The Crocodile
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: First Edition
Condition remarks:
Condition: Good. Jacket: Worn/faded - no tears. Page Condition: yellowed with signs of ageing. Markings: unmrkd. Binding condition: Good.
A landmark in Pacific literature, The Crocodile stands as the first novel published by a Papua New Guinean author, chronicling the life of Hoiri Sevese — a young man caught between the ancient traditions of his Moveave village and the disorienting forces of colonial modernity. Set against the lush, myth-saturated landscape of Papua New Guinea during World War II, the narrative follows Hoiri through courtship, marriage, and the brutal disruption of Japanese occupation, weaving together the spiritual and the political with quiet but devastating force. The crocodile of the title is no mere symbol — it is a living presence in the cultural imagination of Hoiri's people, embodying the ancestral fears and sacred obligations that shape every dimension of village life. Vincent Eri writes with an insider's authority and an anthropologist's precision, grounding his storytelling in the oral traditions and belief systems of the Moveave people while constructing a narrative of universal resonance. The novel argues, through Hoiri's struggles, that the collision of worlds — indigenous and colonial, sacred and secular — leaves no one unscathed and no culture unchanged. For readers drawn to postcolonial fiction that refuses sentimentality, The Crocodile remains an indispensable and quietly radical work, one that asks what it truly costs a man — and a people — to survive.
Author: Vincent Eri
Format: Hardback
Published: 1970, Jacaranda Press
Genre: Modern fiction
Edition: First Edition
Condition remarks:
Condition: Good. Jacket: Worn/faded - no tears. Page Condition: yellowed with signs of ageing. Markings: unmrkd. Binding condition: Good.
A landmark in Pacific literature, The Crocodile stands as the first novel published by a Papua New Guinean author, chronicling the life of Hoiri Sevese — a young man caught between the ancient traditions of his Moveave village and the disorienting forces of colonial modernity. Set against the lush, myth-saturated landscape of Papua New Guinea during World War II, the narrative follows Hoiri through courtship, marriage, and the brutal disruption of Japanese occupation, weaving together the spiritual and the political with quiet but devastating force. The crocodile of the title is no mere symbol — it is a living presence in the cultural imagination of Hoiri's people, embodying the ancestral fears and sacred obligations that shape every dimension of village life. Vincent Eri writes with an insider's authority and an anthropologist's precision, grounding his storytelling in the oral traditions and belief systems of the Moveave people while constructing a narrative of universal resonance. The novel argues, through Hoiri's struggles, that the collision of worlds — indigenous and colonial, sacred and secular — leaves no one unscathed and no culture unchanged. For readers drawn to postcolonial fiction that refuses sentimentality, The Crocodile remains an indispensable and quietly radical work, one that asks what it truly costs a man — and a people — to survive.