Unsettled Narratives

Exploring the intersection of writing and colonialism in the nineteenth-century Pacific, this book analyzes the works of four Western authors—Robert Louis Stevenson, William Ellis, Herman Melville, and Jack London. It examines how their texts assert settler dominance while simultaneously representing Indigenous resistance. By likening the act of writing to building dwellings, the study reveals how these authors manipulate narratives to establish their presence and portray Indigenous cultures as threatening and outside the narrative, highlighting the complex dynamics of cross-cultural encounters.