Wendt: Pouliuli (Pacific Classics) by Albert Wendt

by Albert Wendt

What happens when an old man wakes up one morning and finds that everything around him now fills with revulsion? What happens when Faleasa Osovae, the highest ranking alii in the village of Maalaelua, feigns madness and throws away his responsibilities as a chief?Albert Wendt is a Samoan, this novel plays in Samoa and gives a good feel for the Samoan way of life and gives also an idea how New Zealand affected it.

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Albert Wendt was born in Apia, Samoa.
Wendt's epic Leaves of the Banyan Tree (1979) won the 1980 New Zealand Book Awards. He was appointed to the first chair in Pacific literature at the University of the South Pacific in Suva. In 1988 he took up a professorship of Pacific studies at the University of Auckland. In 1999 Wendt was visiting Professor of Asian and Pacific Studies at the University of Hawaii. In 2001 he was made Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to literature. In the 2013 Queen's Birthday Honours he was appointed a member of the Order of New Zealand.

Reviews

[Missy J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of April 2023:
I read this book more than five years ago and couldn't remember much of it! What a shame! Two years ago, I fell in love with Samoan music and siva samoa and I remembered Albert Wendt, but couldn't recall much from "Pouliuli." Then I read Leaves of the Banyan Tree, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I am so glad that I have re-read "Pouliuli." Somehow back in the day I missed out on some things. I have increased my rating from 4 to 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 stars because this tiny book grapples so many different topics.

On the surface, it's the story of Faleasa, a village leader in Samoa. He is an older man, who wakes up one morning and is disappointed by how corrupt and lazy his family members are. They all treat him like a meal ticket so he decides to pretend to be insane. Only a few people like his best friend Lemigao and his son Moaula know that Faleasa is actually still sane. The book presents us glimpses into Faleasa's past: his childhood, how Christianity and school education spread on the island, how Apia and consumerism developed, how modernity and even American militarism reached Samoa. We also get to see some traditions and superstitions in Samoa (for example, defending the honor of your aiga) and how bizarre the act of saving your own money is to the villagers, where things are always done collectively. And of course, colonial mentality is also addressed. "His one regret was that he had never bothered to learn anything about the ancient religion of his people because the missionaries and his church had made him feel ashamed (and afraid) of it [...] It didn't matter now whether he was a Christian or not: he was soon to die and the Void didn't scare him any more - Pouliuli would embrace him, give him meaning." I can't believe how I couldn't remember a single thing from the chapter of the mysterious old man. I will have to reread that chapter in the future again. It's so poignantly written, about life and the inevitable sadness of it all. I still haven't grasped entirely what the old man said but I think it will come with life experience. Besides that, I also was touched about Faleasa's description of his own strict, cold and what today would be labelled as "narcissistic" father. That father was in turn so deeply ashamed by his loser father, indicating how trauma continues the cycle of hurt over several generations. In the meantime, while pretending to be insane, Faleasa and his best friend and son get rid of a bad pastor in the village and this all leads up to an attempt to remove Faleasa's own cousin, who is a corrupt politician. Things get very dark in the second half of this tiny book. Political corruption, lying, betrayal against your own blood. "Now this beast, whose soul was infected beyond healing by the sickness, who didn't know what honour and integrity and courage and being a man were all about, this beast was daring to try to kill him!" I guess all in all what this tiny book wanted to convey is that modernity is inevitable. Money, cruelty and evil will find a way to have the upper hand. Indigenous societies felt ashamed of themselves in comparison to Western so-called civilized ways, when in fact it wasn't much civilized at all. With the passing of time, things change and we cannot return back. I also want to note that there's unfortunately not a strong female character in this book. This was similar to Albert Wendt's Leaves of the Banyan Tree. Very male dominated.

"Sleep on, my friend, while the world dreams of terror."

Review of September 2017:
In this tiny book's glossary, "Pouliuli" means "darkness” in Samoan. For some reason, I thought this book would be boring, but I was so wrong! This is a wonderful little book, which introduced me to Samoan culture. It follows the life of Osovae aka Faleasa (the former is the protagonist's childhood name, while the latter is his adult name).

