SOURCE: Lyons, Paul. “From Man-Eaters to Spam-Eaters: Literary Tourism and the Discourse of Cannibalism from Herman Melville to Paul Theroux.” In Multiculturalism and Representation: Selected Essays, edited by John Rieder and Larry E. Smith, pp. 67-86. Honolulu: College of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature, University of Hawaii and the East-West Center, 1996.

In the following essay, Lyons places the treatment of cannibalism in travel narratives within a historical perspective, and traces its contemporary significance in the work of Paul Theroux.

The Oceania found in this literature is … more revealing of papalagi fantasies and hang-ups, dreams and nightmares, prejudices … than of our actual islands. I am not saying that … the papalagi should not write about us, or viceversa. But the imagination must explore with love, honesty, wisdom and compassion … writers must [respect] the people they are writing about.

—Albert Wendt, “Towards a New Oceania”

The Hand That Feeds

Concluding his section...