Bali: Das letzte Paradies: Roman

by Nigel Barley

Walter Spies (1895-1942) - deutscher Ethnologe, Musiker, Naturforscher und Maler - verließ Deutschland 1923. Zunächst lebte er auf Java und zog vier Jahre später auf die Nachbarinsel Bali. Sein abenteuerliches Leben pendelte zwischen der Arbeit als Künstler, erotischen Eskapaden mit jungen Einheimischen und seinen Pflichten als Gastgeber. Denn schon bald war sein Haus der kulturelle Mittelpunkt der Insel. Berühmte Künstler wie Charlie Chaplin oder Vicki Baum gaben sich die Klinke in die Hand. Die Anthropologin Margaret Mead und der Musikethnologe Colin McPhee verließen sich auf Spies' intime Kenntnis der lokalen Riten und Gebräuche. Nicht nur für sie war er der Inbegriff des Lebenskünstlers und Bohemiens - stets umgeben von Affen, Kakadus, Tänzerinnen und Musikern.

Genres: Asia, Travel, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Anthropology

271 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2009

About the author

Born 1947. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Ba...

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Publisher Says: Many men dream of running away to a tropical island and living surrounded by beauty and exotic exuberance. Walter Spies did more than dream. He actually did it. In the 1920s and 30s, Walter Spies - ethnographer, choreographer, film maker, natural historian and painter - transformed the perception of Bali from that of a remote island to become the site for Western fantasies about Paradise and it underwent an influx of foreign visitors. The rich and famous flocked to Spies' house in Ubud and his life and work forged a link between serious academics and the visionaries from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin, Noel Coward, Miguel Covarrubias, Vicki Baum, Barbara Hutton and many others sought to experience the vision Spies offered while Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, the foremost anthropologists of their day, attempted to capture the secret of this tantalizing and enigmatic culture. Island of Demons is a fascinating historical novel, mixing anthropology, the history of ideas and humour. It offers a unique insight into that complex and multi-hued world that was so soon to be swept away, exploring both its ideas and the larger than life characters that inhabited it.

My Review: The Balinese chapter of artist/musician/anthropologist Walter Spies's life, as told by the intimate companion of those years, Dutch artist Rudolf Bonnet. Spies, a German of the Hanseatic sort, was in Russia during the revolution (one thing we tend to forget at a hundred years' remove is that Germans were the Americans of Eastern Europe for several hundred years), in Berlin during the grisly Weimar Republic, and ran away from his demons after breaking up with F.W. Murnau ("Nosferatu"?) by moving to the Island of Demons...Bali.

Here he spent the entire rest of his life. He became a stop on the tour. He was largely responsible for the view the decadent, rich West held of Bali as a land of lush, lovely, lascivious lads and, well, really, what else matters? So come (!) they did in their legions, infecting and changing and generally making Bali a Disney park. The Dutch, in that day and time the colonial power, thought that was just ducky...until WWII. *bam* into prison camp, *swoosh* out of prison camp when the Japanese won, *whisk* off to a less sensitive location...this then the end of our story, since Bonnet lived for many years after his beloved Walter's death, but the ostensible reason we're reading this novel is that Bonnet is visited by a handsome stranger, James Grits (Grits? Barley? Get it?), who is researching Walter, and these are his memories of the love of his life. It's a hoary old technique, but hey, who's to argue with tradition in an historical novel?

I loved this book. It felt so good to sink into Barley's nicely crafted sentences, into his clear and present love for Bali, for Spies, for the dear and dull Rudi, and the dead past. So many historical novels read like research papers gone metastatic. This one *reeks* of longing to be there, to be part of the world the author has studied and documented.

I recently read another historical novel, this one set in 1980s New Jersey, and clearly a roman a clef...and it was grisly, a Bataan Death March of a book, it was so very very evidently not a lover's nosegay to the subject, that I wanted to remove it from my belly-pillow with tongs and dispose of it in some dog-safe way so she wouldn't even sniff it. I was ready to exorcise that demon from my brain. Island of Demons did the trick.

