Island of Demons
- Description
- About the Author
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Many men dream of running away to a tropical island and living surrounded by beauty and exotic exuberance. Walter Spies did more than dream. He actually did it. In the 1920s and 30s, Walter Spies ā ethnographer, choreographer, film maker, natural historian and painter ā transformed the perception of Bali from that of a remote island to become the site for Western fantasies about Paradise and it underwent an influx of foreign visitors. The rich and famous flocked to Spiesā house in Ubud and his life and work forged a link between serious academics and the visionaries from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Charlie Chaplin, Noel Coward, Miguel Covarrubias, Vicki Baum, Barbara Hutton and many others sought to experience the vision Spies offered while Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, the foremost anthropologists of their day, attempted to capture the secret of this tantalizing and enigmatic culture. Island of Demons is a fascinating historical novel, mixing anthropology, the history of ideas and humour. It offers a unique insight into that complex and multi-hued world that was so soon to be swept away, exploring both its ideas and the larger than life characters that inhabited it.
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Nigel BarleyĀ was born inĀ Kingston upon ThamesĀ in 1947. He gained his bachelor's degree in modern languages atĀ Cambridge University, and hisĀ doctorateĀ inĀ social anthropologyĀ atĀ Oxford University. He worked for some years as an academic at London University and then served from 1980 to 2003 as an assistant keeper ofĀ EthnographyĀ at theĀ British Museum.
Barley's first travel book,Ā The Innocent AnthropologistĀ (1983), gave a popular account of anthropological fieldwork among theĀ DowayoĀ people ofĀ Cameroon. Barley then worked as an anthropologist inĀ Indonesia. His first book based on his time there was the humorousĀ Not a Hazardous SportĀ (1989) describing his anthropological experiences inĀ Tana TorajaĀ in the mountains of centralĀ Sulawesi.
Barley has written on many other subjects includingĀ Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore,Ā andĀ Sir James Brooke, the "white rajah" of Sarawak.Ā He has been twice nominated for theĀ TravelexĀ Writer of the Year Award. In 2002, he won the Foreign Press Association prize forĀ travel writing.
Description
- Description
- About the Author
-
Many men dream of running away to a tropical island and living surrounded by beauty and exotic exuberance. Walter Spies did more than dream. He actually did it. In the 1920s and 30s, Walter Spies ā ethnographer, choreographer, film maker, natural historian and painter ā transformed the perception of Bali from that of a remote island to become the site for Western fantasies about Paradise and it underwent an influx of foreign visitors. The rich and famous flocked to Spiesā house in Ubud and his life and work forged a link between serious academics and the visionaries from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Charlie Chaplin, Noel Coward, Miguel Covarrubias, Vicki Baum, Barbara Hutton and many others sought to experience the vision Spies offered while Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, the foremost anthropologists of their day, attempted to capture the secret of this tantalizing and enigmatic culture. Island of Demons is a fascinating historical novel, mixing anthropology, the history of ideas and humour. It offers a unique insight into that complex and multi-hued world that was so soon to be swept away, exploring both its ideas and the larger than life characters that inhabited it.
-
Nigel BarleyĀ was born inĀ Kingston upon ThamesĀ in 1947. He gained his bachelor's degree in modern languages atĀ Cambridge University, and hisĀ doctorateĀ inĀ social anthropologyĀ atĀ Oxford University. He worked for some years as an academic at London University and then served from 1980 to 2003 as an assistant keeper ofĀ EthnographyĀ at theĀ British Museum.
Barley's first travel book,Ā The Innocent AnthropologistĀ (1983), gave a popular account of anthropological fieldwork among theĀ DowayoĀ people ofĀ Cameroon. Barley then worked as an anthropologist inĀ Indonesia. His first book based on his time there was the humorousĀ Not a Hazardous SportĀ (1989) describing his anthropological experiences inĀ Tana TorajaĀ in the mountains of centralĀ Sulawesi.
Barley has written on many other subjects includingĀ Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore,Ā andĀ Sir James Brooke, the "white rajah" of Sarawak.Ā He has been twice nominated for theĀ TravelexĀ Writer of the Year Award. In 2002, he won the Foreign Press Association prize forĀ travel writing.
