In the 1980s, the publication of three works, `Ethnographies as Texts', Writing Culture, and Anthropology as Cultural Critique, signaled the arrival of a significantly literary project claimed as a critique of anthropology, widely reviewed and discussed at the time (both pro and con). These works have continued to have a major impact on anthropological practice, particularly in the United States. In this article, I return to these `early works' in the literary project, as well as to Geertz's `Thick Description', which I see as seminal to their production. I argue that the `crisis of representation' claimed in these works is a misrepresentation of the core intentions and efforts of the anthropological enterprise. The perspective presented here is one in which the focus on representation is seen as having encumbered rather than enlightened the work of anthropologists, and argues for an anthropology grounded in life, not literature.
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