thorton - imagine your self set down

8/13/2019 Thorton - Imagine Your Self Set Down

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'Imagine Yourself Set Down...': Mach, Frazer, Conrad, Malinowski and the Role of Imaginationin EthnographyAuthor(s): Robert J. ThorntonSource: Anthropology Today, Vol. 1, No. 5 (Oct., 1985), pp. 7-14Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3032822.

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existence of the Slovaks ('just a few shepherds in thehills'), and when the influential Englishman Seton-Watsonfound that theyhad misledhim, he becamethatmuch more receptive o a more realistic,andin Masaryk'sview more just, account of the ethnic situation.So the present manipulates the past. In philosophyin general, when truth becomes difficult of access,because our minds are seen to be manipulated, thenormal reactive trategy s to seek the touchstone of validperception, of valid thought. If one succeeds to one'sownsatisfaction,one canvindicateone's deas,anddamnthose of one'srivals as mereideology. But an even moreextremepossibilityis also available.Whynot damn themall, and do without this doubt-ridden, manipulation-prone realm altogether? Such was, in simplest, crudestterms, Malinowski's reaction. It turns the tables on themanipulators: the fact that they use the past for currentaims is theveryessenceof thepast. Instead of arbitratingbetween rival claims about the past, explainthe presentby the functions which the 'past' (and anything else)fulfils right now.We know full wellwhy Malinowskithe anthropologistwas drawn to this view: it cut the ground from underspeculative (and fragment-based)reconstructions. It isthevery basisof his methodologicalrevolution.My pointis that Malinowski the Pole had equally powerful -though quite different- reasons for feeling attractedbysuch a doctrine. He wasno political nationalist, thoughhe was a cultural nationalist. (Evans-Pritchard old methathe firmly turned down the suggestionthat he shouldrename himself McRaspberry - malina being thecommon Slavonicrootmeaning raspberry.)He knew thatthe re-drawingof boundaries would not and could notsolve the problem of culturaloppression; it could onlyredistribute the roles of oppressor and oppressed, andhe said as much in print. (At the time he was workingout his ideas, genocide and large scale forcible transferof population were not yet on the agenda in centralEurope.)

Where did he get the ideas which enabled him toformulate an alternative, usable both in anthropologyandinpolitics?Herethe workof AndrzejFlis andotherson his doctoral dissertation provides the conclusiveanswer.Thethesis was concerned with Ernst Mach (alsowith Avenarius) and the 'second positivism'. One of itscentral themes was the radical empiricist aspiration(whichreachedanglophone philosophy mainly through

Bertrand Russell) to eschew the invocation oftranscendentbjects;ermswhich eemed o refer o suchobjects were, wheneverpossible,to be construedasreferringndirectlyo observable ntities.Malinowski'sattitude o the pastconstitutes brilliantdeploymentof this idea: the allegedpast is a 'charter' f currentpractices, ts essence is the function it observablyperforms ow. But another heme sjustasprominentin Machianpositivism: ts biological nterpretationfknowledge.t sees deasas serving totalorganism, ndas vindicated y constitutinghe most economical' ayof servingheorganism'seeds.Thisnotionwasreflectedinthe very itleof Malinowski's issertation. his eads,in a very naturalway, o Malinowski's unctionalism,and to his holistic attitude o culture.In the context of the Europeanhistoryof ideas,Malinowski is an unusual, probably a uniquephenomenon: he romanticpositivist, and the anti-historical holist. The customary alignments arerefreshingly e-shuffled.He had an organicsenseofculture,but withoutreverenceor history,andhe wasanempiricist ut one endowedwitha senseof culturaltotalities. t washis epistemologicalMachismowhichenabled im odo it. Ithelpedhimdo two hingsatonce:overturn razerian nthropology;ndcombine ulturalnationalismwith political internationalism, nd sodiscountallegedhistorical mperatives.Inter-warPoland was nationalist, romantic andhistoricist n its dominantmood. Why should it beattractedby a Londonprofessor, venthoughhe beAnthropologistLaureate o the BritishEmpire,whotaught hatit wasof the very essenceof the past thatitwasmanipulatednthe nterests f current spirations?And,as Szackipoints out, intellectualsrying o piecetogether a coherentnational culture, rom decayingfragments f a peasantcustomdisconnected romthegreat tradition of the society, would hardly findilluminationn a thinkerwho taught hat cultureswerein fact functionally ntegrated.