The book starts when an elderly Faleasa suddenly realizes how lazy and greedy some of his relatives have become. He wishes to be free and pretends to be insane in order to get his way within the social structure of his village (Faleasa is the village leader). From that point on, the story jumps back and forth between Faleasa's childhood and the present time.

One of my favorite characters was Osovae's childhood friend Lemigao. Their childhood sees the arrival of ambitious missionaries on the island and how World War II affected the island. In retrospect, this novel focuses on the encroaching influence of globalization, and how the native customs and superstitious beliefs (which are referred to as a "darkness" or "pouliuli") are gradually vanishing.

The ending of the book tied everything together and depicted how tradition can no longer stand against the rising influence of the outside. It was a sad ending, but very realistic. Overall, a very thoughtful book!

"The old man sighed and agreed with him but maintained also that literate people were lucky because they could store, describe, imprison, exorcise, and identify their memories in written form - the printed word was their escape from the ravenous,
rapacious fearless appetite of memory. [...], by bringing the magic of the written word to Samoa,
had rescued their people from the brutal nightmare swamp in which their collective memory was rooted and from which it derived its ferocity; had turned their people's attention from the irrational madness of their vain and violent blood to the humane light of the word."

"...blood did not betray blood..."

"Sleep on, my friend, while the world dreams of terror."

[Scarlett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this immensely. Pretty sure I understood none of it. Will reread and rereview at a later date. Wendt is a master of the craft. Learnt way more about Samoan society from this book than literally any Pacific focused course I’ve done at uni. And the sentences were so precise! Not a word out of place!

[Lei · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Pouliuli, a novel written by Albert Wendt, Faleasa Osovae awakens to find the life he’s been living all along is a mere façade. Pouliuli invites readers into the Samoan community of Malaelua, which is turned topsy-turvy when Faleasa misleads his aiga and community by acting maniacal. Albert Wendt ties a famous Malaelua saga about a mythological hero named Pili to Faleasa Osovae’s life. In the myth as well as in Faleasa’s story, they both had the same goal, which was to live the rest of their life “free”. To accomplish this goal, they both had to accomplish three tasks. Pilis’ tasks were to eat a mountain of fish which the giant’s had caught that day, to race the giants down a river, and make himself disappear. Faleasas’ tasks were to destroy Filemoni, Make Moaula the new leader, and remove Sau and Vaelupa as council leader. Of course they couldn’t have done these tasks alone so both of them enlisted help from friends. Pili enlisted the help of Tausamitele, Lelemalosi, and Pouliuli. Faleasa enlisted the help of his long time friend Laaumatua and his son Moaula. Finally to get the freedom they so wished for they had to complete one last task. In Pili’s case it was to divide his kingdom among his children while Faleasa had to remove Malaga as congress of the village. In the end, they both end up with nothing. Both ending up in the darkness of Pouliuli.

[Bea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of reminded me of Kafka except set in Samoa which made me laugh.

[Te Uranga · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Pouliuli" is a wonderful village drama that had captivated me from beginning to end. The whole idea of it is that the chief of the village suspects that someone is working against him. This idea had intrigued me even more. I decided to read this novel because I was looking for a book that had been written by a New Zealand author and my Dad had recommended it and spoke highly of the essential story.
The category it falls under on the bingo board is "written by a New Zealand author". This category is interesting because I can relate more to the culture of New Zealand when it is written by someone from my own country. Also, I can see and understand how New Zealand authors write.
Something that I have learnt from the book was how good of a writer Albert Wendt is and how New Zealand can produce amazing writers too. However, from the story, I learnt more and more about the culture of the Samoan village and how they lived back in those times.
A character I had found interesting from the book was the main character, Faleasa Osovae, because of the idea that he was a pillar of the community, that he was a well-respected man and chief of the village, who just suddenly goes insane, well, at least pretends to. His story was so intriguing and just made me want to read more.
One of my favourite qoutes from the novel was actually the opening sentence, "Early on a drizzly Saturday morning Faleasa Osovae- the seventy-six-year-old titled head of the Aiga Faleasa, faithful husband of a devoted Felefele, stern but generous father of seven sons and five obedient daughters, and the most respected alii in the village of Malaelua- woke with a strange bitter taste in his mouth to find, as he looked out to the rain and his village, and then at his wife snoring softly beside him in the mosquito net, and the rest of his aiga (about sixty bodies wrapped in sleeping sheets) who filled the spacious fale, that everything and everybody that he was used to and had enjoyed, and that till then had given meaning to his existence, now filled him with an almost unbearable feeling of revulsion- yes, that was the only word for it, revulsion." because it immediately sets the scene and the tone of the entire novel. It puts you directly into the scene straight away. You learn a lot about Faleasa and the whole book in that one long sentence.

