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What is ´island´? And what is ´island writing´? The author explores these concepts through a close reading of A Voyage to New Guinea, and the Moluccas , an account of Thomas Forrest s travels in the Malay Archipelago. Having more to offer than merely ethnographical and scientific data, the report is a cultural product anchored in the realm of eighteenth-century English travel writing, with its distinctive literary conventions. Additionally, it is a text in which the instability of meaning parallels the definitional precariousness of island that historically defies monolithic interpretation of scholars in cartography, geography and literary studies. At a disciplinary crossroads, ´A Quest for Insularity´ should be of interest to scholars and students of textual interpretation, eighteenth-century English print culture and literary tradition, European discovery literature, and Southeast Asian maritime history.

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Panida Boonthavevej received her PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Riverside. Currently, she is a lecturer of English at Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. Her research interests include English literature, travel writing, cultural studies, and Southeast Asian studies.

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