The Artificial Savage: Modern Myths of the Wild Man

In The Artificial Savage, Roger Bartra seeks out, through the history of the myth of the wild man, the literary and artistic mutations that allow us to understand its continuing presence through the centuries. Bartra combines two major currents of interpretation. On the one hand there is the history of ideas; on the other, a structuralist approach belonging to the anthropology of myth, which gives pride of place to the study of cultural textures. By using both Bartra develops what he calls an evolutionist perspective capable of constructing a history of myths (or, perhaps, an anthropology of ideas) -- one that helps us to understand the long sequences of events without losing sight of the presence of structures. The evolutionist approach goes beyond sequential narration but does not limit itself to the formal examination of mythological structures. It focuses our attention on certain periods when transformations occur in the myth, and thus sheds light on moments of transition in Western culture.