Today, however, the pays re'eland the pays le'gal aresharplydistinctin Poland, and thepays legal is formallycommittedo ahistoricistdeology.Whatbetterwayofneedlingtthan he nvocation f a theorywhich tressesthemanipulationf thepastby hepresent?Malinowski,thoushouldstbe living n this hour.Polandhath needof thee,andcouldnever avebeenmore eceptiveo yourviews.

Imagine yourself s t downMach, Frazer,Conrad,Malinowskiand the role of imagination inethnographyROBERTJ. THORNTONTheauthor s a lecturernanthropology t theUniversity f Cape Town.Thisarticle s basedon apapergiven at theASAconference 984.

'Imagine yourself suddenly set down ..alone on atropicalbeach WiththesewordsBronislawMalinowskiinvitesthe reader o join him on ajourneythat will showhim 'nativeenterpriseandadventuren the archipelagoesof Melanesian New Guinea. Like other travelogues, itis a taleof the adventure o be found in journeying. Thetext of Argonautsof the WesternPacific is also ametaphoricaljourneyinto nature and humannature,anheroicattempt to reachthe 'centralattitude of mind ofthenative' 1961 19221: 17),to 'penetrateothercultures',

in order,ultimately, o 'deepenour graspof humannature'.t isa taleof adventureboutMalinowski'swnjourney o get there,andan allegoricalourney romthe macrocosmicworld of the Europeanto themicrocosmicworldof theTrobriandatives.Allof thisjourneyings intended o revealhe 'wholeconceptionof primitive alue'.The 'Kularing' andthejourneying ssociated,withit was indeedrich in narrativepotential, adenwithsymbolicvalue for both the Trobrianders nd the7

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anthropologist. Forthe Melanesian participantsin theKula, travel was an instrument for creating anddistributing valuables. For Malinowski, writer andethnologist, travelwas the centralrhetoricalfigure thatdefined and re-valued the ethnographic genre. InArgonauts, ravel itself is allegory, image, and artificeas well as the practicethat links the text with the picture-like vision of the world as a coherent whole.Documentation and Description

Malinowski houghtof himself as a writer. n his visionof what anthropology was or could be, and in his ownwork, he struggledconstantly with what were for himopposite poles of consciousness: science and art,especially the art of writing.

Malinowski's own conception of the role of writingemphasizedthe recordthat it produced, ratherthan theprocess itself, or its rhetorical and aesthetic effects.Althoughhe is mythologizedas the 'fatherof fieldwork',the methodological first chapterof Argonauts stressestext rather han experience.He held that textsguaranteethe scientific bonafides of the endeavour.Accordingly,the three most essential productsof fieldworkare texts.These are described as, first, 'concrete statisticaldocumentation'(1961[19221:17,24) f the 'organizationof the tribe,and the anatomy of its culture';second, the'minute,detailed observations' of the 'imponderabiliaof actual life', that was contained in the ethnographicdiary;and third, the fieldworker'stextual record of allsorts of formulaic or regular speech in a corpusinscriptionumthat was to be seen as the 'documentsofnative mentality' (1961 [19221:24,1978 [1935J(:vi).Hejustified this emphasis by referringto the methods ofthe Classicistand Classicalarchaeologist.He givescreditto A.H. Gardiner,an Egyptologist, on this matter.

From his point of view as archaeologist, [Gardiner]naturally saw the enormous possibilities for anethnographerof obtaininga similarbody of writtensources as have been preservedfor us from ancientcultures, plus the possibility of illuminationof themthrough personal knowledgeof the full life of thatculture. (1961 [1922]:24n)

More importantly, he claimed that J.G. Frazerwasresponsibleforhis realizationof the importanceof vividand detailed description. En route to Kiriwina for thesecond period of fieldwork on the island, he wrote toFrazer from his cabin on board the S.S. Makambo.

