Reading Malaysian Literature in English: Ethnicity, Gender, Diaspora, and Nationalism PDF
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Asia in Transition 16 Mohammad A. Quayum Editor Reading Malaysian Literature in English Ethnicity, Gender, Diaspora, and Nationalism Asia in Transition Volume 16 Editor-in-Chief BrunoJetin,InstituteofAsianStudies,UniversitiBruneiDarussalam,Gadong, BruneiDarussalam SeriesEditors JonathanRigg,UniversityofBristol,Bristol,UK VictorT.King,InstituteofAsianStudies,UniversitiBruneiDarussalam,Gadong, BruneiDarussalam LianKwenFee,InstituteofAsianStudies,UniversitiBruneiDarussalam,Gadong, BruneiDarussalam ZawawiIbrahim,Taylor’sUniversity,SubangJaya,Malaysia NoorHasharinaBintiPgHjHassan,InstituteofAsianStudies,UniversitiBrunei Darussalam,Gadong,BruneiDarussalam This book series, indexed in Scopus, is an initiative in conjunction with Springer undertheauspicesoftheUniversitiBruneiDarussalam–InstituteofAsianStudies (http://ias.ubd.edu.bn/). It addresses the interplay of local, national, regional and globalinfluencesinSoutheast,SouthandEastAsiaandtheprocessesoftranslation and exchange across boundaries and borders. The series explores a variety of disciplinaryandinterdisciplinaryperspectives. SubmissionandPeerReview: Proposal submissions are to be sent to the Series Editor, Dr Bruno Jetin: [email protected] and Springer Publishing Editor Alex Westcott Campbell: [email protected] using the Book Proposal Form available in the sidebar. All proposals will undergo peer review by the editorial board members. If accepted, the final manuscript will be peer reviewed internally by the editorialboardaswellasexternally(singleblind)bySpringeraheadofacceptance andpublication. Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttps://link.springer.com/bookseries/13611 Mohammad A. Quayum Editor Reading Malaysian Literature in English Ethnicity, Gender, Diaspora, and Nationalism Editor MohammadA.Quayum CollegeofHumanities,ArtsandSocialSciences FlindersUniversity Adelaide,Australia ISSN2364-8252 ISSN2364-8260 (electronic) AsiainTransition ISBN978-981-16-5020-8 ISBN978-981-16-5021-5 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5021-5 ©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s),underexclusivelicensetoSpringerNature SingaporePteLtd.2021 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsaresolelyandexclusivelylicensedbythePublisher,whether thewholeorpartofthematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuse ofillustrations,recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,and transmissionorinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilar ordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. 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The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore ForNatashaandSasha Praise for Reading Malaysian Literature in English “This rich cornucopia of 14 essays clears new space for Malaysian Anglophone literaturebywritersofallgenerations.FollowingIndependence, thismarginalized traditionhaslackedofficialstatusinMalaysia,butisnowcompared,inMohammad A.Quayum’srehabilitation,tothecelebratoryBungaRaya(hibiscus)flower,symbol of national unity and inclusivity. Individual chapters by a range of distinguished critics highlight foundational writers like Lloyd Fernando, Shirley Geok-lin Lim, and K.S. Maniam, Malaysian drama, poets like Ee Tiang Hong, Wong Phui Nam, and novelists like Adibah Amin. This well rounded anthology confirms that every genre of Malaysian Anglophone writing continues to flourish, invigorated by the globalimpactofEnglish.Essentialreadingforallwhostudythisregion”. —EmeritaProfessorJanetM.Wilson,UniversityofNorthampton,UK “In this volume, Mohammad A. Quayum, one of the leading scholars in the field, drawstogethervariedessayiststodiscusstheworkofmostofthemajorMalaysian