AM a DIARY I}J the ,|, , Il, ICT SENSE of '|'Lie TERM by Bronislaw

AM A DIARY I}J THE ,|, , Il, ICT SENSE oF '|'lIE TERM by Bronislaw

Nllrlinowski AAAAA

lt l,|,lI Nt W INTRODUCTION

|,lt.l,]l,,^cl! BY YAIJTTA }ÍAI,INow- K^ l N,I,ILODUCTIoN BY RÁYMoND T.IBTIÍ ,t,l(^N LA,_[ED By NoRBERT GUTEB}ÍAN l N l)l,)x oF NATIYE TEBM BY MARIo BICK

lit;rlrford university press iillrrrford, california

Facsimile page from Trobriands diarg, beginning zlsith entrg for April P2, 1918 coNTENTs

pREFAcE : Valetta Malinowska, aii INTRoDUCTI)N: Raymond Firth, xi SEcoND INTRODUCTION 1988: Raymond Firth xxi NOTE, xxxitt

Stanford Uniaersity Press Stanford, Califurnia DIÁ-RY IN TIID TaIcT EN E oF TIIE TERM ^ Part One: 1914-1"915,1 Text @ 1967 by Valetta Malinowsha Part Two: 1917-1918, 107 Introduction @ 1989 by Raymond Firth

Oňginally Published by Routledge and Kegan Paul, AN INDEX or NATIvE TaRM : Maňo Bick, 299 I967 Reissued, ulith a neul Introd ction, by The Althone Press, I989 lLLIr TEATIoN Reissue first published in the United States of Facsimi,le page, ii, ,\tneňca by Stanford IJniaersity Press, ]989 Eastern New Gui,nea anil Ád,xacent Island,s, enil paper Pňnted in Great Bňtain Mai,tw Isl,anď, and, Áiljacent Coast of Papua, 26 LC 8842043 The Kul,a District, 138-139 Cloth ISBN 0-8047-17064 T robri,anil I slanils, 7 611 Paper 1^SBN 0-a04 7-I 707-9 INTRODUCTION,K

This diary by Bronislaw Malinowski covers only a very brief period of his life, from early September 19lrt to the beginning of August 1915, and from the end of October 1917 to mid-July l9l8;-about nineteen months in all. It was wrjtten in Polish, as a private document, and was never intended for publication. What then is its significance? Malinowski wa,s & great social scientist, one of the founders of modern social anthropology, and a thinker who tried to relate his generalizations about human nature and human society to the issues of the world around him. The diary refers to that very critical period of his c&reer when, having equipped himself theoretically for empirical studies, he began to carry out field research in New Guinea. *" n*} section cover his apprenticeship period emong the Mailu; the second, after an orrio"too.t" cup;f t*o yur"., coÝer most of hi: ye&I,ll tle Tlobriands. Nowadays it is recognized that l ,t" while the personality of a scientist may not necessarily have a direct bearing upon his selection and treatment of problems, it must influence his work in other more subtle ways. Although , r grateful Richards ancl Phyllis Kaberry, friendr of ! am to Audrey l Malinowski, and to !ól&q Štuirt, his eldest daughter, for advice ol this Introduction. They bave, of course, no responsibility for the opinionr er- pressed here. xii Introilucti,on Introilucti,om xul chronologically very brief, and although giving no great amount made,con_tact wi_!h A. Q. Haldon and W: H. R. Rivers of Cam- of detail on professional matters, the diary does indicate vividly bridge-all of whom are mentioned in the diary. His first major how Malinowski thought about issues and about people-or at publióation, a documentary study of. The Fami,lg Among the least how he expressed himself when he was writing only for him- Áustralian Ábori,gines, was published in London in 1913. An- and Soci,al self as aurlience. other book, in Polish, on Pri,mžtirle Reli,gi,on Forms of Malinowski came to be in New Guinea through his associa- Structure, completed early in 1914, was published.in Poland in_ tion with British anthropology. What led him to this move o r9r5. Iníluenced especially by Seligman and Haddon, Malinow- far from Poland, his native country, is not now fully known. ski hád prepared for field research in the Western Pacific, after But despite his often unkind comments upon England and Eng- an unsuccessful attempt by Seligman to get funds for him to lish gentlemen, he eemed always to have a basic respect for the work in the Sudan. Money for field research in anthropology was English intellectual tradition and the English way of life, and then much more difficult to obtain than it is nowadays. Malinow- it seems likely that even at that early period of his career he ski was helped through scholarship funds and a grant from was attracted to both. (Note his revealing description of Robert Mond, the industrialist, obtained primarily througlr Machiavelli in this diary as 6'very like me in many respects. Seligman's energies. An attachment as Secretary to R. R. An Englishman, with an entirely European mentality and Marett, who was Recorder of Section H-the Anthropology European problems.") He himself has told us how, when at Section-of the British Association, which was meeting i" M;i bournó in 191rl, gavó him a free pas ege to Australia. Malinow- the (Jagiellonian) University of Cracow, he had been ordered ski's silua{ión, wit}r Ó*igooo. field resources, \t&s complicated by to abandon for a time his physical and chemical research because the outbreak of war, since he was technically an Austrian na- of iil-health, but was allowed to follow up a "favorite sid_eline tional. But through the help of his friends, the Australian au- of study" and so began to read Frazer's The Golilen Bough in thorities pioved themselves very understanding by allowing him the original English version-then three volumes only.* Mali- to to carry out his field research in l.[ew Guinea. Theii nowski had obtained his Ph.D degree in 1908 in physics and .proceed liberality was also shown in supplementing lris finances by a rnathematicsr'and after two years of advanced study at Leipzig grant from the Home and Territories Department of the Com- he came to London and began his systematic studies, of anthro- monwealth. After traveling to Port Moresby, ilíalinowski spent pology with Seligman and Edward Westermarck, at the C. G. the greater part of six months in the Mailu area in the south of Science. also Londón School of Economics and Political IIe New Guinea. A brief visit to the Trobriand rslands ofr the north- r For this anrl other details see B. l!íalinowsk i, Illyth ón Pritntitiae Psg, east coast stimulated his interest more and lre returned there on 1926, pp. 5-6; also Raymoncl Firth in Man and, Culture, chology, London, two subsequent expeditions of a year each, 1915-16 and London, l957, pp. 2-?; Konstantin Symmons-Symonolewicz, "Bronislaw Malinowski: Formative Influences anil Theoretical Evolutionr" The Polish 1917_18. R,etsiew, Vol. IV, 1959, pp. 1-28, New York. A few further facts appear One of Malinowski's outstanding contributions to the de- in "A Brief History (1913-1963)" of the Department of Ánthropology of the London School of Economics, published in the departmental programme velopment oť social anthropology was the introduction of much of cour es, session 1963-6,1 and succeeding years. more intensive and much more sophisticated methods of field re- xrv Introilucti,on Introilwction xv

