Why read Think of a Garden?

Book cover of Think of a Garden: And Other Plays

Book description

By his own reckoning, John Kneubuhl was "the world's greatest Swiss/Welsh/Samoan playwright." The son of a Samoan mother and an American father, Kneubuhl's multicultural heritage produced a distinctive artistic vision that formed the basis of his most powerful dramatic work. Born and raised in Samoa, Kneubuhl attended school in Honolulu…

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Hawaii

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Why read it?

1 author picked Think of a Garden as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

John Enright

Author

In Samoan, white people are called papalagi, which means skybreaker. All the other books on this list are by papalagi, intruders, or outside observers, I called them. John Kneubuhl was a native Samoan. His father was a U.S. sailor. So, in a way, his observer/observed situation—the interface, the dialogue between the two disparate cultures—was internal. In these three acclaimed plays, Kneubuhl brings to life memorable characters who embody—and sometimes resolve—that conflict.

These three plays—Think of a Garden, Mele Kanikau: A Pageant, and A Play, A Play—portray the true lives of twentieth-century, “post-colonial” Polynesians. They are the culminating works…

From John's list on The best books about the West meeting paradise in the South Seas.