Patusan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Patusan is a fictional country originating in the novel Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad, published in 1900. It has subsequently appeared in various films and television shows.
In Conrad's novel, the country is a remote backwater in the South Seas, forgotten by the rest of the world and essentially without contact with outside civilization. Prior to Jim's arrival, it is ruled by various factions of native people, whom Conrad refers to as "Malays".
Contents |
[edit] Geography, Settlements, & Government
Conrad writes that the main access of the country to the outside world was via a river through jungle to the coast. The novel mentions two main settlements: the first being in the interior of the country at the intersection of the river and a muddy stream. This was in the vicinity of two high, steep hills situated close together, separated by a yawning chasm. The second settlement was a small fishing village on the coast at the mouth of the river.
Conrad makes clear that the country, though officially ruled by the petty, melodramatic Rajah Tunku Allang, was effectively dominated by several groups of people prior to the arrival of Jim. These groups included a brigand group led by Sherif Ali in a stockade at the top of one hill, and the "Bugis", led by their large, quiet, stately chief Doramin.
[edit] Basis in Reality
While Conrad, a well-traveled individual who had led an adventurous seafaring life, intended the country to be a fictional place, the essential character of Patusan certainly has some basis in reality and in European perceptions of the East Indies around the turn of the 19th century. A theory exists that in Conrad's mind, Patusan was essentially Berau, the Indonesian part of Borneo, which is a place he visited.
The Oxford Reader's Companion to Conrad claims that Patusan was a genuine pirate settlement in Sarawak.
[edit] Films
A country called Patusan has appeared in the movies The Last Electric Knight and Surf Ninjas, as well as the TV series Sidekicks. In Surf Ninjas, a plucky young hero, played by Ernie Reyes Jr., leads a successful revolution against a tyrant and brings freedom to Patusan. This Patusan, like Conrad's Patusan, is a small island nation in the neighborhood of Indonesia, inhabited by Malay people and forgotten by the rest of the world.
