Cowrie

Cathie Dunsford

en Limba Engleză Paperback – 11 noi 1994

Cowrie visits Hawaii, which her ukulele-playing grandfather had left decades earlier. There she visits her extended family and Mt Kiluea, travelling around the island in an old pick-up truck called Hone. As she enters the crater of Kiluea we are drawn into the very centre of the earth, with Cowrie and her cousin, Paneke as our guides. Sensual and sexual language bring the earth to life, and Cowrie too, as she tests the limits of her endurance and explores her own erotic connection with the earth. The mythology of the islands comes through the descriptions of natural and cultural events. One can taste the tropical fruit, the fish cooked in banana leaves and coconut, and smell the sweet fresh ginger.

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Cowrie travels to Punalu'u, Hawaii, where her grandfather lived and meets her extended family. She is attracted by the power of Pele, who breathes fire from the pit of Kiluaea. As she circles the island in an old pick up truck we discover that the tokens of her heritage link her mysteriously to Laukiamanuikahiki, turtle woman. Cowrie, Paneke and Koana are in the steamhouse after lomilomi treatment: "As the steam thins, the window facing them slowly emerges revealing Pele on her fiery path down to the ocean. Her flaming hair trails down her back and over the slopes of Kiluaea, sparking into sizzling waves as it hits the ocean...a woman emerges through the mist, riding the surf, her hair trailing in the sea. A wave circles over her head and she looks both frightened and elated to be surging through the ocean. Cowrie squints. Steam obscures her vision. When it rises, she makes out a small head in front of the woman. She is riding a sea turtle". Sensual and sexual language draw life from the earth and ocean, and Cowrie too, as she tests the limits of her endurance and explores an erotic connection with land and sea. Island life erupts through these descriptions: we can taste the tropical fruit, the fish cooked in banana leaves and coconut, and smell the sweet fresh ginger.