by Nigel Barley
The thing had been nicely done, with a judicious ambiguity. To von Mueller, who saw war as a sort of gentlemanly sport, it would be the punctilious payment of a patrician wager but implied a certain mercenary quality in the receiver who exchanged honour for cash. And Lauterbach could not actually attach the money since it lay in an enemy country and under a false name. Moreover, the mere fact of the IOU’s smooth delivery carried a smug message of superiority. It was effectively worthless and downright condescending. And the bullet said “Bang! Bang! You’re dead,” claiming a kill its owner had not quite been able to make. The challenge rankled at the back of his throat like the aftertaste of a good pickle. Never mind. He pocketed it up smiling. The smile would be observed somewhere in the crowd. He had an address. Now that was a project worth one of his postcards. Smirking, he began composing it in his head.
About the Author
Nigel Barley was born south of London in 1947. He originally trained as an anthropologist and worked in West Africa, spending time with the Dowayo people of North Cameroon. He survived to move to the Ethnography Department of the British Musem and it was in this connection that he first travelled to Southeast Asia. After forrays into Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and Burma, Barley settled on Indonesia as his principal research interest and has worked on both the history and contemporary culture of that area.
After escaping from the museum, he is now a writer and broadcaster and divides his time between London and Indonesia.
Also by Nigel Barley
The Innocent Anthropologist
A Plague of Caterpillars
Not a Hazardous Sport
Foreheads of the Dead
The Coast
In the Footsteps of Stamford Raffles
Smashing Pots
Dancing on the Grave
The Golden Sword
White Rajah
Island of Demons
Island of Demons
Many men dream of running away to a tropical island and living surrounded by beauty and exotic exuberance. Walter Spies did more than dream. He actually did it.
In the 1920s and 30s, Walter Spies — ethnographer, choreographer, film maker, natural historian and painter — transformed the perception of Bali from that of a remote island to become the site for Western fantasies about Paradise and it underwent an influx of foreign visitors. The rich and famous flocked to Spies’ house in Ubud and his life and work forged a link between serious academics and the visionaries from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin, Noel Coward, Miguel Covarrubias, Vicki Baum, Barbara Hutton and many others sought to experience the vision Spies offered while Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, the foremost anthropologists of their day, attempted to capture the secret of this tantalizing and enigmatic culture.
Island of Demons is a fascinating historical novel, mixing anthropology, the history of ideas and humour. It offers a unique insight into that complex and multi-hued world that was so soon to be swept away, exploring both its ideas and the larger than life characters that inhabited it.
First published in print in 2006 by Monsoon Books
This electronic edition published in 2011 by Monsoon Books
ISBN (epub): 978-981-4358-26-2
ISBN (paperback): 978-981-05-5949-6
Copyright©Nigel Barley, 2006
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Cover design by Sin E Design (www.sinedesign.net)
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