search than had previously been current in his subject.* The the making of village plan and census; the amassing of informa- many references to his ethnographic work in his diary show his tion about baloma and rnálami,la, about gimwali and sagali, Tbe industry. The day after his arrival in New Guinea he had con- references to the kula are íascinating to anyone who has fol- tacted an informant (Ahuia Ova), and the next day he began lowed his analysis of that complex svstem of exchange of shell collecting field data on social structure. only a fortnight later tokens of ,o"i"l status, with its economic, political, and ritual he noted two basic defects in his appro&ch-he did not observe overtone . the people enough, and he did not speak their language. Both of \ťhat an anthropologist may miss particularly in the diary these he tried hard to correct, and his endeavor was the clue to is any detailed account of how Malinowski arrived at the choice all his later work. The ethnography of the diary consists of' of his field problems, why he se]ected one topic rather than an_ references to subjects of talk or observation-taboo, burial rites, other for investigation at a particular point of time, and stone axes, black magic, dancing, procession with pigs-rather whether fresh evidence led him to reshape a hypothesis, Some than development of ideas about field questions or theoretical evidence there is-as when he notes that reading Rivers drew his problems. those of But an occasional note shows these behind the scene. attention to "problems of the Rivers typer" presumably "r asked about the division of land. rt would have been useful to kinship. But on the whole such methodological issues are not find out about the old system of division and to study today's as pursued in this daily record of his thoughts, Of more interest a form of adaptation." This is an early indication of an interest are Malinowskirs occasional flashes of theoretical observation, in social change which later developed into a major theme in his such as his remarks on language as a system of social ideas, both work. What the first diary does show is Malinowski's keen de- instrument and objective creation of on history as "obser_ sire to get his early material written up a soon as possible for vation of facts in keeping with a certain theory." These g_ive publication, and in fact his report on The Natiaes o1 Moilu *u" sign of his concern with issues which were then relatively ready before the middle of r9r5.f one is led to infer that it was novel but later became part of the general talk of the aca- in the course of writing up this material ("in íact as I worked demic market place. But if the diary does not dwell either on out my notes") that Malinowski came to perceive t}re signifi- field methodology or on problems of anthropologicai theory, it cance of many points of. field anthrop9logist of field method which he later developed does convey most keenly th9 19actiolg a and incorporated into his treatment. The Trobrianrl account is in an alien society. There he must live as recorder and analyst, m_ore vivid-the choosing of the site for the tent, the meeting but ai such he cannot completely share the customs and values with old acquaintances, including the chief To'uluwa, and the of the people, admire or dislike them as he may, The feeling of man _'!who used to bring me eggsr dressed in a ladyrs nightgownrr; confinement, the obsessional longing to be back even if for the the dejection 'See Phyl}is Kaberry, in Man and, Culturo,1957, pp. ?t-9l. briefest while in oners own cultural surroundings, 'f ee bibliographical reference in introduction to rndex of Native Terms and doubts about the validity of what one is doing, the desire to infra. Malinowski's preface was dated June gth, lgl5, from Samarai, when 1 e cape into a fantasy world of novels or daydreams, the moral he had already begun his second expedition to New Guinea. (He received , th D.sc. degree from the University of London in t916 for this publica- ] compulsion to drag oneself back to the task of field observation tion together with The Fam lg Ámong the Áuatralbr Áborigines.f _ma,ny sensitive fieldworkers have experienced these feelings on xvr Introd,ucti,on Introd,uction xvll

occasion, and they have rarely been better expressed than in this seeking out meaningful experiences led him as much to the com- diary. Some emotions, no doubt, have been expressed nrore vi- pany of some of the pearl buyers in the Trobriands, particularly olently by Malinowski than they would be felt-or at least Raffael Brudo with whom he later stayed in Paris, as to the more stated-by other anthropologists. Most fieldrvorkers at some official sectors of the white society. Though scanty, his com- time have been bored by their own inquiries, and have been con- ments on conditions in New Guinea half a century ago are very scious of frustration and exasperation against even their best useful sociological evidence. But it is as a human document friends in the field. Few may have been willing to admit this rather than as a scientific coňťribution that Malinó*.Li,. di;;y even to themselves. Few perhaps except those as highly strung slroul

