Photography and the Pacific Non-Fiction Of
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“THE CAMERA CANNOT LIE”: PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE PACIFIC NON-FICTION OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (1888-1894) By Carla Claire Manfredi A thesis submitted to the Graduate Program in English Language and Literature in conformity with the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada April, 2014 Copyright © Carla Claire Manfredi, 2014 Abstract This archivally-based dissertation re-contextualizes Robert Louis Stevenson’s South Pacific photographic collection (1888-1894), situating it in relation to his incomplete and posthumously published anthropological study of the Pacific, In the South Seas (1896); his unpublished pamphlet about Samoan colonial conflict, “A Samoan Scrapbook”; and his wife Fanny Stevenson’s diary The Cruise of the ‘Janet Nichol.’ Despite the recent and ample scholarship on Stevenson, few critics have engaged significantly with his photography. These (usually) anonymous photographs, taken by different members of the Stevenson family, were intended as illustrations for a projected book entitled The South Seas. Although this literary project was never completed, a dense photographic archive remains and discloses the many functions of photography during Stevenson’s Pacific career. In this truly interdisciplinary dissertation, I recognize the interdependent relationship between Stevenson’s Pacific non-fiction and his family’s photographic practice and stress that the photographic project was more important to Stevenson’s Pacific writing than has been acknowledged previously. This dissertation addresses the relationship between Stevenson’s photography and non-fiction writing, and demonstrates the important and underlying ways in which Stevenson’s photographs are related to his written accounts of Pacific Islanders and their societies. Furthermore, I contribute a series of close readings of individual (and previously unpublished) photographs, which I contextualize in their appropriate literary, cultural, and historical milieu. This dissertation contributes to a limited body of work that addresses the intersections of Pacific photography, anthropology, and Stevenson’s non-fiction. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Chris Bongie for his exemplary and rigorous feedback during the many stages of this dissertation. I am also thankful to Dr. Glenn Wilmott for his valuable and insightful commentary. A Pre-Dissertation Andrew Mellon Fellowship and a Junior Andrew Mellon Fellowship from the Institute of Historical Research (University College London) allowed me to draft large portions of this dissertation in Edinburgh. I am grateful to Denise Brace and Nicolas Tyack from The Writers’ Museum for not only providing me with considerable access to the Robert Louis Stevenson Collection but also for facilitating, supporting, and encouraging my research. I also benefited greatly from discussions with Elaine Greig who patiently answered my many questions and offered me valuable insight into the Collection. I owe my greatest debt of gratitude to my mother, Dr. Françoise Mugnier and to my partner, Peter Miller for knowing precisely when my moans of discouragement required scolding or coddling: this dissertation is dedicated to them. iii Statement of Originality (Required only for Division IV Ph.D.) I hereby certify that all of the work described within this thesis is the original work of the author. Any published (or unpublished) ideas and/or techniques from the work of others are fully acknowledged in accordance with the standard referencing practices. (Carla Claire Manfredi) (April, 2014) iv Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii Statement of Originality ................................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ v List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii Note on Photograph Album Pagination .......................................................................................... x Note on Spelling and Diction ......................................................................................................... xi Map Illustrating Stevenson’s Three Cruises ................................................................................. xii Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 “Treasure Island is not in the Pacific” ................................................................................... 1 1.2 Colonial Photography: “a thing of mere shreds and tatters” ............................................... 19 Chapter 2 In the South Seas: Embodying the Pacific ................................................................... 37 2.1 Composing The South Seas: “Part by part in pieces”.......................................................... 37 2.2 Stevenson’s Pacific Phenomenology .................................................................................. 47 2.3 The Spectacular and Phantasmagoric Pacific ...................................................................... 55 Chapter 3 “Lloyd comes to photograph”: Stevenson and Osbourne’s Collaboration .................. 67 3.1 Encountering the Lens ......................................................................................................... 67 3.2 Animated Stillness............................................................................................................... 78 3.3 “an extraordinary exhibition” .............................................................................................. 84 3.4 From Butaritari to Mariki .................................................................................................... 86 3.5 Aboard the Equator ............................................................................................................. 87 3.6 Crowded Photography ......................................................................................................... 91 3.7 Once More with Feeling: the Re-Performance of the Little Makin Dancers ...................... 97 3.8 Making Friends and Photographs ...................................................................................... 104 v Chapter 4 Stevenson and Strong’s “A Samoan Scrapbook”: Fragments of a Photo-book ......... 117 4.1 Strong in Samoa ................................................................................................................ 121 4.2 Hawai’ians in Samoa: “outlandish” and “droll” ............................................................... 134 4.3 “A Samoan Scrapbook” as “the photograph book” .......................................................... 157 Chapter 5 Collaboration & Bricolage in The Cruise of the ‘Janet Nichol’ ................................ 165 5.1 Editorial Collaboration ...................................................................................................... 173 5.2 Fanny’s “flotsam and jetsam” ........................................................................................... 183 Chapter 6 Coda ........................................................................................................................... 197 6.1 Stevenson’s Raw Corpus ................................................................................................... 197 6.2 The Digital Afterlife of The South Seas/In the South Seas ............................................... 202 Works Cited ................................................................................................................................ 209 Appendices and Textual Note ..................................................................................................... 223 Appendix A Transcription of Beinecke MS. 664 “A Samoan Scrapbook” ............................ 224 Appendix B Transcription of Yale MS. 6717 ......................................................................... 239 Figures......................................................................................................................................... 246 vi List of Figures All photographs have been reproduced with the permission of the City of Edinburgh Council Museums & Galleries: The Writers’ Museum. All illustrations from the British periodical Black and White have been reproduced with the permission of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Figures 33 and 39 to 43 are from the author’s personal collection. Fig.1. “A mysterious tomb – supposed to be a king’s tomb – interior of Butaritari” [LSH 14991pr08a]. Fig.2. “[Untitled album page]” [LSH 14991p03]. Fig.3. “[Album page] In the ‘Equator’ – cruising amongst the Kingsmill Islands” [LSH 14991p69]. Fig.4. “[Album page] In the ‘Equator’ – amongst the Kingsmill Islands” [LSH 14991p70]. Fig.5. Detail “[Untitled album page]” [LSH 14991pr03a,b,c]. Fig.6. “Same” [LSH 149pr03c]. Fig.7. “Butaritari – Daily life.” [LSH 14991pr03d]. Fig.8. Detail “Mariki Island – Gilbert Islands. Street Scene” [LSH 14991pr03e]. Fig.9. Detail “Mariki –