--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Anthropologists are great at novelistic…" description: "\"Anthropologists are great at novelistic observations. I would be thrilled if this novel would encourage anthropologists to write what they see in ficti..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d04/lily-king-10967_anthropologists_anthropologists-are-great-at-novelistic_3079935.jpg" --- # Anthropologists are great at novelistic observations. I… ![“Anthropologists are great at novelistic observations. I would be thrilled if this novel would encourage anthropologists to write what they see in fictional form.” quote by Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d04/lily-king-10967_anthropologists_anthropologists-are-great-at-novelistic_3079935.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d04/lily-king-10967_anthropologists_anthropologists-are-great-at-novelistic_3079935.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d04/lily-king-10967_anthropologists_anthropologists-are-great-at-novelistic_3079935.jpg) > “Anthropologists are great at novelistic observations. I would be thrilled if this novel would encourage anthropologists to write what they see in fictional form.” [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Anthropologists could enrich literature by translating their field observations into fictional narratives. **In simple terms:** Anthropology can inspire fiction. Key Takeaway Encourage scholars to write stories. Themes anthropology creativity storytelling disciplinary crossover Mood inquisitive inspirational Type literary educational When to use this quote - academic publishing - creative writing workshops - cross‑disciplinary conferences - public outreach Key Concepts cultural insight narrative technique Questions to Reflect On - What ethical guidelines should guide such writing? - How can readers discern fact from artistic license? A Different Perspective Fiction may oversimplify complex cultures. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) [Observation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/observation/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [There are very few things I would love to do other than a life of writing, and I think being a singer-songwriter and being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/there-are-very-few-things-i-would-love-to-do-other-than-a-life-of/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) > [I think of companies like Nokia having anthropologists who study how people use cell phones, who do that kind of commercial and marketing work,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/i-think-of-companies-like-nokia-having-anthropologists-who-study-how/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) > [As a journalist, or an anthropologist, the convention is that people are there for you to study, and they are your objects.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annia-ciezadlo/as-a-journalist-or-an-anthropologist-the-convention-is-that-people/) [Annia Ciezadlo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annia-ciezadlo/) > [Anthropologists have found evidence of romantic love in 170 societies. They've never found a society that did not have it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-fisher/anthropologists-have-found-evidence-of-romantic-love-in-170-societies/) [Helen Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-fisher/) > [People like ourselves may see nothing wondrous in writing, but our anthropologists know how strange and magical it appears to a purely oral people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-postman/people-like-ourselves-may-see-nothing-wondrous-in-writing-but-our/) [Neil Postman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-postman/) > [What if the book (of Genesis) is describing a dawning awareness of the world? The anthropologist Edmund Leach has argued that the 'bit' or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-hampden-turner/what-if-the-book-of-genesis-is-describing-a-dawning-awareness-of-the/) Charles Hampden-Turner > [Anthropologists are a connecting link between poets and scientists; though their field-work among primitive peoples has often made them forget the language of science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-graves/anthropologists-are-a-connecting-link-between-poets-and-scientists/) [Robert Graves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-graves/) > [“Increasingly anthropologists are being asked "what can you do for us?" by the people whose societies they are doing research on. It is sometimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-seeger/increasingly-anthropologists-are-being-asked-what-can-you-do-for-us/) [Anthony Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-seeger/) > [Modernity sees humanity as having ascended from what is inferior to it - life begins in slime and ends in intelligence - whereas traditional…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huston-smith/modernity-sees-humanity-as-having-ascended-from-what-is-inferior-to/) [Huston Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huston-smith/) > [An anthropologist at Tulane has just come back from a field trip to New Guinea with reports of a tribe so primitive that they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-letterman/an-anthropologist-at-tulane-has-just-come-back-from-a-field-trip-to/) [David Letterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-letterman/) > [Shamanism is not some obscure concern of cultural anthropologists. Shamanism is how religion was practiced for its first million years. Up until about 12,000…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/shamanism-is-not-some-obscure-concern-of-cultural-anthropologists/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [What did the last Easter Islander say as he chopped down the last tree? The Easter Islanders didnt have anthropologists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jared-diamond/what-did-the-last-easter-islander-say-as-he-chopped-down-the-last/) [Jared Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jared-diamond/) > [The world of rumor and gossip is like a privileged world with which a social scientist or an anthropologist can take the temperature of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-c-scott/the-world-of-rumor-and-gossip-is-like-a-privileged-world-with-which-a/) [James C. Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-c-scott/) > [ Anthropology has always struggled with an intense, fascinated repulsion towards its subject… \[The anthropologist\] submits himself to the exotic to confirm his own inner… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/anthropology-has-always-struggled-with-an-intense-fascinated/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [As a social anthropologist, I naturally accept and even stress the fact that there are major differences, both mental and psychological, which separate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-leakey/as-a-social-anthropologist-i-naturally-accept-and-even-stress-the/) [Louis Leakey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-leakey/) ## More by Lily King > [“And this led to another round of mapping as we separated men from women, finding that while the male ethos usually represented the culture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/and-this-led-to-another-round-of-mapping-as-we-separated-men-from/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) > [When I finished graduate school, the first George Bush was president, and I really wanted to get out of the country. We'd just gone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/when-i-finished-graduate-school-the-first-george-bush-was-president/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) > [When I pick up a pencil, that this is a rough draft. This is not going anywhere, and no one's going to see it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/when-i-pick-up-a-pencil-that-this-is-a-rough-draft-this-is-not-going/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) > [I didn't major in anthropology in college, but I do feel I had an education in different cultures very early on. My parents divorced…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/i-didn-t-major-in-anthropology-in-college-but-i-do-feel-i-had-an/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) > [I'm very interested in the way people interact emotionally.