 43-56
%K cultural anthropology, Conrad studies, Tristes Tropiques
%@ 1899-3028
%D 2012
%U https://ejournals.eu/czasopismo/yearbook-of-conrad-studies/artykul/an-unwritten-tristes-tropiques-claude-levi-strauss-and-joseph-conrad
%X In an interview with Didier Eribon, Claude Lévi-Strauss admitted that he wished he had written Joseph Conrad’s books. It seems that once he even started writing a “Conradian” novel entitled Tristes Tropiques, but the only known fragment of this novel would seem to be the description of a sunset, which has become part of another book of the same title containing reminiscences from his journeys. In what way, then, did Conrad infl uence this unusual book by Lévi-Strauss? There are certainly similarities between the works of both writers. Apart from a similarity of literary form and cultural substance, we can fi nd a unique “optical experience” (Dariusz Czaja) in their descriptions of sunsets, which I interpret as a substructure of their studies of the world, culture and human knowledge.