oniphan Blair, who earlier IS (summer 1982) offered Clinton St. Quarterly readers a remarkable interview with Bruno Loewenberg, artist and Holocaust survivor, recently sent us this conversation with Tobias Schneebaum, author, artist, adventurer and latter-day anthropologist. Though not as specific and compelling as his earlier Keep the River on Your Right, Schneebaum ’s second book, Wild Man, excerpts from which appear here, is an evocative autobiographical account of a lifelong religio-erotic quest which has taken him from a repressed and unhappy childhood to points across the globe. Wild Man links up in a meaningful way his childhood fantasies and melancholy, his prolonged search for sexual fulfillment and, finding that elusive, for truth from the realm of religion and philosophy. Much of his writing describes his emergent homosexuality, both the pleasures and pitfalls along its path. His world wanderings have consistently led him to dwell among the “primitive” peoples of the tropics. Most recently he's been spending extensive periods (since 1973) with the Asmat people of Irian Jaya (New Guinea). Both to legitimatize his presence and because of his deep-seated interest in such cultures, Schneebaum formally studied anthropology at 50 under Douglas Newton of the Museum of Primitive Art and Dr. Rhoda Metraux. Margaret Mead's close friend and associate at the American Museum of Natural History. His work in Asmat is cataloguing a collection of Asmat art assembled by the local Catholic Mission, which is essentially designed to help the local people retain their own culture. He s become quite knowledgeable on the subject, and his work has both allowed and required him to travel extensively among the Asmat to gather information and learn about their way of life. But Schneebaum's greatest interest is in the Asmat's sexual practices, especially as they concern the males of the group. His deep involvement in that element of the culture will pose questions to some about his scientific remove. But suffice it to say that Tobias Schneebaum has finally arrived, both sexually and spiritually with the Asmats, and we are fortunate to have his insights and adventures to help us better understand our own “civilized" world. 4 Clinton St. Quarterly
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