I suggest the book to gay people, well, men mostly; the frankly disagreeable presentation of the female characters is unlikely to meet with the common or garden lesbian and/or feminist's wholehearted approbation. All you misongynists, whatever gender, c'mon down! This is your reward for wading through all the anti-man crap out there!

It really helps to know who some of the people who helped Spies put Bali on the map are: Barbara Hutton the stunningly rich heiress, Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson the anthropologists, Vicki Baum the German Jewish Lesbian Hollywood Screenwriting Legend, Rosa and Miguel Covarrubias the depressing socialist straight people (GOD are they boring), composer/queer ikon Colin McPhee and his depressed, schizophrenic wife Jane; there are others, but that list, if it makes you pucker your lips and say "...wha...? Who...?" to each entry, means this is a fun romp, a good-time read; if there are little "aha!" moments, well, there is some lovely, bitchy subtext of the sort we *used* to call camp (a dying art, camp; so sad). But no matter! Just read it! So much pleasure to be had! Have some. ( )

[Hendrik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nigel Barley ist mir bereits durch seinen Reisebericht "Hallo Mister Puttymann" bekannt. Darin erzählt er von seinen Erlebnissen bei den Toraja auf Sulawesi. Dieses Buch hat mich derart begeistert, dass ich kurz darauf selbst nach Indonesien gefahren bin. Natürlich war ich auch in Ubud auf Bali gewesen, wo das künstlerische Multitalent Walter Spies bis heute bleibende Spuren hinterlassen hat.
Island of Demons ist zugleich Romanbiografie und Kulturgeschichte der Insel Bali. Man erfährt wirklich viel über die Kultur der Balinesen, in der das Rituelle einen festen Platz im Alltag der Menschen hat. Das Atmosphärische ist auch die Stärke des Buchs, leider kann die Handlung meiner Meinung nach nicht ganz mithalten. Die Geschichte kreist hauptsächlich um die illustre Prominentenschar, die sich bei Spies ein Stelldichein gegeben hat (u.a. Charlie Chaplin). Mit fortschreitender Lesedauer, stellte sich davon bei mir eine zunehmende Langeweile ein. Der Schluss wurde dann ziemlich kurz abgehandelt. Auch die ausschweifenden homo-erotischen Erlebnisse der Erzählerfigur Rudi Bonnet, fand ich eher schwülstig bis unfreiwillig komisch. Beispiel: "… it was then and there that I convincingly entered Bali and it me, that I drank its very essence …"
Der kulturell-historische Teil ist sehr interessant, der Romanteil leidet etwas an erzählerischer Ziellosigkeit und zuviel gay romance.
(P.S.: In der deutschen Ausgabe wurden Kürzungen vorgenommen. Ob vielleicht zum Vorteil der Geschichte, kann ich leider nicht beantworten.)

[Tim Hannigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The artist Walter Spies was not shy about taking liberties himself, so he would probably be amused to know that more than a few liberties have been taken with the facts of his own life story in the interests of turning it into rollicking historical fiction.

More than 60 years since Spies’ death, writer and anthropologist Nigel Barley has raided the archives and made him the subject of his latest novel, “Island of Demons.” Spies was German, but he will forever be associated with his adopted home, Bali, and this book is about the man and the island.

Spies first came to Bali in the 1920s, and was foremost among the shifting community of European bohemians who lived there in the last decades of Dutch colonial rule. His story is well known — accidental founding father of touristic Ubud, more important for his influence on both local artists and on the world’s ideas about Bali than for his own paintings, arrested and briefly imprisoned by the Dutch for homosexuality, jailed again at the start of World War II as a German and killed when his prisoner-of-war ship was torpedoed.

Barley reportedly had intended to use all this detail for a biography, but then decided it would be more fun — for both writer and reader — to turn to fiction instead.

And fun it is.read full review

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Island of Demons] by Nigel Barley is an interestingly creative historical fictitious romp through Bali during the 1920s and 1930s when Indonesia was still under Dutch rule.

The book centers around Martin Spies, a bon vivant German artist, has made Bali his home and his people, and his relationship with Rudi Bonnet, a Dutch painter and other famous luminaries such as Noel Coward, Barbara Hutton, Charlie Chaplin and Margaret Meade. There are joyous escapades throughout the book, lighthearted but falling short of being farcical.