It is intriguing after twenty years to look back upon the reception by the anthropological profession of a controversial work such as Malinowskl's Diary. So I have accepted the invitation of the publisher to write this new Introduction, partly as a reflection on what has seemed to be the effect of this work upon other anthropologists, and partly to review my own earlier impressions of it. I wrote the original Introduction somewhat unwillingly, at ttre i:ě{iňsi- ái V"t"it" Mátiňowska, Maiinowski's widow, who was determined to publish these private diaries. I thought then that I might help to explain the significance of this revealing, egocentric, obsessional document, with its mixture of stimulus, dullness, pathos and outrageousness, to those who had never known that protean character that was Malinowski. I had also hoped, mistakenly, to draw some of the teeth of the criticism that would be levelled at portions of the work. Malinowski wrote his field notes concerning the Trobri- ands in, English and Kiriwinian; his diaries were written in Polish. They were clearly meant as a private record, a himself purgation guide confessión to , a kind of and to ] isÓ:;i correction, almost certainly for his own eyés a|.*: 'i.*,*i xxll Introduction Introduction xxlll one ense the publication of the diaries was an act of betrayal all concerned that the diaries had now been committed to - - ňót so much because it exposed Malinowski'. *."k.r".... print. But he did point out that once in print such private without his knowledge, as that it assumed that his weaknesses documents of fieldworking anthropologists should be read as situations, a could be part of a commercial property to be exploited.,I_have devices for retaining a grip on reality in traumatic t i, l,,.,, should nevef be interpreted as a .not altered my vlerv that publication of the diaries was an kind of cathafsi , and "',- invasion of privacy, even though their author was dead. I do balanced record of the writer's inner personality, He also not believe that "the public has a right to know" the more stressed the absurdity of translating nigrami a "niggers" racist intimate details of any person's life. Nor do I believe, as some instead of "the blacks", and so putting Malinowski into a of my colleagues appear to do, that anything written down, category. (Guardian 1118167). however personal and private, is ultimately even if subcon- A c_lose friend and counsellor of the Malino*_.ki__f"*.lll, sciously destined for public attention. But once publication was Audróy Richards, gave a further analytical appraisal. She had in hand, it seemed to me that a preface which tried to give heartily disapprovéd of the publication of the book, and found some perspective and interpretation for the diaries was it disappointing from an ethnographical point of view, Under justifiable. the title of "In Darkest Malinowski" (The Cambňdge Reaiezn, My original introduction drew adverse comment from ".' friends of mine who had also known and admired Malinowski, ;.'#H,'3|']n,l";::rďT"::1"il.jff.":: ;f;,i::,t,,ť and felt strongly about the impropriety of publication and the Malinowski, with his varying moods of hope and despair as damage it might Malinowski's "the hero, or the anti-hero" of the book "anti-hero because do to reputatio". .,.!_Ip:_tpp: - Poydermaker, for instance wrote sadly to me "r, and many no man was ever more brutally frank about his own failings," other anthropologists, do not understand how you could have She pointed out how the striving anxious figure of t}:'e Diary given implicit consent to the publication of the Diary by was a very different creature from the witty, apparently cynical writing an Introduction to it" (3111167), and parallel sentiments teacher of renown. she discussed in some detail Malinowski,s were expressed by others, such as Phyllis negative attitude towards his informants, contťasting this with Kaberry and Lucy _ Mair. the much more positive reactions he displayed towards them in The initial reception of the book was mixed. The Times later talk with his students. Characteristically, also, Audrey I;iterary Supplement, in an anonymous review (26110167), was Richards used this review of Malinowski's field diaries a a peg very dismissive - "a very boring repetition of banalities''. on which to hang some interesting general observations of her Those who had worked with Malinowski tended to be strongly own on the role of the anthropological research worker in the critical. wrote: "In my view field. But Richards, like Malinowski's other friends, had been ".I3l'tt_"s]rjn the volume holds no interest for anyone, be he anthropologist, psychologist, worried about the unpleasing impression which the diaries student 'who of biography or merely a gossip." (funeňcan Anthropologist 70, might give to people were already antagonistic to him, 1968 had to me at an early stage, in her vivid style : "I : 575). " Edmund Leach was mofe reflective, but still She written decidedly censorious. He wrote that it wa to the discredit of gather from Hortense that Americans are already howling with xxlv Introduction Introduction xxv delight - not at any sex improprieties which really do not seem in the history of anthropology, but only if interpreted in the to matter much, but at the use of the word 'nigger' and the context of the body of }Ialinowski's ethnography. In contrast constant reference to his dislike of his informants and the to most reviewers, he found the book "fascinating reading" and amount of time he spends with Europeans" (514167). recommended it highly to anthropologists (/ournal of the But serious American reviews were in fact very different. History of the Behaaioral Sciences vol. IV, no. 2, 1968: Adamson Hoebel, though dubious about the justification for l89-94). publication, and finding the book hard to appraise, was An extensive review by Clifford Geertz (Nera Yorh Reaieul conscious of its unique character. Beautifully descriptive in of Boohs, 14 September 1967) was more restrained and rather some pafts, flat, dull, cryptic in others, the Diary was g51 clearly disparaging of Malinowski. Geertz called the book "a seen, so Hoebel wrote, as "a device of naive self-therapy'', 3 very curious document" and saw in it a chronicle of recurring refrain of rather pathetic and immature strivings. Yet Malinowski working with enormous industry in one world he noted that critical as Malinowski was about people, in