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The Story of a Marriage: The letters of Bronislaw Malinowski and Elsie Masson
The letters in The Story of a Marriage were written by Malinowski and his wife, Elsie Masson, from 1916 to her death in 1935. They chronicle their meeting and their subsequent extraordinary marriage, showing Malinowski in a new light, not just as a teacher and scholar, but as husband, father and friend. His wife, so far largely unknown, is shown as a humorous, courageous and talented woman.
2 pages, Paperback
First published March 14, 1994
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 25, 2019
"My work is absolutely soaked with your personality and when ever I plan
something or write down I find that I am addressing you."
"Strange, wonderful life, so sad and so keen."
"I am so tired…I hardly know what I write…. I feel tonight as if life were nothing but partings and as if something had been torn right out of me…"
"I felt very unhappy tonight and seemed to realise very sharply that you had gone, that perhaps everything was over, and that it would never be the same again …"
"… how terribly she has been cheated by Fate of everything that would have made her happy."
"… if anyone had suggested to me that I
would fall in love with you, I would have absolutely denied it. You did not
seem to me a man in that sense at all. You seemed to me just a mind that
marvellously stimulated my own."
"Tell me all about yourself, all your moods
and distresses and grumbles. I think of you every hour, with love and longing."
"You told me that you allow the thought of me to enter your memories. I am very grateful to you. These things are sacred to me."
"I… was irritated when you said that you
hardly looked at me during our walks, that I was a ‘metaphysical shadow’ …"
" …you have always understood so well and deeply that I think of you now always in the same thought… I can’t help feeling so deeply thankful to you. You have given me such a lot of happiness. We were like two people swept together out of a shipwreck, weren’t we ? … "
"There were many times with you when I
felt completely happy and wanted nothing more. Perhaps that is why life is so real to me because I have these feelings at the moment. How I wish I could give you such a moment …what is the use of only tasting happiness in
retrospect ?"
"I am a creature of moods and it is almost like waves rising and falling and I feel the longing
rise and swell — it is almost a physical feeling and then come hours of depression… a kind of dark, pessimistic foreboding…."
"I want to be beside you now and I feel as if I had a right to it, as a woman, and it is cruel that things can make it impossible."
"I wanted you so acutely all today, never have I wanted you more"
"I begin to wonder if perhaps your falling
in love with me was mainly due to the fact that to be in love is almost a necessity
for you, and that I was the most available and the most suited to you."
something or write down I find that I am addressing you."
"Strange, wonderful life, so sad and so keen."
"I am so tired…I hardly know what I write…. I feel tonight as if life were nothing but partings and as if something had been torn right out of me…"
"I felt very unhappy tonight and seemed to realise very sharply that you had gone, that perhaps everything was over, and that it would never be the same again …"
"… how terribly she has been cheated by Fate of everything that would have made her happy."
"… if anyone had suggested to me that I
would fall in love with you, I would have absolutely denied it. You did not
seem to me a man in that sense at all. You seemed to me just a mind that
marvellously stimulated my own."
"Tell me all about yourself, all your moods
and distresses and grumbles. I think of you every hour, with love and longing."
"You told me that you allow the thought of me to enter your memories. I am very grateful to you. These things are sacred to me."
"I… was irritated when you said that you
hardly looked at me during our walks, that I was a ‘metaphysical shadow’ …"
" …you have always understood so well and deeply that I think of you now always in the same thought… I can’t help feeling so deeply thankful to you. You have given me such a lot of happiness. We were like two people swept together out of a shipwreck, weren’t we ? … "
"There were many times with you when I
felt completely happy and wanted nothing more. Perhaps that is why life is so real to me because I have these feelings at the moment. How I wish I could give you such a moment …what is the use of only tasting happiness in
retrospect ?"
"I am a creature of moods and it is almost like waves rising and falling and I feel the longing
rise and swell — it is almost a physical feeling and then come hours of depression… a kind of dark, pessimistic foreboding…."
"I want to be beside you now and I feel as if I had a right to it, as a woman, and it is cruel that things can make it impossible."
"I wanted you so acutely all today, never have I wanted you more"
"I begin to wonder if perhaps your falling
in love with me was mainly due to the fact that to be in love is almost a necessity
for you, and that I was the most available and the most suited to you."
Displaying 1 of 1 review