Island of Bali [Paperback]

Miguel Covarrubias (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1999

Originally published in 1937, Island of Bai is still considered the most authoritative text on Bali and its fascinating people. A birds-eye view of Balinese life and culture, it includes a survey of the islands' history, geography and social structure, and paints a captivating picture of Balinese art, music and drama. Complementing the text are drawings, half-tone photographs and a full-color insert.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Miguel Covarrubias (1904-1957) was born in Mexico City and was an author, painter, caricaturist, and professor of art history at the National School of Anthropology in Mexico City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Periplus Editions (April 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9625930604
• ISBN-13: 978-9625930602
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,491,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #72 in Books > Travel > Asia > Indonesia > Bali

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the One!, August 23, 2003

By 

[e-mail] (Ubud, Bali) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Island of Bali (Paperback)

If you only read one book on Bali, read this one. Believe me, I'm Balinese.

Miguel Covarrubias, and his wife Rose,who were Mexican, went to Bali twice, once in 1930 for several months and again in 1933 again for several months. The first time they stayed in Denpasar, the capital, and the second time in Ubud, where I live.

They stayed with Walter Spies in Ubud,who was an extraordinary German, who had been living there for years, and who totally absorbed Balinese culture. My mother worked for him. He taught the Covarrubias's a lot.

They then wrote their book. It is regarded as the bible and all subsequent books owe a lot to it. Some things have changed, of course, but only on the surface. We are very traditional, especially in the Ubud area. The book is an excellent introduction to our rich culture.

The book discusses family and village life, rice farming, our Bali-Hindu religion, ceremonies, history, drama, art and dance.

It's very readable and the photographs and line drawings are great.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Island of Bali, November 6, 2003

By 

Dr. Vivienne Kruger (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Island of Bali (Paperback)

Mexican painter Miguel Covarrubias set sail for Bali in 1931 on an optimistic personal quest to discover, absorb, and chronicle Bali's traditional living culture. Buy into the romance and seduction of Covarrubias-driven by a feverish imagination-- inexorably pulled towards and teased by the lure of Bali, half a world away. Travel back sixty-four years in time to Bali's unspoiled natural vistas-a happy, peaceful. pristine retreat standing apart from a West mired in crippling economic depression and poised on the precipice of World War II. As a fellow artist on an island with three million artists-in-residence (creativity is considered both a religious and a natural activity on Bali), Covarrubias penetrated deeply into the spirit of the dance, theatre, music, decorative arts, and pastimes of Bali.
Embellished by 114 half-tone photos and 90 drawings by the author and other Balinese artists, this essential, still-relevant classic consists of twelve chapters on the Balinese people and their civilization in the 1930s. Accompanied by painter Walter Spies, Bali's most famous expatriate resident, they roamed the countryside together with eyes, ears, and canvasses wide open, observing the local life. Covarrubias's most notable writing describes the organization of the traditional Balinese village: the markets, social order, etiquette, language, caste system, the banjar, law and justice, the courts, the subak, rice culture, and the distribution of labor. This intimate, insider's foray into every nook and cranny of his own paradise produced key chapters on everyday family life in Bali: the house, cooking, costume and adornment, childbirth, childhood, adolescence, sexual customs, and marriage.
Covarrubias explored the place of the artist in Balinese life and the development and evolution of Balinese art, crafts, sculpture, and architecture. Drama and dance are important components of Balinese life: they come alive through the village orchestras, musical instruments, classical Legong, and the ancient shadow plays. Island of Bali unveils material on priests and religion, temples and feasts, offerings and exorcisms, the Balinese calendar, and the original Bali Aga people. Written from a day when primary forests reigned supreme and witch doctors wielded terrifying power, Covarrubias delves into the cult of the Barong and Rangda, black and white magic, folk medicine, the sacrifice of widows, and death and cremation. The Balinese still lead a magical, mystical, harmonious life that is difficult for Westerners to understand unless they read a profound work like Covarrubias's Island of Bali. With an artist's sensibility and a Bali-lover's eye, Covarrubias paints a complex nirvana with words and easel in this great literary achievement.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Oldie but Still the best, July 1, 2000

By 

[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Island of Bali (Paperback)

This book is the essential book about Bali. I read it 26 years ago when I first went to Bali and it still ranks as thee book about Bali. If you wish to learn about the Balinese people, their culture and religion and beliefs I highly recommend this book. jim