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, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

Biography

Born into a non-practising

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family, Gorer was educated at Charterhouse and at

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

. During the 1930s, he wrote unpublished fiction and drama.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. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, entitled ''Africa Dances'' (1935, new editions 1945:

Penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

, 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) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

's novel ''

Burmese Days ''Burmese Days'' is the first novel and second book 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 po ...

'' led him to contact Orwell in 1935. They remained good friends until Orwell's death in 1950. From 1939, Gorer 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 20th-century British anthropologists Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge English Jews People educated at Charterhouse School