This volume charts the sensibilities of the lonely figures that encountered the new and exotic in terra incognita. Jonathan Lamb introduces us to the writings of South Seas explorers, and finds in them unexpected and poignant tales of selves alarmed and transformed.
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments PART I: THE ROMANCING OF THE CIVIL SELF Introduction 1. Political Theories of the Self 2. The Romance of Navigation 3. Science and Collecting 4. Scurvy 5. The Polynesian Person and the Spread of Leprosy PART II: FROM JUAN FERNANDEZ TO NEW ZEALAND6. Void Contracts and Subtle Islands7. Patriots in Paradise 8. Starlings and Parrots; Keate and Sympathy 9. The Settlement of New Zealand References Index