TY - JOUR AU1 - MARCUS, SOLOMON AB - Introduction The present article is devoted to a systematic study of the canonic formula of myth, introduced by Claude Levi-Strauss (1955) without too many comments, in the context of a discussion concerning the Oedipus myth and some Zuni Indian myths. For a long period, this formula did not attract the attention of other authors (or, if not ignored, 'accueillie par des haussements d'epaules' (Levi-Strauss 1991: 140). Even Levi-Strauss gave the impression of having forgotten it. However, he tells us (LeviStrauss 1967, 1971) that he never ceased to be guided by this formula. The first detailed discussion of its possible interpretations appeared in Maranda and Maranda (1971), where a great number of applications of the formula are given to both mythical and non-mythical narratives, and a typology of narrative works is proposed, where the highest level of the hierarchy corresponds to just the situation described by Levi-Strauss's formula. In the last two decades, the references to this formula via the Marandas' book became frequent; many of these works are concerned with its relevance beyond the field of myths. If, for Levi-Strauss, the canonic formula is related to a paradigmatic reading of a whole class of related myths, including a TI - The logical and semiotic status of the canonic formula of myth JF - Semiotica - Journal of the International Association for Semiotic Studies / Revue de l'Association Internationale de Sémiotique DO - 10.1515/semi.1997.116.2-4.115 DA - 1997-01-01 UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/de-gruyter/the-logical-and-semiotic-status-of-the-canonic-formula-of-myth-2MvDMYwS70 SP - 115 EP - 188 VL - 116 IS - 2-4 DP - DeepDyve