writersinEnglishlanguageliteraryprose,poetry,drama,andfiction,demonstrating thestrengthandmaturityofthatliterature,despitetheseriousobstaclesitcontinues toface.ReadingMalaysianLiteratureinEnglishprovidesbothahistoryanddetailed analysisofthatbodyofwork.Thevolumedemonstratesthat,despitesomeopposition andperhapsparadoxically,thelanguageoftheformercolonistcanprovideaunifying forceinencouragingaspecificallyMalaysianimaginationofplace,gender,andboth personalandnationalidentity”. —EmeritusProfessorDennisHaskell,AM,UniversityofWesternAustralia “Aprovocativecollectionthatdemonstratestheresilienceoftheliteraryimagination inMalaysia,thissignificantcontributiontothestudyofMalaysianliteraturewrittenin English,specifically,demonstratesthecomplexity,richness,andvalueofMalaysia’s transnationalliteraryculturedespitethenation’sdivisivelanguagepoliciesthatare biasedagainsttheliteraryvoicesthatwriteinEnglish.Thisanthology,curatedand editedbyMohammadA.Quayum,opensthefieldofMalaysianAnglophonewriting to readers, students, and scholars by offering a clear and essential framing of the historyoftoday’simportantliteraryfiguresthroughtheirencounterwithMalaysian vii viii PraiseforReadingMalaysianLiteratureinEnglish language politics at the end of the 20th and start of the 21st century. The chapters that follow provide analyses that both defend and interrogate the site of the story, the poem, the play, and the autobiography as shared terrain on which to build an understandingofthediversityofauthenticMalaysianliteraryexpression—butalso thediversityoftheMalaysianexperience.Researchedandwrittenbyinternational critics,writers,andscholars,thisvolumeprovidesnewandrefreshinginterpretations oftheintersectionsofpostcolonialwritingandcontemporarysocialpolitics”. —ProfessorNinaMorgan,EditorinChief,JournalofTransnationalAmerican Studies(StanfordUniversity,USAandObamaInstitute,JohannesGutenberg University,Germany) Introduction: In a Bunga Raya Park—The State of Malaysian Anglophone Literature Theobjectiveofthisintroductionistwofold:firstly,toillustratethestateofMalaysian Anglophoneliterature,andsecondly,toelucidatetheaims,structure,andscopeofthe book.Inthefirstsection,Iwillprovideanoutlineoftheinceptionandevolutionofthe tradition, explain its failures and achievements, and expound on the sociopolitical and cultural factors that challenge writers. In the second section, I will introduce the chapters, explain my rationale for putting together this book, and recount the book’s designas wellassomeofitsrecurringthemes:ethnicity,gender, diaspora, andnationalism. Let me, however, begin with a brief remark on the metaphor in the title of this introduction.Here,IattempttoequatetheMalaysianAnglophonetraditionwiththe country’s national flower, Bunga Raya, or the hibiscus flower. Bunga Raya means “grand” or “celebratory” flower, and colloquially it is known as Chinese hibiscus orChineserose.Theflower’svibrantcolourstandsforpassion,hope,andcourage, while the five petals represent “the five Rukun Negara (Malay for ‘National Prin- ciples’) of Malaysia” (“Malaysia Information”, 2016), as well as racial unity and multiculturalism.TheMalaysianGovernment’sofficialinformationportalincludes thefollowingreasonswhythisflowerwaschosenoverseveralotherstorepresentthe nation: firstly, it is suggestive of Malaysia’s ambition to achieve and foster “better unityamongst…society”;secondly,itmanifeststhenation’swillingnesstoadopt“a liberalapproachtowardstherichandvariedculturaltraditions”(“MalaysiaInforma- tion”,2016).ItisnotanoverstatementtoclaimthatMalaysia’sAnglophonetradition aspirestoincorporatesimilarvalues,orthat,morethananyotherliterarystrandinthe country,itstandsforunity,inclusivity,andhopeforabetterglobalfuture.Coming fromvariousethnicbackgrounds,usingamediumneutraltoeachoftheirrespective