The Pacific Tale: Short Fiction from 1890-1950 (Maritime Literature and Culture)

By: Mandy Treagus

Sign Up Now! Already a Member? Log In
You must be logged into Bookshare to access this title. Learn about membership options, or view our freely available titles.

Synopsis: This book offers a genealogy of short fiction in English set in the Pacific and written by British, American, and Australian writers. Through its analysis of texts by non-Islander authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Louis Becke, Jack London, W. Somerset Maugham, and James A. Michener, this book traces the rise of 'The Pacific Tale' as a popular genre. Exploring themes of masculinity and imperialism; traders, literary mapping and inter-racial relationships; plantation labour and racial taxonomies; tropical breakdown, missions and colonial illegitimacy, together with militarism, environmental destruction and the persistence of the trope of the Polynesian belle, this study highlights the role and agency of Pacific Islanders, despite the multiple fronts on which their cultures were impacted by colonial powers. It concludes with the moment when Pacific writers Albert Wendt and Epeli Hau&‘ofa express that agency in their own fictions, moving beyond the tradition of the Pacific tale.

Book Quality:: Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:: 9783031926587
Related ISBNs:: 9783031926570
Publisher:: Springer Nature Switzerland
Date of Addition:: 07/29/25
Copyrighted By:: The Editor
Adult content:: No
Language:: English
Has Image Descriptions:: No
Categories:: Nonfiction, Literature and Fiction, Australiana, Language Arts, Politics and Government
Submitted By:: Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:: This is a copyrighted book.