Barley gives us glimpses of Balinese culture and music, the kind gentleness of the people, and the spirituality on the island that is so pervasive, even today. I think though, that Barley skates on what I consider important details. I've been to Bali a few times in my life, and there are subtleties in Balinese spirituality, Balinese dances and culture which Barley could have spent more time explaining for readers who have not been to that island. If he had done so, I believe it would have enriched the experience for his readers.

But as I've been, Barley brought me back to the sights, music, sounds and food of Bali that I so enjoyed. And I now long to return even if briefly, to reacquaint myself with the idyllic island ... at least north Bali. I shall keep away from the tourist trap that is the southern tip of island.

[Michael Bohli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nigel Barley erzählt nicht etwa einen selbst erlebten Reisebericht in "Bali - Das letzte Paradies", sondern die musischen Ausschweifungen von Auswanderer in den 1920er-Jahren. Der Autor lässt die Leser dabei die in Kultur der Balinesen eintauchen und die Zusammenprälle der Welten in einer Unterhaltsamen Sprache passieren.
Am Ende ist das Buch leider etwas mehr Unterhaltung als Lehrstunde, Freude machte es aber immer. Und Reiselust entsteht sowieso.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book during my trip to Bali, to get a better idea of the Ubud circle of artists and Barley does a great job in making it come alive. We learn about the German artist Walter Spies who started it all and his Dutch friend Rudolf Bonnet (who acts as the Narrator here), as well as all their famous visitors like Charlie Chaplin, Barbara Hutton and Vicki Baum. The only reason I'm not giving it five stars (which I award only to books I found absolutely perfect) is that it dragged on towards the end - like Barley felt the need to include the World War II years that somehow feel tacked on without being part of the story. Still, for anyone travelling to Bali this should be a must-read.

[Josine van Heek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book to read when you are on the Indonesian island of Bali or when you are preparing for such a trip.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bali as imagined between the two world wars. Or at least Bali as populated by Dutch colonials, Chinese and Japanese businessmen, and a German artist aesthete, Walter Spies, and the host of celebrities that visited him through the years. Until the Japanese invaded. All narrated by a constantly sexually aroused aspiring Dutch painter, Rudi Bonnet. It all sounds interesting. But it wasn't.

The focus on Walter Spies, although this is a broad fictionalized version of Spies and the other famous names, turns out to be a dud. Nigel Barley's novel turns into a list. A list of visitors. Accompanying them are Walter's unfunny humor and puns, Cracker Jack philosophy, stale wit, and pompous unpretentiousness. The story doesn't help, because there isn't one. And all characters are bland, one dimensional caricatures, especially Walter. I suppose were Barley writing a picaresque some of this might be argued for. But that isn't the case, or at least not to my eye. And so we get a cascade of people like Charlie Chaplin, Gregory Bateson, Margaret Mead, Colin McPhee and Jane Belo, as well as Vicki Baum and Miguel Covarrubias and his wife, Rosa. How could Barley make all this so boring and trivial?

I think Barley made a bid for something he hasn't quite mastered, historical fiction. It shows in the few places the novel actually begins to be interesting. First with the framing story at book's beginning and end--and the vicious take down of contemporary academic theories of art and society. Second, the sort of interesting introduction to Rudi, including his trip to Italy and then voyage to Bali. Third, Rudi's arrest and questioning for immoral conduct with underage Balinese boys and girls. There are the makings of a good storyline there. And the farther the story strays from Walter Spies--the reason I and most people will pick up the book--the better it becomes. Unfortunately, Walter is on ninety percent of the pages. You end up just wishing he would go away, which he finally does, as a captive of the Dutch during World War II.

By the way, the book cover is Spies' "Deer Hunt." His semi-fabulist paintings get virtually no in depth discussion in this book. (I see wiki labels them primitivist, although in what sense it doesn't say.) And they are very much worth it. I don't think Barley knows how to discuss art or have his characters do so.

