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In Search of Paradise
by Graeme Lay
In this lavishly illustrated book,
author Graeme Lay presents the lives
of twenty-three of the finest artists
and writers to have been inspired
by the South Pacific, and a rich
selection of their works.
In Search of Paradise is a compilation
of memorable visual and literary
journeys, covering two hundred years
of European contact with the South
Pacific islands and the people who
inhabited them at a unique
period in the region's
history. Among the art and
writings included are: * The
candid chronicles of Joseph
Banks * Louis-Antoine de
Bougainville's discovery of
Tahitian free love * Herman
Melville's very first fiction
* Robert Louis Stevenson's
life and death in Samoa *
The radiant paintings of
Paul Gauguin * Gottfried
Lindauer's depiction of
a presumed-dying Maori
race * The love affair of
Rupert Brooke's life * The
inspiration for Somerset Maugham's
best-known short story, and * The
remarkable literary partnership of
Charles Nordhoff and James Norman
Hall.
Tivaivai: The Social
Fabric of the Cook
Islands
by Susanne Küchler & Andrea Eimke
Quilts generically known as tivaivai
have been produced by women in the
Cook Islands, the Hawaiian Islands,
the Society Islands and elsewhere
in Eastern
Polynesia
since the
late 19th
century,
where they
were a
substitute
for bark-
cloth but
also used in
ways deeply
invested
in the new
context of
Christian
domesticity.
In the Cook
Islands,
16 • Escape Magazine
quilts are
stitched to be
given away at
funerals, at
weddings and
other events
marking
stages of loss
and severance
in the life
of a person.
Although
often kept
for years in
trunks far
away from
the homeland
as a result of the migrant diaspora,
the quilt and its threads connect those
who have been parted. Written from
both an anthropological and an artistic
perspective, this book examines the
visual and cultural characteristics that
have made the Polynesian quilt one of
the most stunning and captivating art-
forms to emerge from the Pacific.
It also offers a glimpse into the role
played by fabric in the history of
contact with Europeans although
both traditions shared a common
preoccupation with clothing, their
understanding could not have been
more different. Illustrated in colour
throughout, with many specially
commissioned photographs, the book
will provide not only a unique insight
into a culturally rich tradition but a
visual feast to inspire both the quilt
enthusiast and those interested in
the broader field of fabric and textile
design.
Prisoner in Paradise
by A. A. (Tony, ‘Tongaiti’) Monteith
This is a colourful tale of an English-
born rogue, Charles Wells Banks,
who emigrated to the United States
at 15 years of age. He fought in,
and was wounded during, the
American Civil War, and was in New
Orleans during the emancipation