How Literature Works by John Sutherland;

Author:John Sutherland;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: OUP Premium
Published: 2011-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

27 Bricolage

Bricolage is an idea put into general circulation by the anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, in his work on myth and pensée sauvage (loosely, “the primitive mind”). The term has that mot juste quality of other Gallicisms for which English has no exact equivalent, such as mise en scène, dénouement. The nearest French–English dictionaries can get is “bricoler = to putter.” Putterer (bricoleur) or putterage (bricolage) do not fall happily from the lips. The meaning as more fully defined is “work that is put together from whatever materials come to hand.” DIY, one might say. A classic example is the eighteen Watts Towers, in South-Central Los Angeles – handsome structures that were constructed out of street garbage. Much literature can claim to be put together on the same DIY architectural principle.

Anthropological origins of the term For the anthropologist, like Lévi-Strauss, “myth” (pensée sauvage – the wisdom of primitive societies) is a prime example of bricolage. Myth explains events in terms of the necessarily limited range of knowledge the myth-maker already has. When people are angry, they shout and throw things about. When Zeus is angry, he thunders and hurls lightning bolts. This is météorologie sauvage. Weather myths. The mythology is as valid for the societies that originate it as is climate-change theory for modern Western societies.

There is, however, a difference. Myth presumes knowledge. Science (Ben Franklin and lightning, for example) presumes ignorance and investigates the yet-to-be-known. Scientists see themselves as going into a dark tunnel, and illuminating it as they go. Authors of poems, plays and fiction rarely see themselves doing that; and if they do, it’s usually bad poetry, drama and novels that result.

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