Talk:Islomania

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[edit] Copied from somewhere else

Might be interesting to think in terms of islands as well as islomanes. Is Jan Morris an islomane on the strength of her books about Manhatten? (an unusual choice of islands!) How about Gavin Maxwell and his otter-infested outcrop? Capri was alive with islomanes in the 20s and 30s. Bali was always big. Greek islands: Corfu, the Aegean, Cyprus. The intellectual basis of islomania: islomania as escapism (Margaret Mead in Samoa as a wish to return to childhood vs Colin Whatsisname in Bali as a more mature escapism - someone has actually written about this); Oh God what else: There was an American Artist who was big on the White North; there was Donald Friend who was big on brown boys (escapism again - he could never have staffed his house with 14 year olds in Australia); there was even Mark Twain writing on Hawaii, noting sardonically that the missionaries had a tough time introducing the concept of sin to the terrestrial paradise. Etc.PiCo 10:58, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Move

I have moved the inappropriate intro from the category page 'Category:Islomaniacs' here as a new section 'Islomaniacs'. Maias 11:14, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

It's a great article, and long overdue. Wish I could remeber who that Colin-in-Bali was - he was a famous musician of the 30s, inspired Benjamin Britten to write "Prince of the Pagodas". Ah, McPhee, Colin McPhee. And in the same Balinese vein, Miguel Covarrubias, and that woman known as Ketut Alit, and no doubt more - Bali was always an artists' magnet, just as Capri was a magnet for writers. What's the definition of an island? Australi8a's too big - my own definition is that youn have to be able to walk around it in a week. PiCo

[edit] Quick list of islomanes

(Please add candidates + islands associated with them)

There are others, some of whom I've added to the list - Leslie Thomas (wrote books about the subject), Compton MacKenzie, Andy Strangeway...--MacRusgail (talk) 22:36, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] This smacks of original research

To start "labeling" folks with this "term" seems like a real stretch. We do/still need to provide reliable sources that "label" these folks as having this "condition" before doing so, otherwise its the essence of original research. --Tom 15:30, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

You're too dry. —Preceding unsigned comment added by PiCo (talk • contribs)

I agree, Islomania should not be labelling great names of the literature Herbert Alves 20:22, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

I also agree, this article seems a bit more like original research than a real and verifiable phenomenon. At the very least, it breaks the spirit of WP:SYN, being a synthesis of material from many sources. Terraxos 00:43, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

At 00:53, 14 July 2007 User:PiCo labelled "islomane" with a [citation needed] immediately after the term "islomania" had just been defined by quotes from published texts. I have deleted the request. Surely it was unconsidered.--Wetman 19:08, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Islomane or islomaniacs?

I prefer Islomane as that is the term used in the original quotation. The suffix "maniac" appears less than charitable, some of these folk, whilst eminently eccentric (Strangeway) are perfectly sane. Excalibur 23:20, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Two kinds of islomanes

Would it be possible to create a psychological or linguistic distinction of any kind between islomanes who prefer inhabited islands and that rarer breed who prefer deserted islands, I wonder? Excalibur 23:27, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] A lot of problems with this article

  • The first paragraph implies that "islomania" is a psychiatric condition, but provides only whimsical literary references; referring to it as a "condition" appears to be quite misleading.
  • The term is not found in standard dictionaries and its notability as a neologism is doubtful; the article provides just two literary quotes.
  • The whole tone of the article is chatty and un-encyclopaedic. Some sections sound positively like real estate advertisements, e.g. pretty well the whole paragraph:
Tropical islands seem especially friendly to artists and writers: Ernest Hemingway wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls and other masterpieces at his homes in Cuba and Key West, while Paul Bowles forsook Tangier for a time to purchase a tiny off-shore islet off a beach south of Colombo, which he named Taprobane - previously owned by a bogus French aristocrat,[1] it is now an expensive boutique hotel.
  • Much of the un-encyclopaedic stuff is at least witty and amusing, but even worse is ad spiel like:
Miguel Covarrubias painted bare-breasted maidens on Bali in the Thirties, and the island continues to lure seekers of sophisticated simplicity.
(In fact, Bali is to Australia what Cancun is to the USA; some of the tourists may be seeking the culture, but many are going there to get drunk.)
  • After claiming that islomania is a "craze", it then lists numerous alleged "islomanes" on no basis other than living on an island or wanting to avoid normal society, with no evidence of mania;
  • Numerous other dubious claims are made solely by assertion. e.g. islomania is most frequently associated with writers

-- Securiger (talk) 10:29, 9 March 2008 (UTC)