1883 Eruption of Krakatoa - in Culture

In Culture

The novel Blown to Bits, or, The Lonely Man of Rakata: A Tale of the Malay Archipelago (London: James Nisbet, 1889), by Robert Michael Ballantyne, is a juvenile adventure novel about the eruption. The Publisher's description reads: "The story of the violent nature of the volcanic eruption in Krakatoa in 1883. One of a series of excellent stories of adventure for the young with which this prolific Scottish author's name is popularly associated. Beautifully illustrated."

Czech writer Karel Čapek was inspired by the name and intensity of the eruption when writing his 1922 novel Krakatit about an abuse of power in a form of powerful explosive of the same name. It was adapted into film in 1949, directed by Otakar Vávra and starring Karel Höger.

The Twenty-One Balloons (Viking Press, 1947), a Newbery Medal-winning children's novel by William Pène du Bois, recounts the incredible adventures of Professor William Waterman Sherman who in 1883 sets off in a balloon across the Pacific, survives the volcanic eruption of Krakatoa, and is eventually picked up in the Atlantic.

Krakatoa, East of Java was a film directed by Bernard L. Kowalski and starred Maximilian Schell; the novelization of the same title (New American Library, 1969, ISBN 0-451-03797-9), was written by Michael Avallone.

The eruption of Krakatoa and the following tsunami are depicted in the 1998 Scrooge McDuck comic The Cowboy Captain of the Cutty Sark by Don Rosa.

In the 2001 science fiction novel by Connie Willis entitled Passage, various disasters are discussed by the characters, particularly by the hospitalized girl Maisie, who shares her "disasterology" books with Dr. Joanna Lander:

Joanna pulled it out of the bag and brought it over to the bed, and Maisie began searching through it. "Krakatoa was the biggest volcano ever. It made these red sunsets all over the world. Blood red. Here it is." ... "It blew the whole island apart. Krakatoa," she said, flipping through the book. "It made this huge noise, like a whole bunch of cannons."

Dark of the Sun: A Novel of Saint-Germain (Tor Books, 2004; ISBN 0-765-31103-8), by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, sees the vampire Count Saint-Germain flee the eruption and undertake an arduous travel back to his homeland in Transylvania.