The South Sea Island
The South Sea Island

Author: Frits Andersen

Publisher: Aarhus Universitetsforlag

Published: 2024-02-07

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 8775974460

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When the first European explorers ventured into the unknown Pacific Ocean, their minds were filled with tales of remote, paradisiacal islands. Hopeful ideas of noble savages, ecological balance, and immense riches gave them the courage to search for a new world – even when faced with the unimaginable. The South Sea Island – A Geography of Pleasure is a journey through the history of ideas and literature over three centuries of European and American narratives about islands, oceans, and archipelagos. Literary scholar Frits Andersen reads and analyses travel accounts, paintings, films, and novels from the 18th century up until the present day by visual artists and authors including Paul Gauguin, Herman Melville, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jules Verne, and Thor Heyerdahl. These readings, combined with Andersen’s eye for pleasure, sense, and longing, give rise to a novel literary history of the disappearing Pacific islands. At the same time, the book offers historical models that we can use today to enhance our understanding of, and find new answers to, global political and climate-related challenges. Frits Andersen is a professor of Comparative Literature at Aarhus University, Denmark. His previous works include The Dark Continent? Images of Africa in European Narratives about the Congo (2016). The Danish edition of this book, entitled Sydhavsøen. Nydelsens geografi received the Georg Brandes Prize.

The Trembling of a Leaf: Little Stories of the South Sea Islands
The Trembling of a Leaf: Little Stories of the South Sea Islands

Author: W. Somerset Maugham

Publisher: DigiCat

Published: 2022-05-28

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13:

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This book of short stories by the prominent English writer W. Somerset Maugham touches upon the events and experiences of different ordinary people who were caught in unordinary circumstances. He tells stories about love between people of different cultures, tragic obsession with the other person, or people trying to understand what is really important in life. All of the stories in the book were inspired by Maugham's vacation at the South Seas, where he traveled to regain his health. His experiences there became the bedrock for the stories represented here.

Forgotten Island
Forgotten Island

Author: John J. Domagalski

Publisher: Knox Press

Published: 2024-07-16

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13:

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The opening days of World War II in the Pacific found the island of Guam in the Mariana Islands to be an isolated American possession that was nearly surrounded by Japanese territory. The island came under immediate attack with the start of hostilities. The small garrison of marines, navy personnel, and Guamanians surrendered to Japanese invaders after offering only token resistance. However, not all of the American servicemen capitulated. Navy radioman George Ray Tweed was one of six sailors who disappeared into the thick interior jungle. The Japanese occupiers quickly solidified control over the island and began a ruthless search for the missing sailors. Five of the Americans were eventually found and mercilessly killed. The sole survivor, Tweed spent the next thirty-one months on the run—sometimes literally running for his life—staying just one step ahead of his hunters. He continually eluded his pursuers through the use of his survival skills, some good luck, and the generous help of Guamanian civilians, often at great risk to their own safety. During the two and a half years the sailor remained in hiding, American forces were fighting their way across the Pacific. The events reached a crescendo in the summer of 1944 with the arrival of the American fleet in Guam. A major naval battle, an amphibious invasion, the rescue of George Tweed, and a brutal fight to liberate Guam all combine to bring this epic story to a close.