Inside Out: Literature, Cultural Politics, and Identity in the New Pacific

by Vilsoni Hereniko, Patricia Grace, David Hanlon, Epeli Hau'ofa, D S. Long

Overview

In a time of dynamism and contradiction in Pacific cultural production, a time of 'turning things over' and 'writing from the inside out,' this far-reaching volume provides a comprehensive set of essays and interviews on the emergent literatures of the New Pacific. With its dynamic combination of important position papers, polemics, and decolonizing critiques by noted authors and of analysis by new and established post-colonial scholars, this volume exposes 'the maze and mix of literatures and cultural identities breaking down and building up across the Pacific Ocean.' This pioneering work will be the definitive resource for anyone researching or teaching Pacific literature and will be invaluable for bringing Pacific culture to readers outside the region.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780847691432
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	06/24/1999
Series:	Pacific Formations: Global Relations in Asian and Pacific Perspectives
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	5.76(w) x 9.06(h) x 1.25(d)

About the Author

A playwright and scholar, Vilsoni Hereniko is associate professor of Pacific Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and editor of the Talanoa series of Pacific literature. His recent plays include Last Virgin in Paradise and Fine Dancing.

A poet and scholar, Rob Wilson is professor of English at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His publications include American Sublime and Asia/Pacific as Space of Cultural Production.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Toward Imagining a New Pacific
Part 3 Writers Speak About Their Work
Chapter 4 Writing in Captivity: Poetry in a Time of De-Colonization
Chapter 5 Influences on Writing
Chapter 6 An Interview with Patricia Grace
Chapter 7 An Interview with Albert Wendt
Chapter 8 An Interview with Alan Duff
Chapter 9 A Promise of Renewal: An Interview with Epeli Hau'ofa
Part 10 Historical Perspective on the Pacific: Some Overviews
Chapter 11 Our Sea of Islands
Chapter 12 Representations of Cultural Identities
Chapter 13 Developments on Creative Writing in West Polynesia: Fitting the Self into the Mosaic of the Contemporary Pacific
Chapter 14 Reluctant Voices into Otherness: Practice and Appraisal in Papua New Guinea Literature
Chapter 15 In Search of a Written Fagogo: Contemporary Pacific Literature for Children
Chapter 16 Reading Gauguin's Noa Noa with Hau'ofa's Nederends: Militourism, Feminism, and the Polynesian Body
Part 17 Creation and Criticism: Resisting Orientalism, Situating Literature
Chapter 18 Resisting Orientalism: Pacific Literature in French
Chapter 19 Fearful apprehensions that consumed me: The Seen of Cannibalism in Charles Wilkes's Narritive and Herman Melville's Typee
Chapter 20 Theory Verses Pacific Islands Writing: Toward a Tama'ita'i Criticism of the Works of Three Pacific Women Poets
Chapter 21 Where the Spirits Laugh Last: Comic Theater in Samoa
Chapter 22 Wrestling with the Angel: Pacific Criticism and Harry Dansey's Te Raukura
Chapter 23 In Whose Face?: An Essay on the Work of Alan Duff
Chapter 24 Talking Chief: The Role of the Critic in the Colonized Pacific
Chapter 25 Preparing to Retheorize the Texts of Oceania
Chapter 26 Bloody Mary Meets Lois-Ann Yamanaka: Imagining Hawai'ian Locality: From South Pacific to Bamboo Ridge and Beyond
Chapter 27 De-Colonizing Hawaiian Literature
Chapter 28 Tatauing the Postcolonial Body
Part 29 Afterword
Chapter 30 Pacific Literature at the End of the Twentieth Century

Editorial Reviews

The volume provides multiple views on many compelling issues in literature from Pacific.

World Literature Today

An important book which will be of great value to teachers, researchers, and others interested in Pacific literature and cultures.

Pacific Affairs

Weighty and comprehensive collection of twenty four new articles about literature, cultural politics, and identity in the 'New Pacific.' Each contributor writes with a unique voice. One of the book's greatest strengths is its presentation of new perspective, analysis, and historical and cultural information.

The Uts Review

In this collection of essays, interviews, and reflections, a number of Pacific scholars and writers discuss recent questions concerning the creation, circulation, and critical reading of contemporary Pacific literature. Wilson, (English, U. of Hawaii-Manoa) argues in the introduction that because of the Pacific Islands' colonial history, these texts are not just literary icons, but also "sites of social representations and historical struggle." Contributions include interviews with Epeli Hau'ofa, Alan Duff, Patricia Grace, and Albert Wendt; essays on the decolonization of Hawaiian literature; and an article making suggestions as to how scholars can retheorize the texts of Oceania. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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