Abstract
This article delves into the influence of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literary production—above all Victorian novels, imperial romances, and travelogues—on Bronislaw Malinowski’s(1884‒1942) imagination and writing, as reflected in his works and his letter exchange with his collaborator, fiancé, and eventual wife, Elsie R. Masson (1890‒1935). Both Malinowski and Masson were inspired by nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature. They also intensively discussed and commented on their favorite literary authors, as demonstrated bytheir correspondence.The article mainly focuses onthose lettersthatMalinowski and Masson exchanged during his second fieldwork in the Trobriands in 1917‒1918, published by their youngest daughter, Helena Malinowska Wayne. This correspondence drove Malinowski toward a reflection on the theoretical and methodological value of narrative techniques and forms, as well as on the epistemological implications of diaristic writing for the ethnographic method.