Zambezia (1980), VIII (i).ESSAY REVIEWANOTHER LIVINGSTONE?THE CENTENARY OF David Livingstone's death in 1973 produced numerouspublications which, taken together, added considerably to our understandingof the man and his achievements.1 This was the first real overview of Living-stone from a post-colonial vantage point, which, however, seemed not tohave produced any significant change of interpretation. The change that hastaken place, foreshadowed by Martelli in 1970,2 has been the development ofa much more critical approach to Livingstone as a person, exemplified notablyin the centenary works of Jeal and Listowel; these, however, do more to'debunk' than to improve our understanding of Livingstone's complexcharacter.Luckily John Murray, Livingstone's original publisher, saw that therewas still a gap to be filled and so in 1978 published Ransford's sympathetic,but not uncritical, biography, David Livingstone: The Dark Interior Š a titlethat neatly points to both the psychological nature of the study as well as thejourneys into the heartland of 'the Dark Continent'.3 Ransford's basic thesisis that Livingstone suffered from a hereditary condition of cyclothymia, amanic depressive disorder, that rocks the sufferer back and forth betweenlongish phases of depression and inertia on the one hand and phases of exu-berant vitality and remarkable achievement on the other. In neither phase issuch a person easy to get on with, as he swings from a general anxious mis-anthropy to an assertive, ruthless disregard of others (and even of the truth)in pursuance of personal ambitions which verge on delusions of grandeur.Such a psychological explanation is, I believe, very helpful in explaining whatappear to be inconsistencies or flaws in Livingstone's character which earlierbiographies either glossed over, so that they almost disappear, or exaggerated,so that they become simply dishonesty and greed for fame. With Ransford'sinterpretation, one is able to understand better Livingstone's unfeeling attitudetowards the death of other missionaries, like the Helmores and Mackenzie,his hounding of associates, like Thornton, Bedingfeld and Kirk, his recklessinsistence on the navigability of the Zambezi, and his months of inertia atBambarre in 1870 followed by a transcendental belief that he was part ofGod's plan to reveal the sources of the Nile in Central Africa. This is not toimply, however, that Ransford's biography is simply an attempt to prove amedical thesis, for it is a general, full biography which, in view of the rangeof sources used (many of them for the first time), is the nearest to a definitivestudy that we are likely to have for some time.But in history and biography, of course, there is never absolute definitive-ness and at the very time that Ransford was producing his book, others werelaying a new basis on which the next generation of Livingstone scholars willbuild.1 The major works are B. Pachai (ed.), Livingstone : Man of Africa (London, Longman,1973); B. W. Lloyd (ed.), Livingstone, 1873 -1973 (Cape Town, C. Struik, 1973); T. Jeal,Livingstone (London, Heinemann, 1973); David Livingstone and Africa (Univ. of Edinburgh,Centre of African Studies, 1973); and J. H. Listowel, The Other Livingstone (Lewes, J. Friedman,1974).2 G. Martelli. Livingstone's River (London, Chatto and Windus, 1970)3 O. N. Ransford, David Livingstone : The Dark Interior (London, J. Murray, 1978),332 pp., illustrated, £8,50. A brief summary of his interpretation is given in 'David Livingtonei: A reassessment', The South African Banker (1975), LXXII, 253 - 60.8182 ESSAY REVIEWFirstly, there is still room for further discussion of Livingstone's psyche,for Professor Gelfand has indicated that he does not accept Ransford's diag-nosis of cyclothymia.4 He would explain Livingstone's 'difficult' personalityas due to an obsessional neurosis, as indicated by his repeated visits to ob-stacles like the Cabora Bassa rapids and the Rovuma. Unfortunately Gelfandhas not published a detailed explanation of this hypothesis (although thereare several references to it, in passing, in his published work 5); nor, on theother hand, has Ransford published the detailed, chronological mood-chartof Livingstone on which his interpretation rests, which formed an importantappendix to the doctoral thesis that preceded the published biography.6 Thereis obviously room for further debate and it would be interesting to see medicalauthorities argue the case out.Secondly, there has been considerable bibliographical activity that willgreatly ease the path of students of Livingstone. In 1976 appeared an annotatedbibliography of Livingstone and Stanley, with some 800 entries (but novariants thereof) on or by Livingstone which usefully include letters andreports in The Times.1 