[Abby]

I heard about this book because someone was reading it for class, but ultimately I read it because it has one of the finest first lines I have ever encountered, which takes up one half of the entire first page: "Early on a drizzly Saturday morning Faleasa Osovae...woke with a strange bitter taste in his mouth to find...that everything and everybody that he was used to and had enjoyed, and that till then had given meaning to his existence, now filled him with an almost unbearable feeling of revulsion." My first burning question was, "Why?" and Albert Wendt delivers.

Reading this reminds me of books from high school English, which we were assigned in the feeble hope that we might actually think about what's in them. And despite the fact that this is my vacation...this book made me think. Faleasa Osovae is tired of the pressures of success, and concludes that the only way to escape them is to feign madness. And a madman, Albert Wendt points out, is really someone who behaves unexpectedly, someone who doesn't put in the effort to keep social interactions smooth. Faleasa discovers there is freedom in being mad, because there are no expectations. But he also discovers the price for choosing not to participate in society. When he removed himself from the complex social interactions of daily life, no one needed him anymore. When he offered nothing, he received nothing.

This is a very, very good book, but it's heavy. As someone poised on the verge of adulthood, these questions strike pretty close to home. I know what's expected of me in my society, and I don't always like it, and I do it anyway. But here is a book that lets in the creeping question, "Why?" and then answers it. I'm still a little unsettled.

[GS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Faleasa Osovae is the matai (head) of Aiga (extended family) Faleasa and the most respected alii in the village of Malaelua in Samoa. One morning, as 76 year-old Osovae wakes up in his fale and eyes his family of ~60 surrounding him, he is filled with a strong urge to change his life, and decides that he has had enough of living for others - his aiga and his village. As the most powerful person in his village's matai council, Osovae has enjoyed almost unlimited power, and the concomitant responsibility is finally weighing on him. So Osovae makes a strange decision to free himself from others - act as if he has lost his mind. So begins Albert Wendt's Pouliuli - a captivating window into faa-Samoa (the Samoan way of life).

From the reactions of his family and community, Osovae feels that he is finally starting to see clearly who his true well-wishers are and who was close to him only because of his power. Osovae's only confidant is his closest friend Laaumatua Lemigao, who aids him in this unique quest for freedom. What follows is broadly the tale of how Osovae arranges for worthy successors to himself and replaces every leader he has now realized is unworthy with his chosen ones. In the process, Osovae confronts many aspects of his past, incidents that shaped him, and sees a great deal with clarity as he mentally prepares for his sunset days.

With this premise and with copious ventures into Osovae's and Lemigao's past, Wendt's Pouliuli unveils all that a reader can possibly want to know about the Samoan way of life - the people, the relationships, the community, the roles, the origin stories. The community's political structures, customs and maneuvering in tandem with the unfolding personal stories create an engaging read. I loved how much exposure to Samoa I got through the ~150 pages of this work.

