Why was Makutu more closely related to European “South Seas” writing than to later Oceanic literature?

The novel Makutu (1960), written by Thomas Davis and Lydia Henderson, is considered more closely aligned with European "South Seas" literature than with later Oceanic writing primarily because it was composed with a European audience in mind.1

While the novel explores cultural conflicts between Pacific and Western values, its narrative approach reflects the perspective of earlier European authors—such as Robert Louis Stevenson and W. Somerset Maugham—rather than the "insider" focus that characterizes modern Oceanic literature.12

In contrast, later Oceanic writers, such as Albert Wendt and Epeli Hau‘ofa, explicitly rejected the European vision of the Pacific. They argued that authentic literature must be written from within a culture, by its own people, and for the benefit of local readers, focusing on the complexities of individual identity and the fragmentation of multicultural societies rather than the cohesive, externalized portrayals found in earlier traditions.2