Review of the book:  Pierre Clastres, Chronicle of the Guayaki Indians (Paul Auster, trans., Zone Books 2001). Translator\u27s Note and Forward. ISBN 0-942299-78-7 [352 pp. $15.00. Paperback, 5 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142-1493]

Sparrow, Sophie

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RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)Volume 12Number 3 Issue number 3/4, Fall 2001 Article 13September 2001Review of: Pierre Clastres, Chronicle of theGuayaki Indians (Paul Auster, Translator)Sophie SparrowFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/riskPart of the Anthropology Commons, and the Sociology CommonsThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the University of New Hampshire – School of Law at University of New HampshireScholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002) by an authorized editor of University ofNew Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact ellen.phillips@law.unh.edu.Repository CitationSophie Sparrow, Review of: Pierre Clastres, Chronicle of the Guayaki Indians (Paul Auster, Translator), 12 RISK 339 (2001).Book Reviews 339Pierre Clastres, Chronicle of the Guayaki Indians (Paul Auster, trans.,Zone Books 2001). Translator's Note and Forward. ISBN 0-942299-78-7 [352 pp. $15.00. Paperback, 5 Cambridge Center, Cambridge,MA 02142-1493].In his forward to Pierre Clastres' Chronicle of the Guayaki Indians,translator Paul Auster claims that it is "nearly impossible not to love thisbook .... [i]t is not some dry academic study of 'life among thesavages' .... [i]t is the true story of a man's experiences." 1 Auster is right- Clastres' account, and Auster's translation of it, is a beautifullywritten and riveting narrative.Clastre tells the story of a people whose way of life is endangered.With photographs, drawings, and vivid observations, Clastres brings thereader to the Paraguayan forests where he lived among the Guayakifrom 1963 to 1964. Just as powerfully, he reveals his own feelings aboutliving with the Guayaki. Nearly forty years have passed, and Clastreshimself died in 1977, yet his words have an authenticity that make thiswork of political anthropology compelling reading even today.In nine chapters, each focusing on an important component ofGuayaki life, such as birth, death, religion, and sexuality, Clastresportrays the daily lives of the Guayaki and his reactions to workingamong them. One of the many examples of Clastres' artful weaving ofhis story with that of the Guayaki is shown in his chapter oncannibalism. After months of investigating, during which Clastresuncovers nothing that confirms historical accounts of Guayakicannibalism, Clastres concludes that European religious emissariesfabricated these stories to justify exploiting native peoples.Then one day Clastres chats quietly in the dense afternoon heatwith an ancient woman, plying her with sweets as he goes through hisroutine of questions about her family members. Practically asleep, withflies buzzing around, Clastres writes that he hears the woman state thather daughter was killed and "then they ate her!" Clastres wakes up: "Iwas like a hunter tracking an unhoped-for prey.... I almost lost mybreath."'2 To keep the woman speaking, he calmly proceeds: "I asked1 Pierre Clastres, Chronicle of the Guayaki Indians 8 (Paul Auster trans., ZoneBooks 2001).12 Risk- Health, Safety & Environment 339 [Fall 2001]her who had eaten her daughter, how she was cooked, and how she hadbeen eaten." 3Clastres recounts his mixed emotions about this new knowledge.He feels betrayed that the Guayaki misled him about their cannibalism,is delighted to learn more about their practice, and gleefully anticipateshis delight in confronting those who lied. But as he discovers moreabout Guayaki cannibalism and how the Guayaki had been forbiddento speak about it by conventional Paraguayan contacts, he sets aside hisown anger and frustration and gently portrays the practice. In doing so,he leads the reader to understand how the Guayaki cannibalism ritual isas significant and legitimate in their world as many Western rituals areto Westerners.This chapter on cannibalism illustrates Clastres' gift of telling astory about himself, a people who will die, and Western assumptions.Fortunately for the reader, this gift is present throughout the book.Chronical of the Guayaki Indians beautifully fulfills translator Auster'spromise, "Clastres writes with the cunning of a good novelist .... theresult is not just a portrait of the people he is studying, but a portrait ofhimself.,' 4Sophie Sparrowt2 Id. at 319.3 Id.4 Id. at 8.t Sophie Sparrow is a Professor and Director of Legal Skills at Franklin Pierce LawCenter. She received an A.B. in Government cum laude from Harvard/RadcliffeCollege and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Review of: Pierre Clastres, Chronicle of the Guayaki Indians (Paul Auster,
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Review of: Pierre Clastres, Chronicle of the Guayaki Indians (Paul Auster, Translator)

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