The Fiction and Reality of Jan Struys by Kees Boterbloem

New fiction from the Pacific during the 1990s exhibits its postcolonial identity through the perspectives it adopts, through innovations in language use, and through its ability to transform traditional images of society and culture into images of postcoloniality. The realities of contemporary writers from the Pacific illustrate the complications in claiming privilege for Pacific voices because they are native. When the insider perspective is examined in postcolonial terms, it is clear that “there can hardly be such a thing as an essential inside that can be homogeneously represented by all insiders” (Minh-ha 1995, 218). read as a trope of the transforming power of the insider perspective.

For example, “Parade” by Patricia Grace can be. After the beginning of what Paul Sharrad called an “authentic” Pacific literature, the perspective shifted to one that viewed life through the eyes of Pacific peoples. Historically, the perspective assumed in writing about the Pacific until 1970 presented Pacific peoples through European eyes in roles of spectators and objects of European desires. I have outlined some of the key concepts surround my performance including the ideas of cultural memory, mythic truth and site-specific work.

Included are some of my own personal reflections on the performance and the effect the condition of the text and site had on me, while trying to avoided anecdotal stories. I have also attempted to explain and justify my decisions during the performance process and the performance itself, including discussion of the challenges I faced from making those decisions. There is a detailed explanation of how I arrived at the scripted and textual elements of the production. In the critical reflection I have concentrated on my decisions regarding the textual element of my performance and the complications that resulted from the location I chose for the performance. The physical elements of the piece relied on ritualistic practice, leading the audience to the space in a procession, giving the audience simple tasks to add an element of participation and repeating a set of movements at key times in order to mark the time and space of the performance. There were also passages reflecting the merging of myth and reality, specifically the myth of ?The Bells of Aberdovey?. There was poetry which focused on animal imagery including transformation, an important theme in myth. I tried to reflect these themes in the text of the performance. present, myth and reality were unclear and fluid. The purpose of these individual elements was for them to merge and create a space where the lines between the past and. The performance itself took place as a site-specific, hour long performance, with ritualistic, historical and fictional elements. In Shifting Sands, I was examining how historical fact and myth combine forming stories on the boundary of truth and fiction.

The Fiction and Reality of Jan Struys by Kees Boterbloem