
Dark Paradise
Pacific Islands in the Nineteenth-Century British Imagination
Jennifer Fuller(Author)
Edinburgh University Press
Published on 20. June 2016
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-1-4744-1384-8 (ISBN)
Description
Examines the way in which the British transformed the Pacific islands during the nineteenth century
The discovery of the Pacific islands amplified the qualities of mystery and exoticism already associated with 'foreign' islands. Their 'savage' peoples, their isolation, and their sheer beauty fascinated British visitors across the long nineteenth century. Dark Paradise argues that while the British originally believed the islands to be commercial paradises or perfect sites for missionary endeavours, as the century progressed, their optimistic vision transformed to portray darker realities. As a result, these islands act as a 'breaking point' for British theories of imperialism, colonialism, and identity. The book traces the changing British attitudes towards imperial settlement as the early view of 'island as paradise' gives way to a fear of the hostile islanders and examines how this revelation undermined a key tenant of British imperialism - that they were the 'superior' or 'civilized' islanders.
Key Features
The first monograph to trace the Pacific islands as represented through the lens of British fiction and non-fiction across the long nineteenth centuryExamines texts written by Pacific islanders and published in the British pressSignificantly broadens our understanding of the British Pacific by analysing understudied Pacific texts and authors alongside more canonical works
The discovery of the Pacific islands amplified the qualities of mystery and exoticism already associated with 'foreign' islands. Their 'savage' peoples, their isolation, and their sheer beauty fascinated British visitors across the long nineteenth century. Dark Paradise argues that while the British originally believed the islands to be commercial paradises or perfect sites for missionary endeavours, as the century progressed, their optimistic vision transformed to portray darker realities. As a result, these islands act as a 'breaking point' for British theories of imperialism, colonialism, and identity. The book traces the changing British attitudes towards imperial settlement as the early view of 'island as paradise' gives way to a fear of the hostile islanders and examines how this revelation undermined a key tenant of British imperialism - that they were the 'superior' or 'civilized' islanders.
Key Features
The first monograph to trace the Pacific islands as represented through the lens of British fiction and non-fiction across the long nineteenth centuryExamines texts written by Pacific islanders and published in the British pressSignificantly broadens our understanding of the British Pacific by analysing understudied Pacific texts and authors alongside more canonical works
Reviews / Votes
Dark Paradise is a very well-written book that stands to amplify our understanding of the Pacific in significant ways. -- Ross G. Forman, University of WarwickMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 239 mm
Width: 163 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4744-1384-8 (9781474413848)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
05/2016
1st Edition
Edinburgh University Press
€0.00
Available for download
Person
Jennifer Fuller is Assistant Lecturer in English at Idaho State University. She became an English major by skipping out of chemistry labs to read Robert Louis Stevenson. Raised in Birmingham, AL, Dr. Fuller completed her undergraduate work at Furman University in South Carolina before moving west to do her graduate work at the University of Tulsa. She recently worked as an Assistant Professor of English at Warner University in Lake Wales, Florida.
Content
Introduction; 1. Moving missions and novel settlements: Early British Pacific propaganda (1796-1866); 2. Adventures in the Pacific: The influence of trade on the South Seas novel; 3. Islands of discovery: Scientific curiosity in the works of Darwin, Huxley, and Wells; 4. The price of paradise: Robert Louis Stevenson, Joseph Conrad, and British expansion in the Pacific; 5. The Islanders Speak: Pacific reflections in the British press.