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Treasured islands
: cruising the South Seas with Robert Louis Stevenson / Lowell
D. Holmes. - Dobbs Ferry (N.Y.) : Sheridan house, 2001.
- XV-281 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.
ISBN 1-57409-130-1
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NOTE DE L'ÉDITEUR : Robert Louis Stevenson is one
of the best-loved writers in the English language. Over 30 biographies
have been written about him, yet this highly readable account
of the last years of his life and his death in Samoa is very
different.
Treasure Islands is the account of Stevenson's desperate
search for health, and his fulfillment of a life-long ambition
of crossing broad oceans in tall ships to gain an understanding
of what it means to share a cultural world beyond the frontiers
of civilized society. It is the story of a literary giant and
his supportive but somewhat eccentric family — his
wife Fanny, mother Maggie and stepson Lloyd — and the
ships — the Casco, the Equator, and the
Janet Nicoll — that transported them to high
adventure in the South Pacific between the years 1888 and 1890.
The story also has other interesting
characters — capable and colorful boat crews, beachcombers,
island potentates and their subjects in the Marquesas, Tahiti,
the Tuamotus, Hawaii and Samoa. It describes life in the late
1880s on these islands, European economic exploitation, cultural
stability and change of indigenous populations, and the day-to-day
life aboard commercial sailing vessels. An eager student of Polynesian
cultures, Stevenson lived in the South Pacific for the remainder
of his short life.
Lowell D. Holmes,
a writer and film maker, is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of
Anthropology at Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas. He has
produced a documentary film on Robert Louis Stevenson in the Pacific.
He is the author of several academic books on anthropological topics
and especially Samoa. In addition to his academic interests, he has
been a lifelong sailor. |
| CONTENTS |
Introduction
- The Casco, A schooner
to paradise
- The Marquesas, the Land of Men
- The Tuamotus, the Dangerous
desert islands
- Tahiti, the pearl of the Pacific
- Hawaii, crossroads of the Pacific
- The Equator chronicle,
copra and kings
- Samoa, down payment on a dream
- The Janet Nicoll, the
Jumping Jenny adventure
- Vailima, home is the sailor,
home from the sea
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
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| COMPLÉMENT BIBLIOGRAPHIQUE | - Robert Louis Stevenson, « Chants du voyage », Paris : Les Belles Lettres, 1999
- Robert Louis Stevenson, « Dans les mers du Sud »,
Paris : Payot, 1995
- Robert Louis Stevenson, « Les pleurs de Laupepa :
En marge de l'histoire, huit années de troubles aux Samoa »,
Paris : Payot, 1995
| | - Lowell D. Holmes, « Samoan islands bibliography », Wichita (Kansas) : Poly Concepts pub., 1984
- Lowell D. Holmes, « Quest
for the real Samoa : the Mead/Freeman controversy and beyond »,
South Hadley (Mass.) : Bergin & Garvey publishers, 1987
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| mise-à-jour : 18 septembre 2005 |
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