The South Seas play a major part in 19th century German literature and journalism, where they figure as a paradise representing the object of desire, research, and colonial conquest. This book demonstrates that literature on the South Seas displays an almost uniform repertory of exoticizing and fear-mongering stereotypes of the foreigner and things foreign that served various different purposes (esthetic standards, political aims, popularization of science). With reference to travel journals, magazine articles, adventure novels, and memoirs, the study's focus on textual analysis and the history of discourse accentuates the shifts taking place within the heterogeneous discourse on Oceania.

Gabriele Dürbeck, Universität Rostock.