Mohammad A. Quayum |
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Petals of Hibiscus: A Representative Anthology of Malaysian Literature in English, is simply a splendid collection, bringing together some of the best writers and works in Malaysian literature in English, in fiction, poetry and drama. Providing a feast of good reading for anyone interested in literature from the country, or willing to dip into the consciousness of a rapidly changing society, standing at the cross-roads of culture, this is a long overdue and welcomed collection with a brilliant socio-literary political introduction by Mohammad Quayum that explains Malaysian literature in English enclosed in a tradition-bound and yet modernizing country. Petals of Hibiscus… is a magisterial ‘must’ book for all those interested in a multi-ethnic, multicultural society searching for a holistic national identity. · Professor Daniel Walden, Pennsylvania State University, USA.
A wide-ranging anthology of Malaysian writing in English, spanning the major genres and periods of a literature that has yet to secure the recognition it deserves. It complements Quayum’s and Wick’s Malaysian Literature in English: A Critical Reader and is equally impressive. Essential reading for anyone interested in Southeast Asia. · Professor John Thieme, University of East Anglia, UK.
Petals of Hibiscus is broader in scope than earlier anthologies of anglophone Malaysian writing, which have characteristically confined themselves to work in a single genre, with the short story having been particularly well represented. It includes plays by Lloyd Fernando and Kee Thuan Chye, along with a broad cross-section of fiction and poetry. Most of the material is new, but several of the best-known names of the writing... are represented. Mohammad Quayum’s introduction identifies three generations of writers that are included in the anthology. It is accompanied by an overview which also adopts a periodizing approach and which comes with a comprehensive bibliography that will prove an invaluable aid for anyone interested in Malaysian literature in English. Along with Quayum’s Malaysian Literature in English: A Critical Reader, co-edited with Peter Wicks... Petals of Hibiscus is essential reading for anyone wishing to familiarize themselves with a body of writing which has yet to secure the international recognition it deserves and which, as a “sectional” literature at home, is struggling to make the same impact as neighbouring Singaporean writing in English. · Journal of Commonwealth Literature (UK) 39.1 (2004). |
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PETALS OF HIBISCUS |
