Customer Reviews

Island of Bali

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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.

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.

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

This is by far the best book available if you want to know about the people of Bali - their unique lifestyle, religion, customs and beliefs. Written in the 1930's, it still holds true today. The classic black and white photos are worth the price alone. The Balinese people still live a magical life that is difficult for a westerner to comprehend, unless you read a book like this.

I must confess this book is thick but hey!!! It's well worth reading about for those who want to understand a little about Balinese culture as well as it's lovely people. I found it very interesting since it covered almost everything about Bali, however the book was written before World War II and well I still think it's great to have a book that is still resourceful. Even though so much has changed with Bali over the decades this book will never die surely. This is a must and is essential for those who want to have a better understanding of Bali back before World War II and they can still relate it to the present. Nothing much has changed but a few things have altered. It was like stepping back in time when I read this book... I hope everyone will enjoy the book as much as I do too... great book to have...

I love this book and when I saw that Amazon was selling a hardcover edition I jumped at it. HUGE MISTAKE!!!!! It is a bad xerox between two hard green covers. Since part of the beauty of the book is Covarrubias's illustrations it is a sin.

Amazon is ruining its good name by selling this edition.

Covarrubias' epic "Island of Bali" is the defacto guide to Bali's cultural, social and religious life circa 1930's. His determination to document the island before the invasion of mass tourism is useful in that many of the principles he describes are still a part of life on Bali. The advent of modern, western ways; resort hotels, traffic, commercialism and the bombings has not dulled the Balinse penchant for traditionalism one bit, this book details all that survives from the past in the modern era. If you ever wondered what the rice gods looked like, why people still file their teeth or how a temple is laid out, this is the source. It is well written, very accessible and entertaining, it can be read straight through or used as a reference. Miguel Covarrubias was an outsider/foreigner who wanted to understand the rich legacy of the island of Bali, for those that are in this position today, "Island of Bali" is invaluable.

Eighty years after it was written, Island of Bali remains one of the most valuable sources to learn about the Island of the Gods. Written in an amaizing English by Mexican painter, artist, writer and amateur anthropologist Miguel de Covarrubias the book catch the spirit of the island as it was in the 30's: the lost paradise, the last paradise and the first tourist Mecca. Todays visitors to Bali will be surprised to find that, despite the shopping malls, the hotel-complex and the touristis resorts so many of Covarrubias' remarks are still highly accurate to describe a society were art is part of every-day life.
From hindu mithology to rice-grown cooperatives, from legian dances to witch-doctors, from temple architecture to cooking tools, from balinese linguistics to naif painture the curiosity and knowledge of Covarrubias seems to find no limit. Moreover the text is complete with wonderful, gracile drawings by the own author illustrating a variety of issues from the dancing psitions to the local pig. Finally, a set of old photographs taken by the author and his wife were volcanos and sunset share space with barebreasted local beauties, Mario the legian dancer and local wichtdoctors.
Covarrubias lived in Bali for a couple of years in the thirties were he was friends with famous painter Walter Skies with whom toured the island for the research of the book.
A book on Bali that is more complete than this one, and better written, is yet to be done.

I should have been alerted by the old dates of the previous comments. The book is badly printed on very cheap paper, so bad as to be unacceptable. Illegible type! Muddy reproductions! An insult to Covarrubias!

Amazon has allowed a return. But they really should not be listing it.

Product Description: "Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork." THIS IS A LIE!

1. It cost (...).
2. The name Hesperides does not appear in the book. No publisher would dare take credit for it.
3. It is not a reprint using the original text and artwork. It is a photocopied facsimile.
4. The "Look Inside" is a different, better produced book.

Artist, designer, writer, and amateur anthropologist Miguel Covarrubias visited Bali in its golden age of tourism, circa 1930. This was a time when it was de rigeur to visit the Ubud home of Walter Spies, influential composer, stylisto, and painter. It was also during the artistic reign of Balinese dancer extraordinaire Mario, and, depending on the edition of this book, there are lovely b & w photos of Mario performing his signature dance.

In this text, Balinese culture is so well observed that the book is hardly outdated, rarely misinformed, and always an engrossing read.

Probably the first book to which western expatriates turn for pleasure and cultural education; and among the best books for a visitor's enrichment of his/her visit to Bali. Generally considered a classic travelog.