Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: Papua Pocket Poets, 1967. Very Good +. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: Papua Pocket Poets Series, 1967 - 1973. Collection of Twenty-Four titles from the influential and significant Melanesian poetry series. 12mos; original screen-printed wrappers, all but one designed by Georgina Beier. Mild edgewear; a couple issues with staining but overall a clean and well-preserved collection, Very Good or better.
The Papua Pocket Series constitutes the first major creation of Papua New Guinean written literature, a notable fact given the country is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse on earth, with several hundred distinct tribes and over 800 living languages spoken. Fostered by the German editor Ulli Beier and illustrated with silk-screen covers by his wife, English artist Georgina Beier, the Papua Pocket Series began when Ulli Beier sent his students to their villages, "equipped with a tape recorder... they had to record and translate some oral literature in their village: a love song, a magic formula, a ballad, a myth or whatever they wished."
The students transcribed and compared the various regional oral traditions, eventually also producing their own poetry. Beier tells of a student initially translating a Montuan sentence that describes a sunrise as "and dawn broke," but urged him to remain faithful to the original, which was then translated as, "And light swam into darkness." Beier began to publish these cheaply produced booklets to further encourage the students, and a significant portion of the original 25 titles published by Beier himself are represented here. All are uncommon in retail and extensive runs such as this are increasingly hard to find.
Full list of titles includes:
1967:
1. Eckehart Von Sydow [ed.] "Taaroa: Poems from the Pacific"
2. Dr. Hans Nevermann [ed.] "Pantun: Malay Folk Poetry"
3. Ulli Beier and Bakare Gbadamosi [eds.] "Ijala: Animal Songs by Yoruba Hunters"
4. Chinua Achebe, Clement Agunwa et al. [trans.] "Python: Ibo Poetry"
1968:
5. "Birds Pierce the Sun: Poetry by Children"
6. Allan Natachee [ed.] "Aia: Mekeo Songs"
7. Samuel Tulasoi, Christine Ati, Lahui Sabadi et al. [contribs.] "Love Poems of Papua New Guinea"
1969:
8. Dr. Prithvindra Chakravarti [ed.] "Jhumur: Bengali Folksongs"
9. Basuki Gunawan et al. "Only Dust: Three Modern Indonesian Poets"
10. Murray Russell [ed.] "Lim Libur: Tolai Poems"
11. Don Laycock [ed.] "Akaru: Traditional Buin Songs"
12. Murray Russell [ed.] "Kakaile Kakaile: Tolai Songs"
1970:
13. Onwuchekwa Jemie. "Biafra: Requiem for the Dead in War"
14. Leo Hannet [ed.] "Wiliwil: Pidgin Songs"
15. Prithvindra Chakravarti. "Sand Sun Water: Poems"
16. Kumalau Tawali. "Signs in the Sky: Poems"
17. Dr. Prithvindra Chakravarti [ed.] "A Handful of Sun: Modern Poetry from West Bengal and East Pakistan"
18. C.J. & A.M. Ellis. "Andagarinja: Children's Bullock Corroboree"
19. Prithvindra Chakravarti [ed.] "Baul: Bengali Mystic Songs from Oral Traditions"
1971:
20. Kumalau Tawali. "Nansei: An Anthology of Original Pidgin Poems"
21. Donald Maynard. "Fragment of the God"
22. Apisai Enos. "Warbat: Magic Love Songs of the Tolais"
23. Apisai Enos. "High Water: Poems"
1973:
24. Elton Brash and Nigel Krauth [eds.] "Traditional Poems, Chants and Songs of Papua New Guinea"
Reference:
Ulli Beier. "Decolonising the Mind." Canberra, Australia: Pandanus Books, 2005. pp. 43-50.
