The South Seas play a major part in 19th century German literature and journalism, where they figure as a paradise representing the object of desire, research, and colonial conquest. This book demonstrates that literature on the South Seas displays an almost uniform repertory of exoticizing and fear-mongering stereotypes of the foreigner and things foreign that served various different purposes (esthetic standards, political aims, popularization of science). With reference to travel journals, magazine articles, adventure novels, and memoirs, the study's focus on textual analysis and the history of discourse accentuates the shifts taking place within the heterogeneous discourse on Oceania.

Autorentext

Gabriele Dürbeck, Universität Rostock.

Zusammenfassung

"[...] besticht durch das große Textkorpus, das in den Fallstudien verarbeitet wird."
Anne D. Peiter in: Zeitschrift für Germanistik 1/2009

"Such attention given to the growing area of "Ozeanismus" research will not only provide new perspectives for examining the canonical, German colonial literature, but Dürbeck's focus on the sociological and historical underpinnings of the texts and images should expand and refine the discourse concerning Western interactions with Oriental and other non-Western cultures, and provide a broader critical framework for understanding intercultural relations in the future."
Wes Jackson in: Focus on German Studies, 15/2008