Islands Where Life Sparkles

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30829, 14 August 1965, Page 4

Islands Where Life Sparkles

Samoa. A Teachers Tale. By George Irwin. Cassell. 182 pp. Any attempt to convey half the appeal of this book is doomed from the start as inadequate: the reviewer can only exhort everybody to beg, borrow or steal it as soon as possible. It is a book for oneself and for giving to friends for Christmas. It was originally intended to be a straightforward account of the author’s years as Principal of the Teachers’ Training College in Samoa. But as George Irwin discovered when he began to write, the Polynesians took over the book with their irresistible personalities and hilarious antics —a shift of emphasis which the reader cannot possibly regret. Mr Irwin admits unashamedly that he fell in love with these people and their islands; and such in his manner in writing about them that before many pages have been read, the reader is convinced that such affection is wholly justified, and begins to share it. After a few more chapters, the urge to pack a bag and buy a ticket to Samoa becomes wellnigh uncontrollable.

Perhaps the photograph of the author is a bad likeness, but it provides a salutary lesson about the folly of judging from appearances. The dour, unsmiling face on the cover (the reviewer begs Mr Irwin’s forgiveness), combined with the sub-title “A Teacher’s Tale,” might easily deflect the unenlightened from an altogether delightful book. Its humour is warm and understanding, consistently effervescent and unexpected. Almost every page brings a quiet smile, an incredulous giggle or a burst of hysterical laughter.

What is it about the Samoans which completely captivates the author and his wife, and the readers of his book? Mr Irwin draws an interesting parallel between their customs and racial characteristics and those of Homer’s Greeks. The Samoans’ way of life is based on deference to a matai, or chief, who has the right to all the money any Samoan may earn, and who in return has full responsibility for the Samoan family’s welfare. This concept of the kinship society is only one of many customs which are common to both the ancient Greeks and the modern Polynesians. They also share an acute sense of the dramatic, a fondness for feasting and trickery and laughter. The author makes no attempt to hide his regret that civilisation has now made an impact on the Samoans and is gradully corrupting their innocence. Yet he has been so

successful in conveying their intense pride and their unquenchable optimism, that we are left with every reason to believe that they will not only survive increasing conta°t with the European world, but will mock our fears with their glorious compromise of East and West—a mixture which is a parody of both, yet a flexible, fascinating way of life in its own right. The Samoans have a talent for accepting a new idea with great enthusiam, and adapting it until it is almost unrecognisable. One of many episodes in the book which illustrate this ability concerns the Training College picnic-cum-cricket-match, held at a neighbouring village. The students’ team of twenty-six girls and boys played with wholehearted zeal, splendidly attired in brand-new uniforms made for the occasion. They performed marvellously in the extra-curricular activities which are part of Samoan cricket, such as singing and dancing when not on the field, and leaping, somersaulting and gyrating with every blow of a whistle. However, in spite of their exuberance the train ing college team were the losers. Their hosts thereupon revived an ancient Samoan custom and claimed a forfeit: and the forfeit they named was the twenty-six brand-new uniforms. The team returned to Apia sadder, wiser, and less adequately clad than before. In Samoa, the game of cricket has progressed far from the sober, soporific ritual of Lord’s.