Another bibliography appeared two years later, com-piled by Lloyd and Lashbrook, which contains some 700 entries for whichthe numerous variants are supplied; for Missionary Travels and Researches(one of the most influential books ever written), for example, 25 variants aregiven.8 This bibliography is also useful in that its publication was deliberatelydelayed so that the 1973 centenary publications could be included (althoughneither Gelfand's article of 1974 nor Ransford's of 1975 is included Š or inCasada's bibliography for that matter).Then in 1979 came an even greater step forward with the publication ot acatalogue of Livingstone's letters numbering a remarkable figure of 2,032believed to have survived.9 This vast undertaking arose from a centenaryseminar at the University of Edinburgh and its successful compilation owesmuch to the knowledge and indefatigability of G. W. Clendennen whosestudy of Charles Livingstone is also eagerly awaited. The catalogue consistsof two sections. The first lists each letter chronologically and gives its physicaldescription and location and details of where it has been published, in part4 Personal Communication.5 'Livingstone's contribution to Malawi ...', in Pachai, Livingstone, 179; and 'DavidLivingstone Š As I now see him', South African Medical Journal (1974), XL, 2637, 2640, 2641.There have, of course, been several, but unsystematic, references to Livingstone having an'obsession' or being 'obsessive' or 'compulsive'; see M. Gelfand, Livingstone the Doctor (Ox-ford, B. Blackwell, 1957), 14; D. J. Siddle, 'David Livingstone : Mid-Victorian field scientist',and R. C. Bridges, 'The problem of Livingstone's last journey', in David Livingstone andAfrica, 90, 97, 165, 167, 170, 171; and Jeal, Livingstone, 10, 261, 362, 371 (this last author,however, also, contradictorily, refers to 'manic-depression', Livingstone, 224).6 O. N. Ransford, 'David Livingstone : A Reassessment with Particular Reference to hisPsyche' (Salisbury, Univ. of Rhodesia, D.Phil, thesis, 1977).J. A. Casada, Dr. David Livingstone and Sir Henrj Martin Stanley : An AnnotatedBiblkmrauhv (New York. Garland Publishine. 1976). 224 DD.. ZS22.15. Also published was theirinterlocking story, presented in extracts taken from their published works, nicely illustrated, butof no academic value, S. Newson-Smith, Quest ... (London, Arlington, 1978), 267 pp., ill'ustr.8 T. A. Simons (ed.), and B. W. Lloyd and J. Lashbrook (comps), A Bibliography ofPublished Works by and about David Livingstone 1843 - 1975 (Cape Town, Univ. of CapeTown Libraries, 1978), 115 pp., no price indicated.9 G. W. Clendennen assisted by 1. C. Cunningham (comps), David Livingstone : A Cata-logue of Documents (Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland for the David Livingstone Docu-mentation Project, 1979), 348 pp., no price indicated.R. S. ROBERTS 83or in whole. The second section collects the letters together under names ofthe recipients, arranged alphabetically, and gives a resume of the contents; itis difficult to exaggerate the usefulness of this Section 2, for there are fewsubjects in the history of south-central Africa which are not touched upon inLivingstone's wide-ranging correspondence.The result of all this work is, it is hoped, to lay a new standard of excellencefor those who embark upon the study of Livingstone; but for the immediatefuture, probably, the sheer magnitude of the sources available will lead to adiversion of interest away from David towards those associated with him (likehis brother, Charles, on whom Clendennen is working) or neglected aspectsof the missionary endeavour in south-central Africa. One obvious exampleof this in the context of psychological interpretation Š not treated by Rans-ford Š is the whole question of the sexual behaviour of these missionariesand explorers. Enforced celibacy can 'trigger' cyclothymia Š but did DavidLivingstone in fact remain celibate in the interior, or was there a coloured son?Was Mary unfaithful to David and, if so, what effect did it have on Davidand his relationships with his family and the colleagues in question? Werehomosexuals like Charles Livingstone and Thomas Baines attracted, becauseof their disposition, to leave the constraints of Victorian society and seekfreedom in exploration; and how far were the homosexual relations of thesetwo on the Zambezi -Expedition responsible for its problems? Some, no doubt(Freud notwithstanding), will find such questions distasteful; but the more weknow, the more important such matters become, particularly if we do aim toprovide psychological explanations.It is therefore to be hoped that Dr Ransford and Professor Gelfand, withtheir knowledge of the sources and their medical training, may one dayenlighten us further.R.S.R.