these (New Guinea) while living with intense passion in another (an diaries he was never so hard on others as on himself. And lre imagined Australian and European setting). The book depicted stressed that none of the defects of the self that Malinowski "a sort of mental tableau whose stereotyped figures - his belaboured in the diaries have shown in his anthropological mother, a boyhood friend with whom he has quarrelled, a masterpieces (Minnesota Tňbune (approx. May 1967). In a woman he has loved and wishes to discard, another he is now lengthy essay-review George Stocking was impressed by the in love with and wishes to marry - are all thousands of miles evidence of cultural marginality and ambiguous relatioq 16 away, Írozen in timeless attitudes which, in anxious self- things English which ran through the book. Struck by an contempt, he obsessively contemplates". In this florid account, analogy with Joseph Conrad's Heaň of Darhness, Stocking saw Geertz stressed two main themes, each marked by contrast. Malinowski "alone with his instincts" in the field situation, One was the contradiction between the empathy conventionally though these had to do with sex rather than with the notion of attributed to anthropologists in respect of the people power as in Conrad's noveí. Be this as it may, Stocking found they study, and Malinowski's seemingly detached, often it hardly surprising that Malinowski's attitude towards "natives'' brutal attitude in writing of the Kiriwinians. "The value of was ambivalent and often aggressive, and interpreted even his Malinowski's embarrassing example is that, if one takes it occasional violent outbursts as no clear proof of lack of seriously, it makes difficult to defend the sentimental view of empathy with the people he was among. Indeed, the cathartic rapport as depending on the unfolding of anthropologist and function of writing the diary may have helped to make informant into a single moral and emotional universe." The Malinowski's empathy more possible, Stocking argued. He was second theme was that Malinowski achieved salvation from "an very willing to generalize Malinowski's response to his field emotional swamp" of nostalgia and despair by hard work. situation, and was very interested in Malinowski's "extended "Not universal compassion but an almost Calvinist belief in the personal psychological crisis whose aura pervades the diaries''. cleansing power of work brought Malinowski out of his own Stocking saw the diaries as having methodological significance dark world of oedipal obsessions and practised self-pity into xxvi Introduction Introduction xxvll Trobriand daily life." Though the review made.sh_rewd points, those who are articulate on paper, a diary is a valuable it was over-written, and left an impression of distortion on catharsis. "This is the function of a diary under these those .iÍio rr"a known and worked with Malinowski. To conditions, a place to spew up one's spleen, so that tomorrow portray the archetypal fieldworker as "a crabbed self- one can start afresh." But as Forge points out, perhaps too preoccupied, hypochondriacal narcissist" seemed a travesty. So strongly, fieldworkers' diaries are meaningless to anyone except Hortense Powdermaker and Ashi"y Montague, for example themselves, the product of a sort of suspended state between were moved to pfote t against Geertz's imperceptive view that two cultures. Malinowski was apparently unable to make human contacts - a In the light of all this early diversity of opinion, where view, they insisted, which was belied by Malinowski's own does the Diary now stand? And do the opinions expressed in evidence in Argonauts and other writings and by his relations my initial Introduction still hold? with students (Neus Yorh Reuiew of Boohs,9 November 1967). After twenty years, the shock waves generated by the W_hat Geertz's review illustrated, it seemed, was the danger publication of this intimate document have died down. Few which Leach had indicated of taking the intensely personal, anthropologists who knew Malinowski aíe still alive. The private outpourings of the Diary as clues to the whole diaries have come to be judged from a rather different character of the author. perspective. They can be accepted as part of the literature of One of the most perceptive and sympathetic reviews was the history of anthropology. Old-fashioned, eccentric, often by an anthropologist who had never known Malinowski, but irrélevant but giving insight if only in part into the complex who had had much experience of the New Guinea scene. personality of one of the founders of modern social anthro- A11!ony Forge found no difficulty in interpreting Malinowski's pology, they have helped to throw light upon the problem of basic mode of expression as a response comparable with that of what it means to be a working anthropologist engaged in the a modern anthropological fieldworker. Under the heading of study of human social material. When Hortense Powdermaker "The Lonely Anthropologist" (Neu Society 17 August 1967) he chided me for writing the Introduction, part of my ,eply wis : remarked that while one learns little of field method from the "'When I read the Diaries I found them fascinating because I Diary it illustrates very well the dilemma of every anthro- knew Malinowski well. Other people who did not, now find pologist in the field - that of retaining his/her own identity them bewildering, boring, or good ammunition against the while being as much as possible involved in the affairs of the myth of Malinowski. What strikes me is that when all the dust local society. The loneliness of the anthropologist is of a special has settled and we are gone they may, with the ancillary kind * "surrounded by people whom you like and who like or materials of review and comment, help to elucidate a bit at any rate cheerfully tolerate you, but who have no conception further for future generations of anthropologists some aspects of who you aťe, what sort of person.. ." Longings for a of Malinowski's complex character. This may have more remote idealised civilization are frustrating, and letters dis- meaning in the future than it does today, although already appointing; "there is only one person who can tart to there is a distinct trend towards trying to understand what an understand how you feel, and that is yourself." Hence, for anthropologist produces by reference in part to his own *.|