Every ethnologist naturallylooks up to you as theleaderin our branchof learning...Atthe time,whenI receivedyourletter,I needed a stimulusvery badly,becauseI wasresumingworkafter a pauseof almosta yeardue to ill health. ...Through he study of yourworksmainfly, have come to realizethe paramountimportanceof vividness and colour in descriptionsof native life. I rememberhow helpful it was to findinyour T&E TotemismandExogamy]a picturesqueaccount of the country where the respectivetribeslive. In fact I found that the more scenery and'atmosphere'was given in the account, which youhad at your disposal, the moreconvincing ndmanageableo the imaginationwas the ethnologyof thatdistrict. shall tryto give the local colourand describe henature f the scenery ndmise-en-scene to the best of my ability. (Malinowski,Correspondence 5/10/1917, cited as 'Corresp'hereafter.Letter o J.G.Frazer.Emphasis s mine)

The importance f Frazer'swriting o MalinIowski,however, oes beyond he methodological uestionofwhat data to collectand how to collectandpresent t.

In this letter to Frazer,we note especiallythat he pointsto the imagination as the target of ethnographicdescription.The ethnographermustundertake he workof convincing the readers by managing theirimaginations in a way that would allow them toconceptualize in imageswhat the text could not presentin full. If the details of native life were 'imponderabilia',it is becausethey couldonly be constructed nthe readers'imagination once the moment of experience was past.Frazer'srhetoricand definition of problem-areashada majorimpact on Malinowski's ntellectualprogramme.In an address delivered in Liverpool in November of1925, after the publication of Argonauts, and after itssuccess had been registered, Malinowski revealedthatits significancehad been emotionaland aestheticas well.

If I had the powerof evoking the past, I should liketo leadyoubacksometwenty years o an old Slavonicuniversitytown - I mean the town of Cracow, theancient capital of Poland and the seat of the oldestuniversity n easternEurope.I could then show youa student leaving the medieval college buildings,obviously in some distress of mind, hugging,however,under his arm, as the only solace of histroubles, threegreenvolumes with the well-knowngolden imprint,a beautiful conventionalized designof mistletoe- thesymbolof 7he GoldenBough(1948[19261:93)

Ernst Mach and reading The Golden Bough'Malinowski irst encounteredThe Golden Boughbeforeenteringuniversitywhen t was readto himbyhis motherwhile he was recuperatingrom an illness.His studies ttheold Jagellonian niversity ere hieflyin physics,mathematics nd philosophy Paluch1983;Malinowski1948[1926]:94).Of the authorshe readduring his period hoseof most significance o him,to judge romhisownwritingst the ime,ncluded rnstMach, Richard Avenarius, Wilhelm Fechner,andWilhelmWundt.Their deasabout hepositive, sycho-physical basis for 'imagination'as a fundamentalcharacteristicof human cognition, indicate that

Cracow University: thecourtyard of the CollegiumMaius, 1960's.

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Malinowski's dea of the role of imagination n hisreading of Frazer'sGoldenBough, and in his ownethnographicwriting,were founded on a positivisticconception f the realphysiologicalxistence f imagesand constructs in the mind that permitted theapprehension f reality o takeplace.Strangely,e almostentirely uppressednymentionof his readingof Mach,Avenarius nd Fechner n hislaterEnglish-languageork.Thismaybepartlyduetothe fact thattheywerenot well known n the English-speakingworldwhenMalinowskiwrote. tmayalso berelated o theattempts f Malinowski, isteachers ndcolleaguesto define clearlyan intellectual ield foranthropology, and to draw distinct disciplinaryboundaries between it and sociology, psychology,philosophyandhistory. n anycase,we see a glimpseof Mach's deasconcerninghe construction f theoryin Argonauts.The integrationof all the details observed,theachievement f a sociologicalsynthesisof all thevarious relevantsymptoms, is the task of theEthnographer. irstof all he has to find out thatcertainactivities,whichat firstsightmightappearincoherent ndnotcorrelated, avea meaning.Hethen has to find out what s constantand relevantin these activities,and what is accidental and

inessential, hat is, to find out the lawsand rulesof all the ransactions. gain, heEthnographerasto construct hepictureof thebiginstitution,verymuchas thephysicist onstructs istheory rom heexperimentalata,whichalwayshavebeenwithinreachof everybody, utwhichneededa consistentinterpretation. (1961 [19221:84;Malinowski'semphasis)Although Malinowskidoes not link this concisestatementf hisscientificmethod o hisreading f Mach,Ernst Mach is the central figure in Malinowski'sdissertationOnthe Economyof Thought'submittedto the JagellonianUniversity'sacultyof philosophy,and defended n 1908.

