Indigenous Pacific Fiction in English

This chapter examines the first wave of Indigenous Pacific novels written in English, which dates back to around 1955 and culminates in 1980 with the publication of Albert Wendt's edition, Lali: A Pacific Anthology. The period's ideals are summed up in Wendt's 1976 essay, ‘Towards A New Oceania’: ‘The new Pacific literature examines (and laments), often angrily, the effects of colonialism...’. Representing the social and cultural experiences of Islanders from the inside was the project, with the aim ‘to liberate and understand themselves in the rapidly changing world of decolonization’. The chapter first considers examples of early Indigenous writing before discussing the work of Indigenous Pacific fiction writers such as Wendt, Tom Davis and his wife Lydia Anderson Davis, Vincent Eri, and Patricia Grace. It also explores the role of the South Pacific Creative Arts Society in promoting the first generation work by Indigenous Pacific writers.