The community seemed so very central to faa-Samoa - so much so that individuality didn't seem to be a concept at all (I wonder if there is even a word for it in Samoan). Early on in the book, as Osovae was in his quest for personal freedom, I thought - this is fascinating because I am finally reading a book about a society's expectations of its men, and how those expectations can harm and weigh them down. Wendt reinforces this idea by including the story of Osovae's father as well - a self-made man whose adult life closely mirrors Osovae's and whose expectations and views are central in shaping Osovae's life. While Osovae is the central character, Wendt also shows us the society's expectations of its women - these pretty much involve cooking, keeping house and waiting on the men. Domestic violence - including an incident in which Lemigao beats his wife Mua unconscious - is presented as a routine affair. (On the flip side, women seemed to have a lot of freedom in choosing the men in their lives, including flexibility to change the man). Anyway, as the book progressed, it became clear that Osovae's sudden quest for freedom neither gifted him with any empathy for the women in his life nor extended to perhaps freeing his wife Felefele from his expectations of her. (Of course, this was not the story Wendt set out to write, so I suppose I shouldn't have expected a sojourn into that angle, but some commentary in that direction would have been a welcome addition).

It was interesting to note the rather flattering Samoan views on the papalagi (European man) during the time Osovae was a kid/ young adult (my guess is that Osovae was a kid at the time of World War I). These views are presented through a series of incidents - Osovae’s travel to the Samoan capital Apia, work in an American naval base for a period, a white priest’s visit to Malaelua and the villagers’ going out of their way to please him, there is also an extended storyline involving a somewhat off-the-rocker ex-German soldier. This placing of Europeans on a pedestal mirrors what I’ve encountered in historical fiction from Africa set in earlier periods, it was interesting to encounter that in Samoan literature of early to mid-20th century. By the time Osovae is 76, it would be late 20th century, but unfortunately Wendt doesn’t tell us if Samoan views on the papalagi stay the same or have since evolved.

The major religion in Malaelua is Christianity and Osovae derives part of his power from being the deacon. The church preacher is presented as a person of standing in the community. Close to the end of the book, Osovae realizes that

“his rebellion and quest for freedom had reduced it (Christianity) to its rightful perspective as a social custom that one observed so as not to offend the majority of the people. His one regret was that he had never bothered to learn anything about the ancient religion of his people because the missionaries and his church had made him feel ashamed and afraid of it, had banished it into that historical realm which almost everyone now called ‘The Time before the Coming of the Light’ or ‘The Days of Darkness and Paganism’. … In Malaeluan life the most heinous sin was to be a pagan or atheist so he had become an exemplary Christian; being an exemplary Christian and leader meant being a deacon so he had become a deacon.”

All Osovae knows is an origin story - the story of how Samoans acquired fire, fishing-net and war club through the cunning of an ancient king named Pili who had the help of three spirits including Pouliuli – Darkness.

I wonder what Wendt was highlighting when he chose to title his book Pouliuli – was he questioning the rigid customs of his society, or doing the exact opposite - harking to aspects of Samoan life like the ancient religion that have been lost to time? Or was it about the self-serving new-age Samoan leaders and selfish youth the last 20% of the book focuses on? And related, about Osovae's own failure in his venture after his favorite son and chosen successor ended up in jail due to Osovae's own political maneuvering? Or was it simply about an old man’s reckoning with his own life and upcoming death – the ultimate embrace of Pouliuli?

Reading context: Reading the world choice for Samoa
Read as: Original work in English
Book format: Physical book, borrowed from the Stanford libraries
Reading tip: Refer to the glossary at the end of the book for a translation of Samoan words used in the book.

[Yen]

It's interesting to know how Pacific Islander interact with each other, and the conflict of their wish to become moderner.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book of Wendt's never quite hits the mark. The idea of it is brilliant. Faleasa is a Samoan Lear, who forsakes the rule of his people and descends into darkness—into pouliuli. Only he doesn't. There are some poetic moments in the book...

A quarter moon hung like a curved blade over the heads of the palms bordering the fale. Everything outside was the colour of melted lead, and under the trees, rooted into the sinews of the sleeping ground, shadows crouched and breathed and waited.

