Gutsini Posa (Rough seas) (review)

Gutsini Posa (Rough seas), by Regis Stella. Suva: Mana Publications, 1999. ISBN 982-02-0145-4; 153 pages. Paper, US$15. Available from Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, Suva.

I found myself thinking about Penagi, the protagonist of Regis Stella's Gutsini Posa (Rough seas), as a cross between a Joycean breed of Bloom and Camus's Messault, the two unlikely friends of western literature. Penagi reconciles the difference between idealism and practice when he takes to the street and participates in the demonstration like any good Sartrean individual who believes in a humane society. Penagi fulfills the function crafted by the author of having the idealists participate in a collective struggle, even if at a cost. In the process of achieving reconciliation of the conflicting self between idealism and practice, Penagi must pass through a series of denials, sacrifices, and transformations. In some sense Stella's extended metaphor is that literature too must be transformed from an idealist and trivial pursuit to one that is political in order to intervene in the national crisis and identity questions.

Far from its existentialist value, Gutsini Posa is a novel that has two achievements: First, it is an important literary representation of the struggle of the Bougainville people to come to terms with a crisis that has completely devastated their moral and physical strength. The crippling condition of the society is a sadness that cannot be washed away by tears or with organized guerrilla resistance, but with strategic negotiations. Rape, senseless killing, and torture are not confrontations but the wounds of conflict in the lives of those who have to live through crisis: "None of you know how I feel, the anguish in my soul! How can I ever tell you the agony of my mind? Torogegai has been devastated. Your mates have destroyed villages, raped our women and massacred people. People talk about human rights violations--they happen continuously. Where is justice for my people? Laws define rights but do they also define justice?" (42).

Hope comes only with the reminder that divine intervention comes only after a people have proven that collectively their spirit has not been broken but is consolidated. It is precisely this that Stella represents by the use of a volcano metaphor, a force mightier than and devastating to both the oppressed and the oppressor. The relationship between humans' ability to destroy themselves and yet also be destroyed by a greater force, in the form of natural disasters, is an inevitable reality that Stella impresses on the reader of Gutsini Posa.

Second, despite the differences among the characters of the book, they all have ideological strengths that keep them from fragmenting. Captain Gawi, the colonel of the Southern Command on Torogegai, has plotted a coup against the government. In his support for the resistance he recruits Jamila, a native daughter of Torogegai, in her own right boldly radical and dissenting. As Captain Gawi reminds Jamila and her response indicates, there is a deep-rooted sense of belonging to place that is seen as an ideology: "'We are very proud of your success,' the colonel continued. 'I always believe that anyone whose umbilical cord is buried in this land has a moral duty towards the land and the people when threatened by an enemy. Always remember that every part of this soil is sacred in the eyes of our people. Every hill, valley, plain and grove has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days gone by. The very dust upon which we now stand responded lovingly to the footsteps of our forefathers'" (68).

Jamila replies, "'Colonel, I am a daughter of this land. This is the major reason why I have come back, to wash this land with my blood. I've been moved by the courage and perseverance of my people, especially women and children. The war is slaughtering innocents. This is genocide!' She stopped to control her emotions. 'I volunteered to undergo combat training because...