Fiji literature , despite the high level of literacy in the country, is seriously inferior in development to the literature of neighboring Pacific states [1] . In the written tradition, Fiji literature is primarily developed in English , and Hindi [2] and Fijian [3] also occupy a small proportion. In Fijian villages, the tradition of oral narration in the Fijian language is maintained [2] .
The traditional story is usually associated with the myths and legends of the Fijians, devoted to the internal nature of plants and animals. This folk tradition is still alive, although, with the exception of a small number of translations into English, it has practically no written fixation [2] .
Acting as the lingua franca between the speakers of Fijian and Hindi, the English language dominates the written literary tradition in Fiji, which arose in the general context of the development of literature of indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands in the late 1960s in the Pacific region as a whole. An important incentive for the development of literature of the Pacific Islands was the foundation in 1968 in Suva of the South Pacific University . The first Fijian writers were in the late 1960s and early 1970s prose writer Raymond Pillai and poet Pio Manoa [3] .
In 1973, the University founded the South Pacific Arts Society , which began to publish poems and short stories by Pacific Island writers in the magazine Pacific Islands Monthly ". In 1974, the company founded the publishing house Mana Publications, which in 1976 began to publish the literary magazine Mana. Fiji's first poetic collections were published in this journal [3] .
In the future, such writers as Satendra Nandan also appeared in Fiji , Sudesh Mishra , playwright Larry Thomas [3] . The most significant contemporary writers are Joseph Veramu and playwrights Jo Nacola and Wilsoni HĂ©renico [2] .
In Hindi, writers such as Subramani ( English Subramani ), Satendra Nandan, Raymond Pillai and Prem Banfal ( English Prem Banfal ) [2] write .
One of the defining topics of literature in Fiji is the conflict between the native Fijians and Indians , which over the decades has repeatedly led to coups in the country [4] . Most of the literature on revolutions only describes events, but does not comprehend their reasons, however, for example, in the book Tradition, Religion and Militarism in Fiji ( English Tradition, Lotu & Militarism in Fiji ) Winston Jalapua trying to comprehend the role of society, the church and the military hierarchy in the modern history of the country [5] . The novel “Changing the imagination” ( English Altering Imagination ) of the writer Subramani is also devoted to this topic [6] .
On July 29, 2017, the Fiji Writers and Artists Union was created [7] , headed by Subramani [8] .
Notes
- ↑ The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia / Brij V. Lal, Kate Fortune. - University of Hawaii Press, 2000. - Vol. 1. - P. [520] (col. 2). - 664 p. - ISBN 9780824822651 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Roseline NgCheong-Lum. Literature // Fiji . - Marshall Cavendish , 2000 .-- P. 93. - 128 p. - (Cultures of the World). - ISBN 9780761409960 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 John Lynch and France Mugler. English in the South Pacific // World Englishes: journal. - 1989. - Vol. 8 , no. 1 . - ISSN 0883-2919 . Archived December 6, 2008.
- ↑ Michelle Keown. Pacific Islands Writing . - OUP Oxford , 2007.- P. 120. - 296 p. - ISBN 9780191527982 .
- ↑ Teresia Teaiwa. On Women and "Indians" // Security Disarmed / Sandra Morgen, Barbara Sutton, Julie Novkov. - Rutgers University Press , 2008 .-- P. 116. - 318 p. - ISBN 9780813545554 .
- ↑ Inside Out: Literature, Cultural Politics, and Identity in the New Pacific / Vilsoni Hereniko, Rob Wilson. - Rowman & Littlefield, 1999 .-- P. 432. - 435 p. - ISBN 9780847691432 .
- ↑ Prashneel Goundar. An eruption of writers . The Fiji Times Online (August 21, 2017). Date of appeal September 1, 2017. (unavailable link)
- ↑ Subramani appointed AFWA Chairman (inaccessible link) . The Jet Newspaper (1 September 2017). Date of treatment September 1, 2017. Archived September 1, 2017.