Humorous story of adjustments to life in Borneo, by a Californian.
Agnes Newton Keith Knihy
Agnes Keithová bola americká autorka, ktorá čerpala zo svojich osobných skúseností v Britskom Severnom Borneu. S citom a humorom zachytávala život v exotickej koloniálnej spoločnosti a s láskou a porozumením opisovala miestnych obyvateľov. Jej tvorba sa vyznačovala hlbokou vnímavosťou k rôznym kultúram a ľudským osudom, či už v každodennom živote, alebo v extrémnych podmienkach vojnového zajatia. Jej spomienky ponúkajú jedinečný pohľad na zložitosť života na hranici dvoch svetov, plný citlivosti a zároveň odolnosti tvárou v tvár nepriazni osudu.
When the Japanese swept through Borneo in 1942, Agnes Keith was captured with her two-year-old son. Even though keeping notes was a capital offence, she wrote a diary on the backs of labels and in the margins of old newspapers, which she buried in tins or sewed inside her sons home-made toys. Unlike many other narrators of camp life, Agnes Keith gives an honest and rounded description of her Japanese captors. The camp commander, Colonel Suga, was responsible for a forced march which killed all but three out of 2,970 prisoners; yet he regularly took children for joy-rides in his car, stuffing them with sweets, and sent them back to camp with armfuls of flowers from his garden