xxvtlt Introduction Introduction xxix personality and his relations with the people. What has still to stereotype was destroyed. Fieldworkers too turned out to be be worked out is that an anthropologist need not - though he human - all too human. Even the doyen of the discipline,fi2d often does - lihe'his'people in order to good work" (7111167). been exposed to temptation, had displayed the frailties of N-ow, I think that both my original Introduction and the boredom, malice, frustration, longing for his own kind, and opinions expressed in that letter are still broadly valid. But gave his most petty miseries full expression. It may have bggn what I tended to overlook in the original lntroduction was the with something of relief that some younger anthropologists value of the Diary in an analogic sense. I had seen it primarily discovered the "feet of clay" of the most eminent of elder as a clue to the interpretation of Malinowski's personality, and practitioners. The more tolerant interpretation of the Diary hence his work. But I had not realised that for younger may well have been strengthened by a realization that not only anthropologists unacquainted with Malinowski the interest of among anthropologists, but also more generally e.g. in the the book could be in what they themselves drew from it as literary field, a loosening of attitudes about publication of help or reassurance in understanding their own position in intimate details of personal life had come to be accepted. confronting field problems. This is where Anthony Forge's [n the light of this it is interesting to consider a couple of review seemed to catch the meaning of the diaries. The recent appraisals of the work of Malinowski, including the modern v.qgue for "reflexive anthropology" may sometimes Diary. One of the more intriguing features of some modern seem to turn ethnography into autobiography. But there is a analyses is the authoritative tone of statements about much clearer recognition nowadays that the position of an Malinowski by people who never knew him. Leaving this q5idg, ethnographer is not simply that of a recorder of the life of a a feature which stands out in modern estimations of the Diary society, but is also that of someone who both affects that life is the problem of its validity as evidence in the dilemrna of and is affected by it. Earlier ethnographers were not unaware translating field experience into written systematic ethnograpfiy. of this. But at that stage of the study, the major job of The idiom of discussion has been coloured by recent foci of description and analysis of the alien institutions by which we interest iu the field of literature. lliffold Ceertz has devolgd 6 were faced seemed more important than expatiating upon our section of a book on the anthropologist as author (Worhs aaj perception of our own roles in the situation. Liaes. The Anthropologist as Author. Stanford Univ. Press There has perhaps been another element also in the l988) to Malinowski. His treatment is milder and more reception of the Diary. The relative lack of information about analytical than in his review of the Diary twenty years before, the personal reactions of the early anthropologists in the field though still prone to exaggerated expression. He is concglngd tended to give an air of Olympian detachment to the published primarily with Malinowski's texts. The Diary "presumably not accounts - the anthropologist came, aw, recorded and retired written to be published" now poses not a psychological p1 6 to write up the material, apparently untouched by his or her literary problem. It is "a literary product genre-addressed to experiences, with at most an introductory chapter of comment an audience of one, a message from the self writing to the upon relations with the people and their effect upon the self reading". In it and his other enthnographic writings, fieldworker. With the publication of Malinowski's Dlary this Malinowski - according to Geertz - tried to project two 3nli- xxx Introduction Introduction xxx1 thetical images of himself - on the one side the empathetic the Argonauts the fiction of a culture - though "realistic Absolute Cosmopolite with fellow feeling for the savages he cultural fictions", whatever they may mean. (In some contexts, studies, and on the other the Complete Investigator (Geertz's Clifford seems to equate 'fiction' with 'construct'.) In his zeal terms), dispassionate, rigorously objective. "High Romance and for literary interpretation, Clifford even is tempted to propose High Science . . . uneasily yoked" (pp. 78-79) says Geertz, in a ethnographic comprehension - coherent sympathy and engage- magnificent over-simplification. ment with the people studied - as best seen as a creation of Jarnes Clifford ('On Ethnographic Self-fashioning: Conrad ethnographic ulňting than as a quality of ethnographic expeň- and Malinowski' in Reconstnlcting Indiaidualism: Autonomy, ence (p. 158 - his italic). But though one may not accept all of Indiuiduality and the Self in Westetn Thought. ed. Thomas C. Geertz's or Clifford's interpretations, their serious treatment of Heller, Morton Sosna & David E. Wellbery. Stanford Univ. the Diary and suggestive commentaries show that the work has Press 1986 : l40-{,Z) takes a different but still literary-oriented now an established place in anthropology. line. As others harre done, Clifford has compar ed The Heart of So in this second lntroduction to the