[Orlando Fato · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book: I enjoyed it, but I can best describe it as attending an amazing party. The hors d'oeuvres are delicious and the guests are interesting, but how much can you actually eat and talk without wanting to go home at some point? Moreover, Walter Spies is the man of honor at this party, but while I learned a lot about him, did I really get to know him? I did learn a great deal about the host of this wonderful party: Rudolph Bonnet, a Dutch artist who also lived much of his life in Ubud, Bali.

The culture and landscape of Bali in the 1930's are described in a very evocative manner. It made me daydream of Bali and wish I had been able to visit it during that time; however, approximately on page 300, I started losing interest because there was more than enough of it. The same goes for the many celebrities from that period of time: they were interesting, but I stopped caring about the last characters featured in the story because there were too many, and the latter ones were rather unlikable. On page 200, I started wondering where the plot of this novel was going.

I gave the book 4 stars because it did give me outstanding insight about Bali, which was what I was looking for. I knew very little about Bali, and the novel seems well researched and motivated me to go further on certain topics and people who visited Bali. I enjoyed the parts about culture, especially as seen and experienced through a westener's perspective, as well as Bali's historical background and context during WW2 and the Japanese invasion. Moreover, I think that Walter Spies is an interesting character. The dynamic between Spies and Rudolph Bonnet, who is the narrator of the story, is quite entertaining, for Barley's witty writing is a pleasure to read. I wish I could write like him. However, perhaps if Barley had shortened Rudolf Bonnet's background story at the beginning and had focused on fewer visitors, the novel wouldn't have seem unnecessarily long to me. Considering that the focus of the novel is Bali and Walter Spies, I don't think I needed to know that much about Bonnet.

All in all, I am happy I read it, but I doubt that I will read it again, which is how I measure how much I like a novel. If I want to reread a novel right after I have finished it, I know I loved it, but this was not the case with this book. However, I liked it enough to keep it and to motivate me to read Colin McPhee's "A House in Bali", as McPhee was one of the many guests of Walter Spies while in Bali.

[John Kitcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

Some say don't judge a book by its cover but l am inclined to disagree with that and almost always do. Those books with pastel pictures on the font and huge capitalized Times New Roman fonts - I will never ever read one of those again. With that in mind, l tend to let my standards slip when buying second-hand books, hence this little number.

Walter Spies (pronounced Piss by some) is an eccentric German living on Bali before WWII. He lives the life of an aristocrat in that he cares little for money and everything for 'the crack'. Actually, he is piss-pot-poor but lives a captivating life in a dream setting.

The book was much better than l feared (when looking at the book's front cover) and very well written - lots of fun and dry humor mixed in. The book isn't about demons but the life of Walter Piss. Started off great (5 stars) then started to taper towards the end as l got bored. Can't wait to go to Bali though...

[Pam Keevil · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read in ages. Why? It's a captivating account ( part fiction, part non fiction) of Walter Spies life and times in Bali in the 20s and 30s, from the viewpoint of Rudolf Bonnet. All the characters are there; Margaret Mead, Charlie Chaplin, Gregory Bateson, Colin Mcphee, Noel Coward plus a host of others who made Bali a 'go to place' for those wealthy and leisured enough to travel. Having read a lot of accounts of Bali, it was like revisiting old friends and shows a fascinating insight into the colonial mindset and the trappings of empire before WW2. Nigel Barclay also describes Bali so well and even though it is now more built up, he captures those moments when Bali is at her best with the light filtering through the trees at dawn or the hypnotic sounds of the gamelan. He's also very funny; the account of Bonnet and the monkey on his voyage to Bali is worth reading alone.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strange and fascinating book. It made me wonder how much truth is in the characterization of various real-life personalities. It also reminded me of The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (although The Lacuna is better!). I was reading this for an upcoming trip to Bali that was postponed for COVID-19. Someday I'll see that big mountain and the dances.

[Mark Eveleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as part of the research for a Bali-based magical realism thriller and was not disappointed. Barley has a catchy, enjoyable and lighthearted way of writing. There are dark sides to the story that remain largely untold...but Bali was a different place back then - and many of the artistic expats who colonised the island were no better in their way than the entitled 'influencers' who hit the headlines these days. Nevertheless, it is a fascinating and enjoyable book that gives an insight to the early days of tourism on the 'Island of the Gods'.