culturalconstructs of the scientific investigatorand hishistoricalandsocialcontextinteractwith and contributeto the development of scientific knowledge.Mach's chief study of scientific methodology,publishedin 1905 asErkenntnisundIrrtum [KnowledgeandError] Mach 1976),was based on a seriesof lecturesdelivered in Vienna duringthe winter of 1895-96.Thisworkconstituted a sustainedcritiqueof anyphilosophyof science which fails to take account of the observerand his position relative to the object of observation,or which fails to account for the cognitive structureofthe human mind in its account of scientific method.Mach emphasized the provisional nature of scientificfindings, and the role of historical contingency,ratherthan logical necessity or coherence, in determiningthecharacter of the theories that scientists developed toaccount for their observations (Hiebert 1976:xix).Malinowski's reading of Frazerprovidedthe contentfor what he saw as a new empirical science of theprimitiveconsciousness that would lead to the deeperunderstandingof all human nature.But it was Mach'sconcept of science as a socially embedded endeavourthat guided Malinowski's attack on 'the errors ofEconomics',especially ts failure o consider hesymbolicnature of value. His insistence that the empirical

ethnographic actmustalwaysbeevaluatednthecontextof the whole, reflectsthe outlines of Mach'spositivism,especially his concept of the 'field' and holism in thephysical sciences.This provides the basis for the critique of Classicaleconomictheorythatrecurs hroughoutArgonauts,andlater in Coral Gardens and their Magic. Malinowskiclaimed that his analysis of the kula economy gives usan understandingof the magical and symbolic natureof value that is relevantto a broader,anthropologicalunderstanding of economy and value in general.It seems,too, that the entireconception of the secondchapterof Argonauts, in which Malinowskiprovidesasummary definition of the kula, and through it, of thenature of 'primitiveeconomics' ingeneral, s takenfrom

Mach's philosophy of scientific methods. He presentsthe 'general definition of the Kula' first in order thatthis might serve as 'a sort of plan or diagram in ourfurtherconcretedescriptions'.In doing so, Malinowskipoints out that this appearsto contradict the ordinarynotion of the way inductive science should achieve itsresults. Again, it was Mach who argued that this ispreciselythe waysciencedoes, in fact, proceed. Generalconceptions, images, or diagramsyf how things workmust first be imagined. These may then be graduallyreformedandimproved hroughempiricalmeasurement.'Thegoal of the ordinaryimagination', wroteMach, 'isthe conceptualcompletion and perfection of a partiallyobserved fact' (Mach 1976 [1905]:1). Malinowskiemphasized, too, that his methods were 'absolutelycandid and above board' (1961[1922]:2).This is also tobe found as a cardinalprinciplein Mach'sapproachtotheeliminationof error romscientificknowledge Mach1976: 1-9).Indeed,Malinowski'surn oethnologysprefiguredin Mach'sessayson the historyof science,and in hisessays on epistemology.Mach refers frequently oethnologists hroughoutthis works.J.W.Powell,forinstance,whoseclassification f theAmerican ndianlanguageswaspraised yFranzBoas Powell 966,Boas1966) scitedbyMach nconnectionwith heAmericanIndianperceptionf physical henomenaPowell 898).Machreferredmanytimes to E.B.Tylor,McLennan,Haddonand to other social scientistssuch as W.S.Jevons,and HerbertSpencer n his works.Mach's

Malinowski's doctoral 0 1)1 o I i 'It \I\\IAM 1:1I1\ I\ LAML 1: SSI IUBATI.degree, Cracow University, BA(S1908. i si~. iii'MAII iN0 IA IIAlNI I OVIm AC1 \ : (. ISUFRANCISCIOSEPHI.ADAMODrCLI D1u OGINIECEDOROWICZ

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Mach was among the firstphilosophers of science toconsiderscienceas a socialactivity n whichmeaningful,9



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begin to draw together his notes and begin writing, hishealth and his financial circumstancescaused him tomove to Tenerife.Soon afterbeginningworkon the firstvolume of his Trobriandstudies, he wrote to Frazertocongratulatehim on an articlethat had appeared n TheTimesconcerningFrazer's ecentseriesof public ectures.The audienceand the reviewerhadbeenveryimpressed,and Malinowski saw this as 'the best means to arousepublic nterestand securesome assurance n futurework.But hewent on to saythat he washavingsome difficultiesin getting started with his own writing.