Diarr, I would Darhness with Malinowski's Diary and Argonauts of the modify one judgement in the first Introduction. Though the Westenl Pacific. Clifford's judgement, fairly enough, is that book is undoubtedly lacking "in its purely ethnographic sense" Malinowski was a zola rather than a conrad - "a naturalist I would no longer rank it as "no more than a footnote to presenting 'facts' plus heightened atmosphere." Clifford sees anthropological history", The concept of ethnography has the Diary as an inventive polyphonic text, and a crucial altered and widened, and the book has accordingly moved over document in the history of anthropology because it reveals the to a mofe central place in the literature of anthropological complexity of ethnographic encounters. But in a lapse of reflection. [t is not merely a record of the thinking and feeling critical skill he treats the Diary and Argonauts as "a single of a brilliant, turbulent personality who helped to form social expanded text", He ignores not only the time span between anthropology; it is also a highly significant contribution to the them - four years or so - but also the fact that the Diary was understanding of the position and role of a fieldworker as a written, not for publication, day by day in the Trobriands, as conscious participator in a dynamic social situation. a bachelor, in a time of great stress; while the Argonauts was written, for publication, as a unified work, in the Canary RAYMOND FIRTH Islands, as a happily-married man, in a time of relative tranquillity. Of course they are poles apart. But to regard them in effect as two sides of Malinowski's contemPorary complex personality is straining at the argument. Moreover, Clifford has become fascinated by the notion oí fic:tion and tends to treat any text with an element of personal subjectivity in it, as fictional. [t is not clear what he understands as 'fiction'. But for him the Diary is a fiction of the self for Malinowski, and 92 93 to clamber up without assistance. I was horribly tired, hideous ter lunch, I read again, and had a headache. Marvelous walk to stifling heat. Never before in N.G. have I felt so low. . . I was Spimat along the seashore. Arsenic and caffein [woke me up]. rn completely demoralized. Went to see ..Dr.'' Taafre. Then to company of Ameneu I went from [. . .] to W. . . Then the M.G. ofi.ce, Symons not too friendly. Then Charpentier, who re- vast jungle against the brash of coral. The path, covered with ceived me as a Rev. Father. Conversation about the natives, but the tangled roots of gigantic trees, led downward-an incon- chiefly about politics. Around 6 went to dinner, and met Mc- ceivably wonderful park. Farther on we slipped over [enormous] Cliesh. Then again to Charpentierrs; a drunken Englishman; roots, damp rocks, and half-decayed trees-until through the two little Jews; I drank beer and got tight. Charp. talked about branches we saw the blue glow of the sea and the dull rumble the natives, but I absolutely forget what. Then to bed. Slept well of the breaking waves-reduced to indistinct noise by the echoes enough, but felt awful-sticky with sweat, disgusted with my of the trees and the hillside. r recalled ventnor. Enormous trees own sluggishness. \{ent to see Charp.; talked about technol- covered with bindweed, ivy, creepers; made my way down to the ogy. Went home; was utterly exhausted. Read Kipling. sea through a round dell. The sea and the sky were dark. Irard Suddenly a policeman appeared at the head of e group of boys. white sand beach. The bay is small, shallow, inclosed by two r was so tired that I could hardly walk a few steps. Nevertheless short low arms of land-two walls of thick vegetation. The r got ready; via Charp.-who tried to persuade me that govern- beach covered with woods and palms. Clumps of coconut leaves ment help is harmful-r went with the boys. Occasionally I and other trees hang over the sand like stray rejects from the leaned on [Moreton] and another bog. Thel stop in the woods. thick green mass behind. Marvelous mood. Ameneu was almost The boys carried my things. Marvelous, enormou wilder- hoarse with joy; I too. We inspected Aus's waga. Then return. ne . . . . Like Lailg Hortom's d,rive in Kandy. The candela- Occasionally tired, but not very. In the evening I ate fried sau- bra of ferns on the trees; the enormous trunks of the gigantic sages and a pumpkin, and talked with Aus about spirits and trees; utterly unchecked unilergrowtň. Dark, gloomyl strange. I rabw.-Today (Tuesday, 2.23)1,5) Mewad' woke me up very calmly leaned on two boys and walked along looking at every- early. thing. After some time we entered a dry jungle. I was madly hrppy to be alone again with N.G. boys. Particularly when I sat March l. Aboard the "Marsin&r" & we are nearing Cairns. My alone in a hut, gazing out at the village through the betel head a little congested, nonetheless r feel relatively well and Once again the disheveled energetic. The most imp9_r.B_+. [palms]. figures of the boys, once "!_h*i "lt9y i| no! to waste my again sitting a few steps away from me. That evening, despite stay in Ausťialia Lot u.e it carefully in the most productive ,1. my exhaustion I talked with Aus about .]. 'Went write ,o u"ii"l" uĚÓ"t Mirit"-*uyt"-" iÓ* oih"", t. . to the _:i*J.