Marcel Mauss: A Biography (review)

Marcel Mauss was tutored for success yet because of this did not achieve the kind of fame he so richly deserved. What I mean is that Mauss remains in the shadows of his uncle Emile Durkheim, and I am not convinced that even Mauss's biographer, Marcel Fournier, has successfully corrected this situation.

Fournier presents a complex, politically engaged Mauss that resonates far beyond "The Gift." The stage is set: a provincial boy badgered by his famous uncle Emile to succeed at the study of religion, Mauss eventually becomes the point man on this topic for Année Sociologique. Mauss finds his "work twin" Henri Hubert at the Ecole Pratique. Durkheim keeps both busy and tirelessly promotes them. Mauss does the tables for Suicide; he writes endless book and review articles for Année. Mauss defends and defines sociology in a hostile environment. Durkheim keeps his nephew's nose to the grindstone yet complains constantly about the young man's ability to waste time, as well as his fatal attraction to socialist politics. Like many in the academy, Mauss had trouble finishing his dissertation. He had his share of hiring setbacks. His uncle and mother Rosine pestered him about the bachelor's life that seemed to suit him. There is a refrain in Fournier's book where Mauss is referred to as an "old bachelor" and "old militant." He seems "old" before the fact. Mauss never finished his dissertation on prayer but eventually did find a partner, marrying Marthe Dupret in 1934, four years after the death of his mother.

Mauss's first post at the Ecole Pratique, states Fournier, was the occasion when the "eternal student emerged from his uncle's shadow." Still, the shadow looms large. Does Fournier shift Mauss into the light? Not really. There are several provisos. First, the English translation of this book is an abridged version of the original French. Second, Fournier has a tendency to drift into long descriptions of Durkheim's career. Third, when he does so, he avoids the hard evidence that would definitely dispel the shadows surrounding Mauss. For instance, he quotes Maurice Leenhardt to the effect that: "no one would ever know whether it was the uncle or the nephew who first thought of the 'elementary forms of religion.'" The idea that Mauss co-authored The Elementary Forms is not taken seriously by Fournier. Yet this is an idea that challenges the orthodoxy that keeps Mauss in the shadows and deserves further investigation in an intellectual biography. Fournier shows us Mauss's strength as a collaborative writer and explains how much work he actually did for his uncle. But he stops short. Only the shadow knows.

Through all the squabbles and interminable schisms on the French Left, Mauss maintained his interest in cooperationism. Fournier carefully details Mauss's political affiliations, especially his love of lost causes like La Boulangerie, a cooperative bakery founded in 1900 that became a financial misadventure for the idealistic Mauss. Uncle was not impressed.

Fournier shows us Mauss the sociologist/solider suffering through WWI, but finds in his postings as an interpreter on the Western Front with the Fifth Australian Division a sufferable irony: "The specialist on 'primitive' Australian societies now found himself beside those who proudly called themselves 'the Diggers.'"

Durkheim passed away before WWI ended. Fournier then christens Mauss the "trustee of his mode of thought" without "embrac[ing] 'pure science.'" Mauss would bring to print Durkheim's book on Saint-Simon. He would set about "correcting" his uncle on many points. The burden of the Année returned (relaunched in 1924 after a gap that lasted 10 years) but few of the original group had survived the war: only "a few splintered trees" remained, Mauss said. Teaching resumed in 1920. Mauss became preoccupied with museological matters in Paris and the prospects of establishing an ethnological institution. These prospects were realized in 1936 with the Institut d'Ethnologie, but can only be seen retrospectively as an arm of French colonial interests. "The Gift" appeared in...