I am now working on an extensive account of theTrobriandtrading, especially the KULA. I find italways difficult to begin writing. I am trying toimagine always that I am writing for some specialperson. Yourgreatkindness and the privilegeI hadof seeing you and speaking to you is a great helpto me. And writing my present paper, I am, so tospeak,addressingyou. (Correspondence, etterfromMalinowski to Frazer, 18/7/1920)

Lessthan a year later,Malinowski had begunto thinkof lookingforpublisher or hisvolume.In a letter,writtenfrom Tenerife in February, 1921, he asked Frazer toapproach George Macmillan about the publication ofthe book. 'Asyou may remember'he said, 'I am writingout a sort of preliminaryaccount on intertribal tradingand sailing'. The manuscript had reached a length inexcess of 400 pages, and Malinowski declaredthat hewas 'deletingheavy matter [on] duller subjects..' and hehoped that 'while the book is strictly scientific andcontaininga mass of information, [it] promises to makequite attractivereading..' Indeed he thought it wouldalmost certainly be 'reallya payingproposition' for anypublisher who would take it on.That is, if a firm like Macmillan's akes t and if some

publicity is given to it in the press. This latter goesverymuch against the grain, of course, but [rightlyor wrongly], I believein the value of my stuff, [and]naturally,would liketo see it read...Moreover,I amnow very much in need of becoming known, andeven if possible of earning a few pounds.(Correspondence,Malinowskito Frazer10Feb.1921)Malinowski noted that he had already written to

several publishers, George Macmillan included, andaskedFrazer to writein support. Finally, he noted thathe waspuzzlingoveranappropriateitlethat would catchthe public's nterest,andsuggestedthat 'Atitle likeKula;a Tale o native enterpriseand adventure in the SouthSeas or Primitive Barter;a Tale,etc. might be suitable'(Corresp. 10 Feb.21).By May, 1921, Malinowski had completed themanuscriptandFrazerhadagreedto write a prefaceforit. Macmillanhadrejected he manuscript,however,andMalinowski was again searching for a publisher.Disappointed, he wrote from Tenerife, 'I would havevalued it very highly to enter the world of literatureintroduced by you'. He felt that his work should be'accepted,not because of its scientific value (whateverthat may be) but because it ought to be a book that sells(Malinowski's emphasis; Corresp.10 May 21), andexclaimedn desperationthat [this] ype of scientificworkwhichhas to bedone nowor never ndwhichentailsat present ealsacrifices forthere s no careeroranEthnologist,fewendowments ndthe work tselfis hard thatit shouldbeevendifficult o finda publisher oritis discouraging utnowadaysculture'saltogetherconsidered useless uxury Corresp.10May1921)

Eventually, Malinowski found a publisher(Routledge), nd the book appearedwith the preface

by Frazer that Malinowski desired so much. In thispreface, Frazerpaid special attention to the fieldworkof the author, especially since he saw in Malinowski'streatmentof economy a proof of his own 'theories' ofthe role of magic, imagination and emotion in what 'atfirst sightmight seema purelyeconomicactivity' (Frazerin Malinowski 1961[1922]:x). nvokingCharlesDickensand HerbertSpencer,among others,Frazerasserted hatMalinowski had shown...

...that it [the kula] is not based on a simplecalculationof utility...,but that it satisfiesemotionaland aestheticneeds of a higherorder than the meregratification of animal wants. This leads Dr.Malinowski to pass some severestructureson theconception of the Primitive Economic Man...who,it appears, still haunts economic text-books andeven...theminds of certain anthropologists. Riggedout in the cast-off garmentsof Mr.JeremyBenthamand Mr. Gradgrind, this horrible phantom isapparentlyactuated by no other motive than thatof filthy lucre, which he pursues relentlessly, onSpencerianprinciples... If such a dismal fiction isreally regardedbythe serious inquireras havinganycounterpart in savage society,... Dr. Malinowski'saccountof the Kula...shouldhelpto laythe phantomby the heels...(Frazer n Malinowski 1961[1922]:xi).