-i "rust village and called on an old man. in addition, but Mailu first and foremost. r mugt check the mu- Sunday morning, scientific meeting. Then dinner; then I seums insofar as possible. o there won't be time for nonsense ! I read Shaw in bed, headache. . On Monday (pouring rain all must give a detailed account to Mr. Atlee Hunt and try to irn- night, roof leaked over the bed) pouring rain; sat in the kaha press him. For the last íew days r have not felt very bad, but I and again conferred with [Moreton] and the old man. Then, af- have not been strong enough to get really to work. Read Newton 94 96 joy i-"u U*t"-talked with Lyons. The fact that I am not flirting with nick of time. Rain. Went down. Ride in a boat-sheepish Miss Craig and Mrs. Nevitt is not to my credit. I especially that I was under way. Ship-lunch-finally hoisted anchor. I intended to pursue the latter, but I was vexed by the fact (l) sat astern and looked out over Suloga Bay-lovely view. Moun- that she did not go beyond Cairns and (2) that she is bound- tains covered with thick vegetation, blue sea with green ribbons 1 lessly stupid and does not really attract me. But I must get the here and there of shallower water over the coral. At first we la- | _o"de. of the events straight. On Tuesday 23, I worked at home moved in a western direction. To the north, low mangrove '-- in the morning, not too productively. Waus [apparently an al- goon, to the south the mountains of Suloga-this is the only ternate spelling of áqs] had a friend to whom he gave bagí and, place where stone objects were produced in the old days.-Par- with whom he talkedl3ln the morning I discussed dreaded spirits ticularly the coral banks on both sides of the smooth channel we and funeral rites. Suddenly decided to stay over another day. In were following, green, urrounded by a strip of white breakers. I the afternoon I went to the creek where they draw water. felt fine. Then the sea got rougher. I worked out a program with r waked emong íern trees-lace umbrellas. A river flows Brammell to add to the mu eum collections. Brammell and I through a tunnel of dense vegetation. I went down in the midst chatted about a number of things-fairly interesting; in the of fernlike leaves. The creek covered with moldering tree trunks, main r get on well with him. the murky greenish water skips over stones; the gentJy In the evening I was gripped by amorous desire for Mrs. Ň.l [sloping] banks are covered with vegetation-here and there went dowu and looked for her-I found her with the Balls in tlte creek queezes through a steep-walled ravine [of which] I their cabin. Next day (Thursday 25) woke up at 6, aíter bad._1 saw only tiuy sections. I climbed up- ome kind of resin stinking night-we were sailing through China Straits-the pink body of of iodine and nitrate stuck to my neck and burned me horribly. r the naked earth teeped in the dawn light showed through the walked on, to a deserted garden-again a stretch of the grgg}- tropical forest; the sea wa porcelain blue. Magnificent view of bend, two arms, I entered deep dark tunnels. A little tired when the [basin] of Samarai. Roge'a, shaped like a Tibetan hat; I got back (I visited the sick Ameneu). On the second day magnificent belt of hills on mair aniL.I went ashore with Sh&w, (Wednesday 24) I got up early, made ready, and went to the had breakfast, got a parcel for Biddy and a letter for Anderson. village t. . .] to Kulumadau. Newad and another boy carried Walked around the island with Ball. Lovely view. Sea at its me ,]while a group of others carried my things. Got there in tlhe Sunday best, the shore perfectly elegant, surf breaking, de- positing a silvery foam at the foot of the gently tilting palms. I ;- hhis was evidently t}re ffrst indication Malinowskl had of the kula, tbe f eomplex exehange of gifts throughout the region, which became the aubject longed to write a letter to N., end compo ed one mentally- of Árgonaufu of the Westorn Pacif,c. In that book he writeo (p.477):..Early (3.3.15) to tell her the quintessence of my experiences here. At t i" 1916, in the village oť Dikoyas, I heard conch shells blown, there was e : general commotiou in the village, and I saw the presentation of a |atge bagi moments I feel strong sympathy and friendship for her. But my ,) i do'u. I, of course, inquired about the meaning of the custom, and was told erotic feelings are reseryed exclusively for ?.-Ran into Newton that this is one of the exchanges of presents made when visiting friends. Át and went with him to the Rectorg-|here very pleasant chat with , th time I had no inkling that I had been a witness of a detailed manifesta- l tion of wlrat I subsequently found out wa kula." him and Mrs. Newton. Went to see Higginson. H. had malaria. 96 97 After a talk with him, I returned and told him about the ser- evening I thought about Star and began a letter to him. At geant and that r took the liberty of asking for coconuts. r asked moments I was very exalted; I have been in N.G., I have accom- Dr. Shaw to lunch and went to get the Newtons who politely ac- plished a good deal. I have prospects of far better work-fairly cepted my invitation.-The lunch was not too amusing; we sat. certain plans. And so*-it's not as hopeless as I thought when r around talking afterwards. Went back with them žo Rectorg, arrived here. Moreover I don't feel a bit worse than when I and r got a present: the carved prow of a ca,moe. Departure of ceme. I am a better sailor and I walk much better-the distances the ship-feminine company-Miss Craig. I sat astern-the no longer terrify me.