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/i-m-very-interested-in-the-way-people-interact-emotionally/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) > [“mind Nell was writing: —ornamentation of neck, wrists, fingers —paint on face only”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/mind-nell-was-writing-ornamentation-of-neck-wrists-fingers-paint-on/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) > [I have three stepfamilies as well as my family of origin. I've had to adjust to them and also go back and forth among…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/i-have-three-stepfamilies-as-well-as-my-family-of-origin-i-ve-had-to/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) > [Perhaps all science is merely self-investigation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/perhaps-all-science-is-merely-self-investigation/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) > [Every fictional thing I wrote gave me strength to write another and another. By the end I wasn't remaining true to anything but the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/every-fictional-thing-i-wrote-gave-me-strength-to-write-another-and/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) > [“-Can we have one day when we don't have to talk about the meaning of life? -I don't think we ever talk about anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/can-we-have-one-day-when-we-don-t-have-to-talk-about-the-meaning-of/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) > [Ever since high school I've been writing in a spiral notebook, in pencil. Everything looks too polished on a computer when you start writing,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/ever-since-high-school-i-ve-been-writing-in-a-spiral-notebook-in/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) > [There are certain tribes in the middle Sepik that eat raw bat. A certain kind of raw bat is a delicacy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/there-are-certain-tribes-in-the-middle-sepik-that-eat-raw-bat-a/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) > [“You have so much to offer, she was often told, as if she had a tray of cigarettes and candy perpetually strapped to her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/you-have-so-much-to-offer-she-was-often-told-as-if-she-had-a-tray-of/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) > [“Was it possible in any relationship to not disappoint, to do anything more than only briefly rekindle the initial fatal illusion?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/was-it-possible-in-any-relationship-to-not-disappoint-to-do-anything/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) > [I love this idea of trying to create that intellectual eroticism. That was what I was working toward all along.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lily-king/i-love-this-idea-of-trying-to-create-that-intellectual-eroticism-that/) [Lily King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) [Explore all 62 Lily King quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lily-king/) ## More Anthropologists quotes > [As a social anthropologist, I naturally accept and even stress the fact that there are major differences, both mental and psychological, which separate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-leakey/as-a-social-anthropologist-i-naturally-accept-and-even-stress-the/) [Louis Leakey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-leakey/) > [ Anthropology has always struggled with an intense, fascinated repulsion towards its subject… \[The anthropologist\] submits himself to the exotic to confirm his own inner… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/anthropology-has-always-struggled-with-an-intense-fascinated/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The world of rumor and gossip is like a privileged world with which a social scientist or an anthropologist can take the temperature of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-c-scott/the-world-of-rumor-and-gossip-is-like-a-privileged-world-with-which-a/) [James C. Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-c-scott/) > [What did the last Easter Islander say as he chopped down the last tree? The Easter Islanders didnt have anthropologists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jared-diamond/what-did-the-last-easter-islander-say-as-he-chopped-down-the-last/) [Jared Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jared-diamond/) > [Shamanism is not some obscure concern of cultural anthropologists. Shamanism is how religion was practiced for its first million years. Up until about 12,000…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/shamanism-is-not-some-obscure-concern-of-cultural-anthropologists/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [An anthropologist at Tulane has just come back from a field trip to New Guinea with reports of a tribe so primitive that they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-letterman/an-anthropologist-at-tulane-has-just-come-back-from-a-field-trip-to/) [David Letterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-letterman/) > [Modernity sees humanity as having ascended from what is inferior to it - life begins in slime and ends in intelligence - whereas traditional…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huston-smith/modernity-sees-humanity-as-having-ascended-from-what-is-inferior-to/) [Huston Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huston-smith/) > [“Increasingly anthropologists are being asked "what can you do for us?" by the people whose societies they are doing research on. It is sometimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-seeger/increasingly-anthropologists-are-being-asked-what-can-you-do-for-us/) [Anthony Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-seeger/) > [Anthropologists are a connecting link between poets and scientists; though their field-work among primitive peoples has often made them forget the language of science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-graves/anthropologists-are-a-connecting-link-between-poets-and-scientists/) [Robert Graves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-graves/) > [What if the book (of Genesis) is describing a dawning awareness of the world? The anthropologist Edmund Leach has argued that the 'bit' or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-hampden-turner/what-if-the-book-of-genesis-is-describing-a-dawning-awareness-of-the/) Charles Hampden-Turner > [People like ourselves may see nothing wondrous in writing, but our anthropologists know how strange and magical it appears to a purely oral people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-postman/people-like-ourselves-may-see-nothing-wondrous-in-writing-but-our/) [Neil Postman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-postman/) > [Anthropologists have found evidence of romantic love in 170 societies. They've never found a society that did not have it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-fisher/anthropologists-have-found-evidence-of-romantic-love-in-170-societies/) [Helen Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-fisher/) > [As a journalist, or an anthropologist, the convention is that people are there for you to study, and they are your objects.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annia-ciezadlo/as-a-journalist-or-an-anthropologist-the-convention-is-that-people/) [Annia Ciezadlo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annia-ciezadlo/) > [Anthropologists have often described what happens to a primitive society when its spiritual values are exposed to the impact of modern civilisation. Its people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/anthropologists-have-often-described-what-happens-to-a-primitive/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [We chose to do this work mathematically, which has the advantage of precision but is not always appreciated by readers. It is perhaps for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luigi-luca-cavalli-sforza/we-chose-to-do-this-work-mathematically-which-has-the-advantage-of/) [Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luigi-luca-cavalli-sforza/) Browse all 91 Anthropologists quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Anthropologists are great at novelistic observations. 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