Malinowski soon had the opportunity to repay hismentor's favour. In a review of the abridged edition ofThe Golden Bough, he paid tribute to the importanceof this work in his own thought, and in the history ofanthropology. Frazer responded in a letter toMalinowski, then on holiday in Italy,to saythat he wasgreatly encouraged by Malinowski's evaluation of thework.I say 'encouraging'because, though I have tried to

follow a strictlyinductive method (havingno beliefin theories evolved a priori), I cannot help oftenfearing hatI have allowedmy imaginationto outrunthe evidence. Your testimony is therefore veryreassuringand comforting by indicating that evenin cases where I have travelledbeyond the limits ofthe facts known to me, I have yet sometimes beenfollowing the rightlines and that I have anticipatedconclusions which have been proved, or renderedprobable, by subsequent researches, such as yourown. Forthis experimentalconfirmationof theorieswhichI sometime feared weretoo bold, I am deeplygrateful to you. (Corresp. Frazer to Malinowski21/5/23)

Frazer was not far from the mark. Malinowski'sreadingof The Golden Bough while under the sway ofMach's critical empiricism, has indeed produced adocument that justified and supported Frazer's'imagination'.Conrad and the imagination of darknessWe do not know when Malinowski may have firstdiscoveredJosephConrad'swriting,but he choseseveralvolumes of Conrad'sstories and novels to take into thefield withhim.His reactionsothemarerecordedmanytimes nA Diary n the StrictSenseof the Term1967).Someexamplesrom these'reading otes'allowus toassess he mpactof Conrad gainst he backgroundfother works.Pt. Moresby,ept.20, 914-Sept.1egana newepochin my life: an expeditionall on my own to thetropics...WeeftBrisbane.5.145 Sept.,1914],rrivedCairns...thatfternoon readRivers...Oh es,thatwas he timeI made he mistake f reading RiderHaggardnovel.

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back at least to John Aubrey, essayist, biographer,discoverer of the true historical significance ofStonehenge and arguablythe first 'ethnologist' of theBritish people (John Fowles 1981; John Aubrey 1981).It is interesting to compareMalinowski's and Conrad'sfirst-encounterpassageswithAubrey's ext. It may evenhave had a directinfluence upon them. Writtenaround1680,Aubrey's extwas not publisheduntil 1847(Aubrey1869)when it would have been available to Conrad, atleast. But whatever may be the facts of their historicalrelationship,all threepassages taketheirdeparture roman imagined traumatic'firstencounter' with the savage.We are 'set down' on a 'tropicalbeach' (Malinowski),

'atthe very end of the world'(Conrad),orn 'shabbydismal wood' (Aubrey),there to suffer 'tropicaldepression'.powerlessness'.disgust'. surrender'nd'hate'.From hereweare edtowardshe salvation hatis to befound ngettingdown o 'business',thedevotionto efficiency'. civilityand building'or, indeed, 'anyoccasion or Bustling' cf. also Conradquotedabove:'subduedat the cost...ofexcessiveoil'). The contrastbetweenhedespair f thetropicsandthediscipline fmodern ociety reated orMalinowski newdiscursivespace nwhichhis own extcouldbe seenas auniquelyscientificproduct,a synthesis f knowledge boutthe'savage'hatwas also the productof great ndustry.

Malinowski, Argonauts of the Western Pacific,1922Imagineyourself uddenly et downsurroundedby all your gear, alone on a tropicalbeachcloseto a nativevillagewhile the launchordinghywhichhasbroughtyou sailsawayoutof sight...

Imagine urther hat you are a beginnerwithoutprevious xperience,with nothing oguide you andno one to help you...I well rememberhelongvisitsI paidto thevillagesduring he firstweeks; he feelingsofhopelessness nddespairaftermanyobstinatebut futile attemptshadfailed to bringme intoreal touch with the natives,or supplyme withanymaterial. hadperiodsof despondencywhenI buriedmyself n the readingof novels,as a manmight aketo drink n a fit oftropicaldepression nd boredom...I triedto proceed o business...I was quiteunable o enter nto any more detailedorexplicitconversationwith them at first.I knewwell that the best remedy or this was to collectconcretedata, and accordingly, took a villagecensus, wrotedown genealogiesdrewup plansandcollected ermsof kinship.

J.Conrad, Heart of Darkness, 1898

I was thinkingof the very old times whentheRomans irst camehere[to Britain, heThames]...Imagine he feelingsof acommander f a fine - whatd'yecall em -triremen the Mediterraneanrdered uddenlyto the north. Imaginehim here[on theThames] theveryend of the world...Sandbanks, marshes, orests, savages preciouslittle for a civilizedman and nothingbutThameswater o drink..Landin a swamp,march hrough hewoods,andin some nlandpost feel the savagery,heuttersavagery,hadclosed roundhim - all thatmysteriousife ofthe wilderness tirs n the forest,in thejunglesin the heartsof wildmen.There'sno initiationeither nto such mysteries.

