ANNIE COHEN-SOLAL
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pearl-embroidered leather coat...taking notes with a Parker pen in the
New York Public Library." He was able to capture with rare insight the
peculiar behaviors of New Yorkers such as the "brisk changes in habits
of dressing," women's customs ("In New York, women don't wear
dresses, they wear costumes"), and the whims of a few of his colleagues
who lived the "illusion of the pilgrim's life" in their country homes. He
noted with humor the "deep mysteries of a subway express" with its
"elliptical. ..signposts," and was able to see the paradox of American
museums, at once fabulously rich and desperately poor.
In later years, remembering his New York days, he was grateful for
the unlimited opportunities
to
conduct theoretical research. But he
regretted having become a "member of the establishment." Yet in con–
trast to his own judgment, the observations he brought back show that
the eye of the ethnologist remained as focused as ever-that New York
had become his field of investigation, his gold mine.
In later writings, ranging from minute observations to comparisons
with Europe, one can sense the extraordinary wealth of perceptions he
gathered, as well as the diversity of the city's expressions he was able to
capture. "There I was with an image of France before the war and I kept
telling myself that none of this would be possible in France, and when I
came back
to
France, I quickly began to notice the things that were
arriving, ...such as ads for personal deodorants, which I had found so
offensive. When I came back, toward the end of
I947,
they were there
already. "
Act V: A Stint in Public Se rvice
IN
TRISTES TROPIQUES,
Levi-Strauss criticized the "role of intellectual
courtesan which France was gradually slipping into." He spoke from
experience. After the war, he had been entrusted with an interesting
mission-to succeed the archeologist Henry Seyrig as head of the Cul–
tural Services of the French Embassy in the United States. To complete
his work on family structures he needed to have access to American
libraries and insisted on being sent back to New York. Louis Joxe, of
the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, agreed to forget that he would
be a "part-time cultural counselor" and allowed him to continue his
research at the Public Library.
The first of his official duties would be architectural in nature: the
offices of the French Cultural Services had to be moved back into the
private mansion that the French government had purchased before the
war on Fifth Avenue at Seventy-fourth Street.
