Cynthia Shannon
asked
Alan Brennert:
With all the research you do before writing your books, what's one interesting, unexpected thing about the period you write about in Moloka'i that you didn’t know before you set out to write the book?
Alan Brennert
When I decided to introduce the character of Leilani--and this was a case of literary reverse-engineering, where I discovered the medical science before the historical context--I researched Hawaiian attitudes toward homosexuals (mahus) at that time and was pleasantly surprised to find that since before contact with the West there had been no homophobia in Hawaiian culture. Mahus were a common and accepted part of Hawaiian society, sometimes even dressing as women and even occasionally filling the role of a "second wife" in a marriage along with a man and a woman. (Yikes!) Leilani does experience homophobia in the story, but never from a Native Hawaiian. It was another example of the Hawaiian people's innate sense of tolerance toward all people, and I really shouldn't have been surprised.
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