Robert Louis Stevensons Pacific Impressions: Photography and Travel Writing, 18881894 (Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture)

This book tackles photography’s role during Robert Louis Stevenson’s travels throughout the Pacific Island region and is the first study of his family’s previously unpublished photographs. Cutting across disciplinary boundaries, the book integrates photographs with letters, non-fiction, and poetry, and includes much unpublished material. The original readings of photographs and non-fiction highlight Stevenson’s engagement with colonial ideology and reality and advance new arguments about Victorian travel, settlement, and colonialisms in the Pacific. Like the Stevensons, the book moves from the Marquesas to the atolls of the Gilbert Islands in Micronesia; from the Kingdom of Hawai‘i’s political ambitions to Samoan plantations and the Stevensons’ settlement at Vailima. Central to this study is the notion that Pacific history and Pacific Island cultures matter to the interpretation of Stevenson's work, and a rigorous historical and cultural contextualization ensures that local details structure literary and photographic interpretation. The book’s historical grounding is key to its insightful conclusions regarding travel, settlement, photography, and colonialism. Note on Terminology and Spelling 7 Acknowledgments 9 A Select Chronology 11 Contents 13 Abbreviations 15 List of Figures 16 Chapter 1: Introduction: Stevenson and Early Photography in the Pacific Islands 18 References 38 Manuscripts 38 Published Works by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson 39 Secondary Sources 39 Chapter 2: “We Savages”: Cannibal Performances in the Marquesas 44 1 47 2 58 3 65 4 76 References 80 Manuscripts 80 Published Works by R. L. Stevenson, Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson, and Margaret Stevenson 80 Secondary Works 81 Chapter 3: “An Extraordinary State of Affairs”: The Hawaiian Embassy to Sāmoa 85 1 88 2 105 References 116 Manuscripts 116 Published Works by R. L. Stevenson 117 Secondary Works 117 Chapter 4: “Incongruities of Scale”: Encountering the Atolls of Kiribati 120 1 125 2 129 3 135 4 142 5 153 References 162 Manuscripts 162 Published Works by R. L. Stevenson 162 Secondary Sources 162 Chapter 5: “Native Movement”: Islanders and the Janet Nicoll 166 1 174 2 182 3 189 References 198 Manuscripts 198 Published Works by R. L. Stevenson and Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson 199 Secondary Sources 199 Chapter 6: “Little House in the Bush”: Specters of Vailima 202 1 206 2 213 3 219 4 225 References 230 Manuscripts 230 Published Works by R. L. Stevenson, Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson and Margaret Stevenson 231 Secondary Works 231 Chapter 7: Conclusion 235 Appendix: About Robert Louis Stevenson’s Photograph Albums 239 References 243 Manuscripts 243 Published Works by R. L. Stevenson, Fanny Stevenson, Margaret Stevenson 245 Secondary Sources 246 Index 262 Front Matter ....Pages i-xviii Introduction: Stevenson and Early Photography in the Pacific Islands (Carla Manfredi)....Pages 1-26 “We Savages”: Cannibal Performances in the Marquesas (Carla Manfredi)....Pages 27-67 “An Extraordinary State of Affairs”: The Hawaiian Embassy to Sāmoa (Carla Manfredi)....Pages 69-103 “Incongruities of Scale”: Encountering the Atolls of Kiribati (Carla Manfredi)....Pages 105-150 “Native Movement”: Islanders and the Janet Nicoll (Carla Manfredi)....Pages 151-186 “Little House in the Bush”: Specters of Vailima (Carla Manfredi)....Pages 187-219 Conclusion (Carla Manfredi)....Pages 221-224 Back Matter ....Pages 225-256