Louis Becke's Pacific Tales: British Adventure in Realism

Louis Becke, one of the best writers of the Pacific at the turn of the century, though mostly forgotten, deserves scholarly examination. His works, particularly short stories, depicting colonial reality and not imperial adventure, are stronger than Stevenson's Pacific tales. The strongly realistic narrative in Becke's stories, based on his own experiences as a trader, a supercargo, and even a short-time beachcomber, renders the author a critic instead of a supporter of British imperialism. This essay, discussing his major books such as The Ebbing of the Tide, Pacific Tales, Rodman the Boatstreerer and Other Stories, and His Native Wife, as colonial texts, explores how the realistic narrative on imperial adventure in the Pacific suggests criticism against British imperial expansion, instead of advertising it.