Abstract
Literary representations of the Pacific invariably present images of peaceful utopias/paradises especially in tourist brochures aimed at garnering the tourist dollar. These utopias are far removed from the tensions of a world haunted by the threat of terrorist activities and destruction which undermine global peace and security, especially since September 11th 2001. However, an examination of recent creative writing from writers of Oceania illustrate that these universal pressures and fears are evident in the local setting as well. Their fiction is full of the same angst, frustrations and dilemmas regarding cultural identities and cultural nationalism as those from their metropolitan neighbours in New Zealand and Australia. This essay will examine and analyse selected fiction from two such writers with a view to highlighting the conflicts emerging, especially in regards to the issues of political and cultural identities, indigeneity and the Pacific Paradise which is so much a part of the discourse of tourism, a major money earner for Pacific economies.
Highlights
In November 2003, the Government of Samoa celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the release of the first motion picture which was filmed on location in Samoa
Va’ai motion picture history that a government had taken the initiative for such a cinematic celebration’ (Dunleavy 2004, 14). Such local initiatives signal the importance attached by national governments to promoting the image of the Pacific Paradise as an integral part of the discourse of tourism, a major source of revenue for many Pacific island nations (Misa Telefoni 2002, www/treasury.gov.ws)
If we examine the literary form of history telling and read the literary texts as Said advises, ‘...as a way of better understanding the human adventure and the cultural context from which [they] came’ (Said 2000, 448), it is clear that creative writing from the Pacific is full of the same angst, frustrations and dilemmas regarding multiple postcolonial identities and nationalism as those fictions from their metropolitan neighbours
Summary
It will focus on the ways that colonialism and postcolonialism impacted on the Pacific and their related effects on the quest by Pacific Islanders for new post colonial cultural identities and liberalization from the past on conformity to the literary standards of European metropolitan centres. The spaces in-between, the va, operates at a physical and relational level and metaphorically to describe postcolonial situations where Pacific Island peoples, especially creative writers who work within the realm of the imagination, find themselves negotiating spaces between and across different cultural worlds, redefining and repositioning themselves in the process.
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