Paul Valéry Book

I read the third chapter, Maussian Occidentalism: Gift and Commodity Systems by Carrier, to write up my essay on gifts and commodities. Even back then - reading this book for a dry, unfamiliar and heavily theory-loaded topic - I was amazed by the breadth and diversity of examples from which these chapters draw. I went on to explore the interesting examples of Japanese commodities (Creighton 1994) mentioned in Chapter 3, as well as reading two further chapters in this book: the Introduction by Carrier and the fifth chapter, Imaging the Other in Japanese Advertising Campaigns by Creighton.

The fifth chapter is especially intriguing as it combines the two favourite themes of mine: cultural studies and the creative industries. A chapter for academic purposes, it doesn't satiate any fervent lover of cultural analysis but rather, guide him or her towards more. Will definitely read it again.