He has to live in the midst of theincomprehensible, hich s also detestable.Andit has a fascination, oo, that goes to workuponhim.The fascination f theabomination- you know.Imagine he growing egrets, he longing oescape,thepowerlessness,he disgust, hesurrender,he hate.Mind,none of us would feel exactly ike this.What savesus is efficiency the devotion oefficiency.

JohnAubrey,Wiltshire ntiquities .1680,published1862Let us imaginewhat kind of country hiswasin the time of theAncientBritons.

By the natureof the soil which s a sour[wet]woodsereand,verynatural or theproductionof Oakesespecially,onemayconclude hatthisNorthDivisionwas shabbydismalwood:andthe inhabitants lmost as savageas the Beastwhoseskins weretheironly raiment...TheBoats n the Avon (whichsignifiesriver)werebasketsof twigs coveredwith an ox skin...Theyweretwo or three degreesess savage hantheAmericansIndians]TheRomans ubduedandcivilised hem. TheSaxonssucceededhem...

TheNormans hencameand taught hemcivilityandbuilding..For theirgovernmentuntilthe time of Henry8, it was likea nestofBoxes:for Copy-Holderstenants]held of theLordsof theManor,whoheldof the King.Upon anyoccasion or Bustlingn thosedays,one of thegreatLordssoundedhisTrumpet..andsummonedhem thatheldunderhim:theseagainsounded heirtrumpets nd soon down to theCopy-Holders.

ConclusionMalinowskiaw hekey o anauthenticthnographicrhetoric n the literary maginationof ConradandFrazer.Herecognizedhat hewritermust timulatendguidethereader'smaginationn order o beintelligible.Heaccomplishedhisthrough he useof metaphors, ividdescription, arratives f adventurendmisadventure,by evocation of place and mise-en-scene, and byappealingo aninherently umanquestforcoherencyof knowledge.The maginationfills n'thelacunaeofbothexperience nddescription. t is thisimaginativepotential hat allowsthe reader o connect he wordsandphrases f thetext tself o themoregeneralmageswhich t evokes.Although he textcanneverprove hat a coherency

of 'life'or 'society'really xists, tcanprovidea 'senseof it'. Travel, oyages f discovery, nd ravelnarrativewereessentially hepractice hat inked hetextualandscientific lassificationsf lifeandsocietieswitha visionof theworldasa coherent ndcontinuouswhole.Themetaphorof travelin this historicalcontext was anentirelyappropriate hetoricalmode for FrazerandMalinowski,as it wasfor Conrad,since it supportedtheir claimsthat culture, or civilization,were suchcoherentwholes.Malinowski's dvocacyof 'holism'and'function',however,wasbasedonphilosophicalommitmentshathad beenmade well beforehis beingset downon atropical sland.Thesecommitments resented eriousproblemswhenconfronted ytheverydifferentmodesof life encounteredn Africa,Asia andthePacific. It

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may have beenpossible for nineteenth-centurynovelistsand armchairtheorists to construct convincing imagesof the coherentruralcommunity, sublime yet vulnerablein comparison with urban moral disintegration. Suchcontrastswere not obvious, however, in the villages of'savages', or the agrarian societies of the southerntropics. They were manifestly rural, but they did notat first appearto possess the moral wholeness that theEuropean had hoped to see. At the same time it wasimpossible to endorse completely the industrialsocietythat had grown up in Europe, and which was held tobe responsible for displacing the simplermoral life ofthe country side.