... but these are few. Most of the book comprises flashbacks to Faleasa's early life and broad satire of men and manners in twentieth-century Samoa. Faleasa never really gets close to pouliuli.

This would be a pity if Wendt hadn't written so many brilliant books to make up for a less brilliant one. What's interesting about Pouliuli is the way it makes Wendt's underlying philosophy explicit. Wendt is a kind of postcolonial Nietszchean. On the one hand he is a passionate believer in our power to create ourselves. On the other, he is a cynic when it comes to human goodness. Society and history are dead weights. The old gods are dying. We are more likely to thwart ourselves than to unleash our energy in a positive way.

These themes are everywhere in Wendt. It is no surprise to find cripples in key roles in many of his novels. The book Wendt considers his masterpiece, The Adventures of Vela, is an epic poem about a divinely ugly poet who destroys the most beautiful civilisation he finds and worships the all-destructive she-god Nafanua. In Pouliuli the role of divine cripple is taken by Laaumatua, Faleasa's best friend. In my favourite of his books, Leaves of the Banyan Tree there is no cripple, but there is the mad Pepe, whose fragmentary autobiography forms the core of the book. It is a hymn to thwarted human energy.

Pouliuili is a short, easy read. It has many of the virtues of Wendt's novels: simplicity, force, deep roots in Samoan things. And lurking behind it is a remarkable idea that Wendt elsewhere has turned into magnificent art.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think I've read anything from Wendt before, shame on me, but this was really enjoyable. An elderly leader in a Samoan community wakes up one day, totally sick of everyone's shit, and starts feigning madness so as to get his own back and right some of the wrongs about him. This strategy, somewhat reminiscent of King Lear, starts out well but then begins to go badly wrong in much the same way. Faleasa finds out the hard way that, bereft of his standing as leader, his wants and needs don't garner much respect within the family, who are largely a pack of ingrates. There's a very sardonic sense of humour that runs through the beginning of this book, but it slowly turns to a sort of doomed tragedy - again, very like Lear - that destroys most of everything Faleasa was trying to achieve.

The whole thing is just cuttingly observed, and very entertaining. I'm going to have to read more of Wendt's work in the future, because this was excellent!

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful examination of the roles of individuality and community within a culture. As striking as Kundera the first time I read him.

[Kandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Sergio Iglesias · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Sleep on, my friend, while the world dreams of terror”

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I studied this at Uni so I had a bit of background knowledge and some explanations along the way to add context to the book, which really brought it to life for me.
I loved this story, it was so full of meaning and symbolism - some of which I would most likely have missed had it not been for studying it.

A sad but believable story about change in Samoa. It's sad seeing a way of life change, but it happens and there's often nothing you can do to reverse it, no matter how much you try.

Great book.

[Wilma Rebstock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the idea of this book although I found it a little difficult going back and forth to the glossary. The titles of places and people are difficult and I found I often had to reread to understand what was going on. Thankfully it is a short book. Since I often go to New Zealand and have often been to Samoa, I am a little bit familiar with the charming people and the culture. The premise of the book is very good and I probably should reread it as I suspect the problems I have are with me, not the book.

[Jacqueline Valencia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read Pouliuli after finding my university copy at my parents' place. I wish I could find someone like Professor Lock to introduce me to more works by authors from the Pacific. I've found their writings resonate with the part of me that lives by the ocean, and needing to shed many layers of what the world expects of us.

This review makes no sense, but I stick by it.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A vivid exploration of traditional Samoan culture and the state of man. The story and the characters evolve to show that though people may be a world away we are not that different in the end, as we will all have to return to the pouliuli (darkness) from wenst we came.

[Toka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another one that strikes close to home..reading it a second time helped me appreciate Wendt's style in addition to the story itself

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

starts off very cool and funny with him being disgusted and vomiting all over the place, but never quite regains that, although there's some good bits and pieces throughout.

[Lolilu]

COMPRAR
Declaración de independencia

[Abel Caine fiji · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing story from the Pacific