2001:A Bibliography of Malaysian Literature in English. Petaling Jaya: Sasbadi Sdn. Bhd. 2001.
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INTRODUCTION
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This Bibliography was compiled with the aim of providing
data on Malaysian written in English, both of works written
in English and that which have been translated into English.
Earlier Bibliographies on Malaysian written in English
have not attempted to incorporate translated works and
it's hoped that this Bibliography will not contribute
to the accessibility of more Malaysian works. The works
cited in this Bibliography are by writers born in Malaysia,
some of whom may be residing overseas but their writings
continue to portray a Malaysian world view.
Since the 1970s, there has been translation of a substantial
number of literary works from Bahasa Malaysia (the Malay
Language) into English largely through the efforts of
the governmental agency, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (The Language
and Literary Agency). These works combined with those
written in the English language comprise a substantial
amount of writings from Malaysia.
Malaysian literature in English is a relatively new literary
phenomenon and its origin can be traced to the late 1940s,
in the activities of the Literary and Debating Society
of the King Edward VII Medical College Union which published
"The Cauldron", the first journal to publish literary work
in English in Malaya and Singapore. With the establishment
of the University of Malaya in 1949, "The Cauldron" was
transferred to the university's Raffles Society and it
took the name of "The New Cauldron". Since then, Malaysian
Literary works have been published in many journals, both
in local and foreign universities and also by local and
international publishing houses.
The inauguration of Malaysian and Singaporean writing
in English was influenced by a group of literary intellectuals
who attempted to develop a hybrid language that would
unite the multiethnic population of Malaya and Singapore.
However, their idealistic attempt was doomed from the
beginning. The new hybrid language failed to gain much
support and was abandoned by the mid 1950s. Even its name,
"Engmalchin", a conflation of the first syllable
of the words "English", "Malay" and
"Chinese" was not truly representative of the
multiracial groups in Malaysia and Singapore, as the Indians
were not represented. Its advocates rather inaccurately
construed that Engmalchin will be the common language
that would evolve for multiracial Malaysia and also failed
to foresee that language planning policies in newly independent
Malaysia would relegate English to the status of a second
language, in favour of the national language, Bahasa Malaysia
and deem all writing in English as sectional literature.
Writing in English in Malaysia has been kept alive largely
through the determination of an English educated minority,
both Malay and non Malay. The major Malaysian writers
often work across genres, as in the case of Lloyd Fernando,
novelist, short story writer and critic; Wang Gungwu,
poet, short story writer and critic; K.S.Maniam, novelist,
dramatist, short story writer and critic; Muhammad Haji
Salleh, poet and critic and Salleh ben Joned who is also
a poet critic.
The reception of writings in English in Malaysia has often
ranged from hostility to near indifference but these writers
have preserved. After a lull between the mid 1960s and
mid 1970s, there has been an increase in the number of
Malaysians writing in English. Some of these writers
have openly stated that the English language remains their
only means of literary expression.
The future of Malaysian writing in English, despite what
some of its detractors may say, still looks optimistic.
Coupled with the increase in writing, there has also been
an increase in critical interest in Malaysian literary
works in English both at hoe and overseas. This I believe
augurs well for the future of Malaysian Literature in
English.
This bibliography is an attempt to record literary works
by Malaysians. It's hoped that as Malaysians continue
to write, the Bibliography will continue to be updated.
Writers whose works has been omitted are asked to contact
the compiler. If there are errors in the entries, it
is hoped that writers or their publishers will contact
the complier so that they can be corrected for the next
edition.
Finally, I would like to express my sincere appreciation
to Dr. Lloyd Fernando for making his library available
during the course of my research on Malaysian and Singaporean
poetry. I also wish to thank Christy Yoong for his help
in the early stages or researching this Bibliography.
I like to thank British Council Kuala Lumpur for kindly
providing a small grant to help meet expenses in the course
of carrying out the research for this project. A special
word of appreciation goes to John Lee for publishing this
Bibliography and his continued support for local writers
and making their works available to their readers.
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Petaling Jaya: Sasbadi Sdn. Bhd. 2001. |
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