Whether this moral expectation was based on themusings of Jean-JacquesRousseau, a romanticizationof the primitive, or was really just part of a widely-feltmessianic hopefulness, it is clear that Europeans wereunable to endorse the radically different modes ofeconomy, work, sexualityandspiritualityof the tropicalnatives that Malinowski began seriously to address.Conrad's image of darkness, and the image both of thevoyage of discoveryas one of internal discovery of Self,and external discovery of the Savage, provided anecessary senseof tragedyand urgency for Malinowski.Together, the delineation of these tropes and modesformed the basis for Malinowski's Trobriand oeuvre.Malinowski'sexperiencen the field was not the cradleof functionalism, as he himself so frequently asserted,but it was among the most deliberate of personal andintellectual confrontations between the 'European'andthe 'Savage' that had yet been attempted. Theinteraction of imaginationanddescription,the contrastbetween 'civilized' and 'primitive' thought, and thetension between endorsement and doubt, ledMalinowski towards his famous first encounter, 'setdown' in the self-imposed agonyof loneliness at theveryjuncture of contradiction.As Mach taught, the observer/theoretician isenmeshed in the context of that which he mustexplain,and of that which he hopes to transcend. Set in aConradian representational universe, Malinowski'sArgonauts of the WesternPacific synthesizedFrazer'sironic comparativism with Mach's philosophy of thescientific imagination.

Thisessayderives,npart, rommyreading f manuscriptsof paperswrittenby BronislawMalinowskin Polish beforehewent oEngland.am ndebtedomycolleagueeterSkalnikwho has gathered his material ogetherand arrangedoraccurate ranslationsntoEnglish.Thesemanuscriptsre tobe published oon in a volumeeditedby Peter Skalnikandmyself. Researchn the WrenLibraryof TrinityCollege,Cambridge,n thecorrespondenceetweenMalinowski ndFrazer was conducted with supportfrom The NationalEndowment or the Humanities USA), and the HumanSciencesResearchCouncil SouthAfrica), n 1982.

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BibliographyAubrey, John 1969(1847),NaturalHistory of Wiltshire(Facsimilereprint of originalpublishededition of 1847;manuscriptates o about1680).NewtonAbbot,Devon:Davidand Charles.1981 1847),MonumentaBritannica, volumes.Ed.byJohn Fowles, with introductionby John Fowles. DorsetPublishingCo.Boas, Franz 1966, Introduction o Handbook of theAmericanndian anguages.Ed. by PrestonHolder.Lincoln:University f NebraskaPress.Conrad,Joseph1905 1898),Heartof darkness.London:J.M.Dent.1898,Talesof Unrest.London:Unwin.1979,Heart f darkness;n authoritativeext,backgroundand sources, criticism. Norton critical edition. Ed. by

Kimbrough.NewYork:W.W.Norton.Fowles, John 1981, Introduction to Monumenta Britanicaby JohnAubrey.DorsetPublishingCo.Frazer, amesGeorge1922,TheGoldenBough.Abridgededition n one volume.London:Macmillan.Hiebert,ErwinN. 1976,Introductiono Knowledge ndErrorbyErnstMach.Dordrecht, olland:D.Reidel ublishing

Co.Mach, Ernst 1976, Knowledge and Error: sketches on the

psychology of enquiry. Dordrecht, Holland: D.ReidelPublishingCo.Maitland,FrederickD. 1968, Selected ssays. Reprintingof 1936 ed. Ed. by H.D.Hazeltine,Lopsleyand Winfield.Freeport,NewYork: Booksfor Libraries.Malinowski,Bronislaw .d., Correspondence: anuscriptlettersromMalinowskio J.G.Frazer.WrenLibrary,TrinityCollege,Cambridge.1908, On the principleof the economy of thinking.Dissertationresentedo theFaculty f Philosophy, agellonianUniversity, Cracow, Poland. (Forthcoming n Englishtranslationd. by P.K.J.Skalnik nd R.J.Thornton).1921, Primitive conomics', n TheEconomicJournal,March.1948 1926), Myth n primitive sychology', nMagic,science and religion, and other essays, Anchor Books. NewYork:Doubleday.

1961 (1922), Argonauts of the Western Pacific, withprefaceby J.G.Frazer.New York:E.P.Dutton &Co.1967,A Diary in the strict sense of the term. New York:Harcourt,Braceand World.1978 (1935), Coral gardens and their magic: A study of

the methods of tilling the soil and of agriculturalrites in theTrobriandslands, volumes.NewYork:DoverPublications.Paluch, Andrzej 1983, 'The Polish backgroundtoMalinowski'sWork' n Man (n.s.) 16: 276-285.Powell, J.W. 1966, Indian linguisticfamilies of AmericanorthofMexico.Ed.byPrestonHolder.Lincoln:Universityof NebraskaPress.1898, Truth and error. Chicago.

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