History of South Pacific Literature. Revised Edition

Author: Wang Xiaoling
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-12-01
Features: The structure of this book differs from the traditional framework of literary history books. First, it identifies the perspective based on collecting and organizing existing primary materials, adopting certain contemporary literary theories to form a critical style. At the same time, it pays attention to using the viewpoints of various literary schools to elaborate on and analyze the literature of the South Pacific indigenous peoples. For example, in Chapters 2 and 4, it distinguishes between oral literature and written literature, folk tales and prose-style short stories, and in Chapter 5, it explores different creative techniques such as symbolism and allegory, all of which reflect certain regular characteristics of literary creation. For instance, in Chapter 7, it discusses how South Pacific literature draws nourishment from traditional oral literature, and in Chapter 8, it examines how South Pacific literature draws inspiration from foreign cultures, exploring the universal development direction of national literature. These aspects differ slightly from the traditional historical perspective and style. However, due to my limited knowledge and scarce resources, I may not be able to fulfill the task adequately, which might give the impression of being overwhelmed. Whether this attempt is successful or not still depends on the readers' judgment. I believe there are still shortcomings in this book. The section on the literary history of Papua New Guinea is particularly weak due to the extremely limited resources available. Although I have contacted the Embassy of Papua New Guinea, the University of Papua New Guinea, and the Research Institute of Papua New Guinea multiple times before, there has been no response. During this period, I also asked Professor Chen Zhengfa, who visited Australia, and Dr. Annette Stewart, who returned to Australia for a visit while teaching at our university, to help find relevant materials, but neither was successful. In the end, I had no choice but to write it reluctantly. As a result, the historical materials on Papua New Guinea are incomplete and lack a certain systematic approach, and the commentary is also insufficiently developed. This is indeed a regret. However, in the revised edition, the addition of a section on oral literature in the South Pacific has focused on elaborating on the oral literature of Papua New Guinea, hoping to partially make up for the shortcomings.