Geoffrey Edgar Solomon Gorer (26 March 1905 – 24 May 1985) was an English anthropologist and writer, noted for his application of psychoanalytic techniques to

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

. Born into a non-practicing

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family, he was educated at

Charterhouse Charterhouse may refer to: * Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order Charterhouse may also refer to: Places * The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery * Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey London ...

and at

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes f ...

. During the 1930s he wrote unpublished fiction and drama. His first book was ''The Revolutionary Ideas of the Marquis de Sade'' (1934, revised in 1953 and again in 1964 as ''The Life and Ideas of the Marquis de Sade''). He then published an account of a journey he made following Féral Benga in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, ''Africa Dances'' (1935, new edns. 1945 :

Penguin Penguins ( order Sphenisciformes , family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain t ...

, 1949, 1962; Eland 2003), which was a considerable success and proved to be a springboard for a career as a writer and anthropologist. After ''Africa Dances'', his career was advanced by the publishers and anthropologists now taking a keen interest in his well-regarded work. Another cultural study followed: ''Bali and Angkor, or, Looking at Life and Death'' (1936). ''Hot Strip Tease'' appeared in 1937 and ''Himalayan Village'' in 1938. His admiration for

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitari ...

's novel ''

Burmese Days ''Burmese Days'' is the first novel by English writer George Orwell, published in 1934. Set in British Burma during the waning days of empire, when Burma was ruled from Delhi as part of British India, the novel serves as "a portrait of the dark ...

'' led him to contact Orwell in 1935. They remained good friends until Orwell's death in 1950. From 1939 he lived and worked in the United States. He wrote ''The Americans'' (1948) and ''The People of Great Russia'' (1949). From 1957 he again worked in England. ''Exploring English Character'', based on a large survey he designed, appeared in 1955. ''Death, Grief, and Mourning in Contemporary Britain'' appeared in 1965. ''The Danger of Equality and other essays'' (1966) collected some recent papers. ''Sex and Marriage in England Today'' appeared in 1971.

References

External links

*
The Life and Ideas of the Marquis de Sade
', text of book by Gorer in

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format
An extract from Gorer's book "Africa Dances", published in London in 1935
at Serbia Travel Club

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorer, Geoffrey 1905 births 1985 deaths People educated at Charterhouse School Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge British anthropologists English Jews LGBT people from England 20th-century anthropologists 20th-century LGBT people