Faery Lands of the South Seas

by James Norman Hall, Charles Bernard Nordhoff, George A. Picken (Illustrator)

Before MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, Hall and Nordhoff wrote this nonfiction book about the South Seas islands. All of the islands described lie in the Paumotu, Society and Hervey Groups. A super early 20th century look at Paradise!

James Norman Hall (a.k.a. James Normal Hall)

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel

355 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1921

About the author

An American author best known for the novel Mutiny on the Bounty with co-author Charles Nordhoff.

Reviews

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is much magic in this book. Its authors, Nordhoff and Hall, take you to a place and time that has vanished from history--the South Seas in the immediate aftermath of World War I. The reader is made wistful for that age of trading schooners plying the waterways among the atolls, reefs, and larger islands of the South Seas. Tahiti is at the center, but the true adventures take place on nearly forgotten atolls populated by less than a hundred people. Places where the myths, legends, and stories of Polynesia still hold sway, albeit under the ever increasing presence of American and European commerce. At the end of the book, Nordhoff and Hall state that the islands have claimed the two permanently. As it happens, this almost turned out to be true. James Norman Hall remained in the South Seas for almost all the rest of his life. Charles Bernard Nordhoff stayed there for two decades.

Throughout, Nordhoff and Hall themselves long for earlier days in Polynesia. They imagine a time one hundred or two hundred years earlier, when the peoples of the region were untouched by the materialism, nurtured desires, and presence of White men. It is quite ironic, really. For just as Nordhoff and Hall lament the passing of that time, current readers in the late second decade of the twenty-first century feel the same towards Nordhoff and Hall's time.

This non-fiction book provides a look at the islands just before their historic cultures were obliterated for all time by the coming of World War II and its aftermath. Nordhoff and Hall could never have imagined the impact of the war in the Pacific, although they did live to see it--Nordhoff died in 1947, in California, and Hall died in 1951, on Tahiti. For those readers who still wish to be swept up in the romance and adventure of that earlier era, this volume remains a staple.

[Barry H. Wiley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written by Hall and Nordoff both of whom knew the South Seas as a native would know them. I've been in Hall's home in Tahiti where he spent the last 30 years of his life, and have been at his writingdesk. His daughter stills lives on Tahiti in a home near Hall's grave just up the hill from the Hall home/museum. Her home is not open to the public. I would certainly recommend Mama Lala's Kitchen, a great little tea shop in the back of the James Norman Hall home. The book looks at the Society Islands before they became a routine tourist stop. Hall died in 1951 before the coming of the tourists.

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A travelogue guide to Polynesia courtesy of a couple of American travellers, writing just after the end of the First World War. There's evocative description of landscapes along with native customs, economics, a little folklore, and general description of day to day life. The travellers have little adventures and experience financial hardship at times. Their work is best when describing other oddballs and loners who have escaped civilisation to seek a more rural and laidback way of life. There's some casual racism at times but elsewhere the writers feel quite sensitive to the lives of those living a very different way of existence.

[Matt Kelland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating account of life in the Pacific islands in the early 1920s, full of anecdotes and insightful personal observations. It's strange seeing how he tackles his status as a white man: he wants to be more part of the island life, but they expect him to maintain a certain status, so he plays up to that. It could be considered racism by some, but it's more a commentary on how cultures do and don't intermingle.

[Aline Laforge · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting style and cadence to this combination of autobiographical and tales and legends from the low islands of the South Pacific. It has some observations/opinions that I found offensive, but given the historical context, his words are true to the EuroAmerican attitudes at that time. I prefer that to reading a historical account that has been scrubbed and sanitized.

[Ian Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very Interesting hub

This is like a history lesson on Polynesia. Lots of fascinating details about these lands and seas and their people. This narrative evokes a fair bit of admiration for these folks as well as for the beauty of this region. Good job.

[Cindy DeLong · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't bother finishing this book because it was so boring and the anti-missionary rhetoric was a major strike against it.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

An ideal book to read while sitting on a boat in the French Polynesian!

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

From libirvox.org. Fascinating tale of the authors' stay in the South Pacific years before they wrote their "Mutiny On the Bounty" trilogy. Interesting insight into the the Polynesian culture of the late 1800s.

[Divad · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the treasures of post WWI western literature. Only "In the South Seas" by Stevenson and a few others are in the same league.