Tales of the Tikongs - (Talanoa: Contemporary Pacific Literature) by Epeli Hau'ofa (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In this lively satire of contemporary South Pacific life, we meet a familiar cast of characters: multinational experts, religious fanatics, con men, "simple" villagers, corrupt politicians. In writing about this tiny world of flawed personalities, Hau'ofa displays his wit and range of comic resource, amply exercising what one reviewer called his "gift of seeing absurdity clearly."

From the Back Cover

Tiko, a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean, faces a tidal wave of D-E-V-E-L-O-P-M-E-N-T, which threatens to demolish ancestral ways and the human spirit. From Sione, who prefers to play cards with his secretary during work hours, to Ole Pasifikiwei, who masters the twists and turns of international funding games, all of the characters in these pages are seasoned surfers, capable of riding the biggest wave to shore. These are not stories of fatal impact so much as upbeat tales of indigenous responses to cultural and economic imperialism. Epeli Hauofa uses devices derived from oral storytelling to create a South Pacific voice that is lucid, hilarious, and compassionate in a work that has long been regarded as a milestone in Pacific literature.

Review Quotes

A South Pacific Under Milk Wood: tragicomic sketches of an unashamedly miniscule community, portraying the manifold eccentricities and weaknesses of the inhabitants through a mixture of affection, mockery, satire and ribaldry.-- "Landfall Magazine"

Epeli Hau'ofa takes his place alongside such writers as R. K. Narayan, early V. S. Naipaul and early Robertson Davies as an amused observer of . . . colonialism and newly independent nations.-- "Zealandia"