cultures, these writers are certainly emblematic of the transethnic identity that the national flower symbolizes. Moreover, the writers frequently address the issue of disunityinMalaysia’sbodypolitic,confrontingthevested-interestgroupsovertheir selfish divide-and-rule agenda to perpetuate their grip on power; ultimately, their efforts are steering the nation to its rightful destination of one people, one nation, oneMalaysia.Forthis,thesewriterssurelydeservetobeextolledinthesameway thatthenationcelebratestheBungaRaya. ix x Introduction:InaBungaRayaPark—TheStateofMalaysianAnglophone… i. MalaysianAnglophoneLiterature:ItsInceptionandEarlyYears In their collaborative work The Empire Writes Back (1989), Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths,andHelenTiffinprofferanevolutionarymodelforAnglophoneliteraturein allpostcolonialsocieties.TheyarguethatEnglishwritingsdevelopedthroughthree stages in the former colonies, and classify them as follows: (i) “[works] produced by‘representativesoftheimperialworld’”,(ii)“[works]produced‘underimperial license’ by ‘natives’ or ‘outcasts’”, and (iii) “development of independent litera- tures”or“emergenceofmodernpost-colonialliteratures”(p.4–5).Inkeepingwith this framework, I have decided to omit those writers associated with the first two categoriesfromthebook—writerssuchasFrankSweetenham(1850–1946),Hugh Clifford(1866–1941),andRichardWinstedt(1878–1966),whowerecolonialadmin- istratorsandactedasrepresentativesoftheempire,alongwithexpatriatewriterssuch asSybilKathigasu(1899–1948),KatherineSim(1913–),HanSuyin(1916–2012), MargaretLeong(1921–2012),andGregoryW.deSilva,whowrote“underimperial license”.1 Instead,Ihavefocusedonthethirdcategoryofwritersinthisparadigm, whohavebeeninstrumentalininitiatingan“independent”Anglophonetraditionin Malaysia,writerswhodonotsingtotheforeignharporfeedtheirimaginationon foreign harvests but who take their inspiration from the events and actions around them,whosewritingisinformedbythemyths,reality,andhistorythatencompass theirdailylives.Thesearethewritersweneedtostudyinordertounderstandpresent- dayMalaysiaasasociety,withitsstrengthsandweaknesses,failuresandsuccesses, doubtsandhopes. A group of young students was the first to forge this tradition, starting at the RafflesCollege(est.1928)andthenattheUniversityofMalayainSingapore(est. 1949)inthelate1940s.Manyofthesepioneeringwritersbeganbypublishingtheir works in student magazines such as The Cauldron (1947), The Malayan Under- grad(1948),RafflesCollegeBulletin(1948),MagazineoftheUniversityofMalaya Student’sUnion(1949–52,1960),TheNewCauldron(1950–1960),Chichak(1954), Write(1957–1958),HujanMas(1959),andothers.2Inspiredbythepoliticaldevelop- mentsaftertheSecondWorldWar,whichpavedthewayforMalaya’sindependence from colonial rule, these writers took it upon themselves to invent a new national consciousness that would unite the different racial elements in the land and create a literature that would authentically reflect their country—its landscape, history, traditions,aspirations,andmulticulturalethos.ThesefoundingwritersincludedLim TheanSoo(1924–1991),LloydFernando(1926–2008),GohSinTub(1927–2004), WangGungwu(1930–),EdwinThumboo(1933–),EeTiangHong(1933–1990),and WongPhuiNam(1935–).Theywrotemainlypoetry,butsomealsoengagedinprose, particularlyfiction.Thefirstbook-lengthpublicationsbythesewriterswerepoetry collections,suchasWangGungwu’sPulse(1950),LimTheanSoo’sSelectedVerses (1951)andPoems,1951–1953(1953),EdwinThumboo’sRibofEarth(1956),Wong 1I have discussed several of these writers in a separate study, Colonial to Global: Malaysian Women’sWritinginEnglish1940s–1990s(2003). 2For further details, see Rajeev Patke and Philip Holden, The Routledge Concise History of SoutheastAsianWriting(2009,p.50).
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