[Johanna DeBiase · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read about 60% and realized I had been bored with it for the last 30%. The narrator's voice is great. I loved learning more about the onset of ex-pats in Bali, especially Ubud, in the 1930s. Currently traveling in Ubud, I could see first - hand what the book referred to and learn about some cultural origins. But ultimately that thread was too thin to keep me interested in a vague narrative arc.

[Steve Castley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great read. Barley has well researched his topic and has created a quirky, humorous and captivating historical fiction. His characters are real and he's created personalities to reflect each of them. If you love Bali, it's history, art, culture and the expats of the 1930's this book's for you.

[Line · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be honest, I never even finished the book. I finished halfway through it because nothing never really happens. Everything is just going so slow and I got bored of the book.
However, I enjoyed reading some of the chapters, but in general, the pace was too slow for me

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein episodenhaftes Buch, zusammengehalten vielleicht von der Liebe zur Kunst und zwischen Männern, im Bali der 1930er Jahre und einer eleganten, bewusst eingesetzten Sprache, die sofort farbenprächtige Bilder im Kopf entstehen lässt.
Der Ich-Erzähler ist der real existente Rudolf Bonnet, ein – soweit es mich betraf – inzwischen zu unrecht in Vergessenheit geratener Maler aus den Niederlanden, der 1929 nach Bali kam und dort die Bekanntschaft mit dem schillernden Walter Spies machte, einer ebenfalls historischen Figur.
Oft erschien mir anfangs vieles rätselhaft und verwirrend, wurde dann aber im Laufe des Kapitels er- oder geklärt, was mich wieder versöhnte.
Wirklich interessant fand ich, dass viele historische Personen auftauchen, unter ihnen Margaret Mead und Charlie Chaplin, zusammen mit dem historischen Hintergrund und viel Lokalkolorit ergab sich daraus ein interessantes Panorama aus lustigen und tragischen Episoden aus „Bonnetchens“ Zeit auf Bali, das ich jedem auch nur ansatzweise Interessiertem nur empfehlen kann.

[Lake Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly recommend this bit of historical fiction to get a glimpse into the heyday of Westerners "discovering" Bali in the 1920s and 30s. I've been coming to Bali for over a decade and this book had some delightful insights and generally captures the roots of the culture of this intriguing island. The focus of the book is the life of the artist Walter Spies and his flamboyant exploits on the island and the many many celebrities of the day that crossed his path, from Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson to Cole Porter to director F.W. Murnau. If you're at all interested in Bali this is worth the read.

[Leonard · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love the Barley's old adventure in Cameroon.

But this novel is a misunderstanding.

I am not sure who is the main character in this book: Walter and Rudolf ? Or maybe both ?
The novel is full of random dialogues with almost every famous person, who visited Bali in the 1930's.
I didn't discover any clue. Fortunately, the climate of Paradise Island from the early era of tourism is coming out of the novel.

I expected much more from such good observer. Well, it seems that writing a historical novel is not easy.

[Sven Mollet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure why this book is categorized as Gay. Apart form the fact it has a fictional gay character and that it focuses on a historical personage that is also gay, I found the book's relevance much larger than the sexuality of its characters. It feels more like an anthropological quest into the Balinese society and its foreign admirers during the period between the two world wars. Excellent piece of writing, I bought into the plot (mix of historical and fictional) and the atmosphere felt like overripe fruit with all its colour and smell. And it made me curious about traditional Balinese music.

[Mark Eveleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as part of the research for a Bali-based magical realism thriller and was not disappointed. Barley has a catchy, enjoyable and lighthearted way of writing. There are dark sides to the story that remain largely untold...but Bali was a different place back then - and many of the artistic expats who colonised the island were no better in their way than the entitled 'influencers' who hit the headlines these days. Nevertheless, it is a fascinating and enjoyable book that gives an insight to the early days of tourism on the 'Island of the Gods'.

[Catrien Deys · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel isn't very well edited, but still full of surprises and tropical delight.