Literature and Culture

1. Singapore
Literature and
Identity
Author: Peter Wicks
(Summary)

2. Singapore
-Former British Colony, naval base
and commercial entrepot.
- It was part of Federation of
Malaysia for less than 2 years until
its ejection on August 9, 1965.
- The New York of United States of
Malaysia.

4. Singapore
• Lee Kuan Yew became the Prime
Minister of an Independent Singapore.
• After its ejection, the leaders were quick
to offer slogans as to its identity such as:
“Rugged Society”
“The Regional Hub”
“The Electronic Entrepot for East Asia”

5. • In their quest for survival and distinctive
identity, Singapore’s leaders have defined
their state in various ways. Allowing for
nuances of audience and location, they
formulated the definitions by focusing on
the island’s small size, limited natural
resources, precarious locations,
similarities to Switzerland and Venice,
commitment to meritocracy, economic
development, material success, multi
racialism and cosmopolitanism.

6. Literary Perception

7. 1. Singapore is not
China.
• Ovidia Yu - English Literature
graduate from National
University of Singapore
• - A Dream of China (won
Asiaweek magazine’s Annual
Short Story Competition)

8. A Dream Of
China
• The female narrator is a Singaporean Chinese.
She has a father, a good and devoted man, who,
as she grows older, talks more and more about
China, the land of his birth and which he recalls
as the most beautiful of beautiful lands.
Impressed by these reminiscences, his daughter
comes to share the dream. However, her
father’s relationship with China turns out to be
neither simple nor straightforward, and
illusions are swiftly shattered. Back in 1946, the
father had chosen to remain in his secure job in
Singapore rather than return to participate in
China’s postwar transformation, for as he
realized, “Singapore was not China”.

9. 2. Singapore’s identity
is essentially hybrid.
• Gopal Baratham - Singaporean author and
neurosurgeon.
• Sayang (either means love or someone dear to you)
• - Involves cross cultural exploration of Christian
incarnation within Southeast Asian context.
• - Characters’ name are Joseph, Ri (Marie), Kris
• - Theme: hybridity of religion, culture and people
• Simon Tay’s A History of Tea emphasized the cultural
hybridity of Singapore having Eurasian characters and a
single Anglo-Chinese family.

10. A History of
Tea
• In "A History of Tea", Tay plays upon his own
surname which sounds like the Hokkien word for
tea. Just as the taste of madeleines evokes
memories for Swann in Proust's À la Recherche du
Temps Perdu, a hot mug of tea taken on a quiet
afternoon with his cousin Beverly evokes memories
for the protagonist, memories which are somehow
connected with the partaking of a cup of tea.
• Readers might wish to compare this technique as it
is found in other postcolonial authors.
• The story examines the subtle complexity of human
relationships through different generations all held
together by a common surname.

11. 3. Singapore is experiencing a
significant generational and
social change.
• Claire Tham - Tham’s writing career began
in 1984 at the age of 17, when two of her
short stories – “Fascist Rock” and
“Homecoming” – both garnered the second
prize in that year’s National Short Story
Writing Competition.
• Saving the Rainforest and other stories
(1993)
• The Forerunner shows Tham has a
remarkable capacity clearly to delineate a
deterioration in human realationships, as
between wife and husband, parent and
child.
• Catherine Lim’s Taximan Story

12. 4. Singapore’s
identity is still
evolving.
• Philip Jeyaretnam’s First Love – collection of
short stories – Ah Leong- main character.
• “Campfire” and “Evening Under Fragipani”
-“Quest for maturity and identity, both an
individual and national levels.”
• Catherine held a view that Singapore
culture cannot emerge simply by official
decree or public campaigns, but that of
common people.

13. Thank you!
Discussant: Mark Darwin V. Garcia – Ph.D –ELL
Professor: Dr. Edilberto Cruz

14. References
Hong, X. (2021, May 18). Claire Tham. Retrieved from
eresources.nlb.gov.sg:https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/ar
ticles/SIP_1562_2009-08-30.html
Loh, M. (2021, May 18). "Beyond the First Decade: A New Strain in the
Singapore Short Story". Retrieved from
www.postcolonialweb.org:
http://www.postcolonialweb.org/singapore/literature/loh/loh10.
html