Jake Sandtner Jake Sandtner i(15265812 works by)
Gender: Male
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Works By

Preview all
1 Early Surf Fiction and the White Worldview Nigel Krauth , Jake Sandtner , 2021 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue , October no. 65 2021;
'This paper examines the first 90 years (from 1849 to 1940) in the development of surf fiction. It focuses on how, at the genre’s beginnings, the view taken of surfing was shaped by the colonial worldview, with its attendant super-narrative of white cultural and individual superiority, marginalisation of non-white traditions, and disrespect for others’ values and practices. The period can be divided into two phases. The first extended from 1849 to 1920 with pioneering novels by Herman Melville, R. M. Ballantyne and others, including Jack London’s ‘The Kanaka Surf’ (1916), the long short story which we claim brought surf fiction to a new-found maturity in terms of cultural respect. The second phase, from 1921 to 1940, included lesser writers Stuart Martin, Don Blanding and Claude La Belle whose novels continued to trace the white world’s attempt to come to terms with the cultural and racial influence that surfing had begun to exert. Most surf-depicting fiction in this first 90 years was set in Hawaii and written in the Adult Adventure or Boys Adventure genres. This article examines how early surf fiction traced the impact of indigenous-based surfing on imperial- based white thinking, and proposes that some creative writers were sensitive to the on-going cultural appropriation of surfing and the lessons surfing could teach the colonialists about individual, racial and cultural respect. When the earliest creative writers tried to surf, they admitted they were inferior, but they admired Pacific Islander expertise. During the first 90 years of surf fiction, the narrative perspective moved from the colonial observer gaze to the participant view. Fiction sought to outline the growing Western awareness that surfing would be a key influence on cross-cultural thinking.' (Publication abstract)
1 ‘Competitors in the Surf-riding Contest’ : Battle as Theme in the First Three Surf Novels Jake Sandtner , Nigel Krauth , 2021 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue , October no. 65 2021;
'In surf fiction it is common for wave-riders to be tested. The test of self – battling against nature, against others, and against one’s own capabilities – is a popular thematic pathway for discovery, growth and freedom, as manifested regularly in surf-related fiction since its beginnings in 1849. This paper looks at the first three novels that featured surfing – Mardi and a Voyage Thither (Melville, 1849), The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean (Ballantyne, 1857), and Kelea: The Surf-Rider, A Romance of Pagan Hawaii (Twombly, 1900) – to examine why the authors wrote about surfing in conjunction with themes of battle and contest.' (Publication abstract)
1 A Man Above the Reef Jake Sandtner , 2021 single work prose
— Appears in: Lines to the Horizon : Australian Surf Writing 2021; (p. 155-203)
1 July 24, 1974 Jake Sandtner , 2018 single work prose
— Appears in: TEXT : Journal of Writing and Writing Courses , October vol. 22 no. 2 2018;
X