PACIFIC SCIENCE FICTION, ROMANCE AND MYSTERY

Pacific literature, like Pacific people, is diverse. Although academic
study of Pacific literature usually focuses on literary fiction and poetry,
some Pacific writers are working within the modes of genre fiction: romance,
mystery, science fiction and fantasy. And the readers are loving it: people
have downloaded over 60 thousand copies Lani Wendt Young’s Telesā– and that’s just counting the legal downloads! This is
fiction you’ll be happy to read on the beach or the bus, but that doesn’t mean
it has nothing to tell us about the Pacific or Pacific writing.  As we work our way through these intriguing,
scary and romantic stories we will examine the history of genre fiction, the
ways that Indigenous and minority writers have engaged with the form, and what perspectives
these books provide on the region which Albert Wendt described as “so vast, so
fabulously varied.”

This is a writing-intensive course that will feature peer review and
regular class discussion. Required reading not listed below will be available
to download and print via Laulima. Film texts will be provided to the class
through web links and class screenings.

 

Assessment:

 

Two shorter papers            30%

One longer paper    25%

Informal writing        15%

Group presentation 10%

Exam                          15%

Participation             5%

Required texts (available
at UHM bookstore)

Paula Morris. Ruined.Point,
2010.

Victoria Kneubuhl. Murder
Casts a Shadow.
Honolulu: UH Press, 2008. 

Albert Wendt. Black
Rainbow.
Honoulu: UH Press, 1995.

Witi Ihimaera. Sky Dancer.
Auckland: Penguin, 2005.

 

Required texts (students
to purchase electronically)

Lani Wendt Young. Telesā.

Tanya Taimanglo. Secret
Shopper.

Sieni A M. Illumine
Her.