-Gazing at the sea I have a strong feeling Samarai basin passed by in full sunlight; very beautiful-golden of happiness. True, it's not all over yet; but in the light of old verdure of the woods, the sea dark sapphire. Behind Roge'a, a fears and uncertainties I have decidedly won & victory. number of clifrs hanging right over the open sea. Night fell be- Monday, 3.1. Magnificent approach to Cairns. From the 'We fore Suau. sailed past on the seaward side. Chatted with morning on, view of mist-covered shores. We pass right near the Brammell, then with Burrows, a man from Samarai, very pleas- reef against which waves are breaking. Mountains more and ant and amusing. I discussed with him possible expeditions and more distinct-rosy above the green sea. some show ca,rs of eventual collaboration, progrem for collecting ethnological recent rock-falls. To the left, high mountains with magnificent data. domed peeks, like cathedral spires. To the right, a long chain of Friday 26. Sailing along the coast of N.G.: Morning misty. beautiful mounteins. The town in a hollow between mounta,in , a Table Point. Finished writing out instructions and gave them flat spit or tongue. Simply intoxicated with the view. Reminds to Brammell and Burrows. I gazed, &cro at llulaa. A few un- me a little of Palermo. The mountains covered with lush vegeta- successful attempts in the direction of Miss Craig. r became a tion. This time I ignore the mangroves which had so enchanted rather good-natured friend of Mrs. Nevitt's. Fairly long talk me at ffrst. The doctor very courteous. Military control. Walk with Burrows. Evening, arrival in P[ort] M[oresby]. I stood along the shore. I feel incomparably stronger than in September on the bridge and watched us sail through lhe ptassage in the when I walked along here. Back to the ship-if it had not de- reef. Then, lowering of the anchor; the calm, smooth water of layed sailing, I should have missed it. Departure; instead of the port. The Duboises. \Ment to bed late, after drinking beer. watching I drank liqueur with the Balls. Then Hltmr^ten"ÍT_ Saturday 27. Slept badly because of the mosquitoes and the am keepingšLp"_renix*lg*_.Lqx]il. Then, in the afternoon, I net. Trouble with papers at Port. I got out my things from the worEed with Lyons, but actually spent most of the time talking hoW ald took them ashore. McCrann, Mrs. Ashton, Champion, against Haddon and L. M. S. rn the evening I drank beer (3 Áhuia, H. E. [Murray]-once again I was very tired and did glasses). As a result, on Tuesday (3.Z) I had a hangover or not feel in form. Departure. I sat in the back and looked at the fever-sluggishness, anemia of the brain, no energy. In the port, the wall of mountains above Tupuseleia-a lovely view, morning I worked on my MS.-But in the end felt rotten. In the after all. Touch of seasickness. Turned in. Evening- afternoon I read a novel (by Jacobs) and out on deck g;zei[;T- * Sunday 28. Morning-i Read a litt]e of the ".*.-Ťuňaoilifi [Newton]. In éď" i;';;tgt";t 98 '- 99 Whitsu/nd,au passage. In the evening, read the j August a five-month interruption. Omarakana.$ the marvelous l,]9rl-after ,šďTófr"rrT;& novel (not bad, by the way) until [it produced the desired ' whut ;";ity i;bpd;i-ĚŤffiďfry*tlffiy"Tó ' efrect] and I went to bed at l0 after taking lO grains of quinine. is an important day. Yesterday and today r have clearly real- ized an idea that had long been dimly present, wandering 'W'ednesday (3.3) not much better. till anemia of the brain as- through the welter of wishes, dreams, and uncertainties-it has eociated with characteristic congestion between the brain and now clearly emerged-I am thinking seriously of marrying the optical nerye. In the morning worked with Lyons. In the N. rn spite of that, I am very uncertain. But r want to afternoon . . . I read some more N[ewton], at odd moments see her and try. Beginning tomorrow-no, today-I'll start planned my stay in Australia; at other moments thought about another diary, and I must fill the empty blank pages of these my article on Mailu. In the evening I talked with the men, went last five months. If in the end I marry N., March and April to bed before 10. Rotten night, fleas biting; ship rocking and 1916 will be the most important months in my emotional life. tossing.

Thursday, 3.4. Today I feel fairly low. Slightly seasick. Should like to make a synthesis of this voyage. Actually the marvelous sights filled me with a noncreative delight. As I gazed, every- tňing echoed inside me, & when listening to music. Moreover r was full of plans for the future.-The sea is blue, absorbing everything, fused with the sky. At moments, the pink silhouettes of the mountains appea,r through the mist, like ph*ntoms of reality in the flood of blue, like the unffnished ideas of some youthful creative force. You can just make out the shapes of the islands scattered here and there-as though headed for some unknown destination, mysterious in their isolation, beautiful with the beauty of perfection-self-sufficient. Ilere and there flat coral islands, like enormous rafts gliding over the smooth water. Occasionally these forms take on life, passing for a moment into the realm of [crude] reality. A pale silhouette suddenly turns into a rocky island. Gigantic trees rise right out of the sea, set on an alluvial platform. Slopes covered with green thickets, here and there a tall tree towering above it. At places bits of white or pink stone stick out of the vegetation.