From oral tradition to writing
The conversion to Christianity at the beginning of the 19th century sounded the death knell for animist religion and the customs which, in its wake, governed both daily life (taboos, cults) and ceremonies devoted to the art of divination. Beyond this, oral tradition had the dual function of guaranteeing memory by ensuring the continuity of genealogy, and carrying mythology. Although the latter had to endure both the mistrust of missionaries and the transition to writing, which saw it supplanted by other beliefs, some myths have nevertheless survived the centuries. At the very least, we could mention Degei, the creator god of the Fijian world, who took the form of a snake whose oscillating tail caused earthquakes or fertile rains. Other stories mixed legend and reality, recalling Lutunasobasoba, son of the Egyptian Tara, who settled on Viti Levu. This cosmogony - whether real or imaginary - was so complex that certain keys have no doubt disappeared, although this intangible heritage is now the subject of a Unesco safeguarding and inventory procedure.
However, the first written texts of Fijian literature did not appear among the natives, but in the community of descendants of Indian emigrants who, in the 19th century, at the instigation of the British colonists, had come to work in the sugarcane fields, and from whom Satendra Nandan descended. He was born in 1939 into a very modest family. Although he received a scholarship, he nevertheless managed to continue his studies, obtaining a degree in English Literature in Delhi and a second in American Literature in Leeds, a fine course which he crowned with a thesis in Canberra. He then taught for almost twenty years in Suva, the capital of Fiji, at the fledgling University of the South Pacific, whose creation in 1968, two years before independence, confirmed his keen interest and genuine curiosity in regional culture. He began by publishing poems(Faces in a Village in 1977, Voices in the River in 1985), but his later works, including his famous semi-autobiographical novel The Wounded Sea (1991), were published while he was suffering the exile imposed by his political duties during the 1987 coup d'état.
Also born into a family of Indian origin, Vivekanad Sharma (1939-2006) was an ardent defender of Fijian Hindi: he produced several radio plays, set up schools and wrote almost a dozen novels in his language - including Anjaan Kshitij ki Ore(To An Unknown Horizon) and Prashant Ki Laherein(The Waves of the Pacific) - for which he received numerous awards. In 1969, Raymond Pillai wrote a collection of short stories(The Celebration) inspired by the customs and traditions of his native community.
From independence to the present day
The '70s saw a certain literary effervescence, evidenced by the introduction of creative writing courses, the creation in 1973 of the South Pacific Arts Society and, the following year, of Mana Publications, and the appearance of several magazines where young writers honed their pens. Among them was Subramani, destined for a successful career as a writer, essayist and critic, in both English and Hindi. It is this dual aspiration that best embodies his work, as he has endeavored to delve into the delicate issue of multiculturalism in Fiji. Having made teaching his profession - he held a number of important university posts - he entered literature at the age of 35, in 1978, when he won a prestigious South Pacific writing competition with Marigolds. A year later he published The Indo-Fijian Experience, now a classic, followed by a more panoramic reflection that became a seminal essay: South Pacific Literature: From Myth to Fabulation. In shorter fictional texts, collected in the anthology The Fantasy Eaters, he used social criticism, then didn't hesitate to underline the writer's political role by revisiting the 1987 coup and its consequences in Altering Imagination (1995). Finally, he dared to take on his second language, Fijian Hindi, with the publication in 2001 of the novel Dauka Puraan, which initially disconcerted his audience, accustomed to reading him in English, but ultimately won their support. He repeated the feat in 2018 with Fiji Maa, putting paid to any preconceptions about the impossibility of writing the language in correct grammar. In making this choice, however, he was not encouraging anyone to follow in his footsteps, advocating instead a multilingualism that alone would enable Fijians, in his view, to shed their dissensions and the weight of their colonial heritage.
As for literature, it was Vilsoni Hereniko and Larry Thomas, both playwrights, who broke away from classical forms. The former made a name for himself in the 70s with his plays Don't cry Mama, A Child for Iva and The Monster. Some thirty years later, in 2004, he directed his first feature film, The Land Has Eyes, the story of a young woman whose father is accused of theft and who finds the courage to face popular opprobrium by drawing inspiration from the heroine of an ancient legend. For his part, Larry Thomas has not abandoned the theatrical genre, as confirmed by his play The Anniversary Present (1998), but he has also devoted himself to documentaries since 1997 with Compassionate Exile, a report on the Makogai leprosarium. Last but not least, we should not forget to mention a contemporary poet who has gained enough renown to be considered for writing residencies abroad: Sudesh Mishra, born in 1962, who came to prominence at the age of 20 with his first collection, Rahu, a direct reference to Hindu mythology. But exchanges go both ways: originally from Pennsylvania, it was in Fiji that Jeff VanderMeer was brought up, a science-fiction author who can be discovered in our language with Editions du Diable Vauvert(Borne, La Trilogie du rempart sud). A tentative opening, but confirmed by the translation into French of the verses of the militant poet Peter Sipeli(Des Cartes et des ancêtres, bilingual edition by Les Petites allées), or by the digital distribution (albeit in English!) of Joseph Veramu's novels(Fijian Summer).
