by Gwee Li Sui
PHILIP JEYARETNAM [Young Artist Award, 1993]
Philip Jeyaretnam’s first book, First Loves, was on The Sunday Times’s bestseller list for eighteen months. Subsequent fiction titles include Raffles Place Ragtime, Abraham’s Promise, and Tigers in Paradise, a collection of his earlier works with two essays on Singaporean literature in English. In his capacity as a lawyer, he has been a visiting Fulbright fellow at Harvard Law School. He was President of the Law Society from 2004 to 2007 and is managing partner of the law firm Rodyk and Davidson.
P. KRISHNAN (PUTHUMAITHASAN புதுமைதாசன்அ) [Cultural Medallion, 2008]
P. Krishnan is a short story writer, playwright, poet, and radio broadcaster. He has written some forty short stories, a hundred essays and poems, and 360 plays for radio, television, the stage, and journals. He has translated Shakespeare, Byron, and Keats, among others. Krishnan was the first writer to translate Shakespeare’s Macbeth into Tamil, which was subsequently staged. One of the writers featured in the National Library of Singapore’s Pioneer Gallery, Krishnan has published six books: Literary Scenes (1990); Puthumaithasan Stories (1993), a short story collection which won the 1994 National Book Development Council of Singapore Commendation Award; Macbeth (1996); Annasamy, the HDB Flat Dweller (2000); Dried Leaf (2006); and Animal Farm (2008). Among the many awards he has received are the Thamizhavel Award in 1998, the Southeast Asian Writers Award in 2005, and the Cultural Medallion in 2008.
RAMA KANNABIRAN இராம. கண்ணபிரான் [Cultural Medallion, 1998]
Rama Kannabiran is an essayist, short-story writer, novelist, and teacher. He has published four collections of short stories, and his short stories have been featured in eighteen anthologies in Tamil, English, Chinese, and Malay. He was an honorary fellow at the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program in 1998. He has received the Southeast Asian Writers Award in 1990, the Montblanc-NUS Centre for the Arts Literary Award in 1997, the Cultural Medallion in 1998, the Thamizhavel Award in 2004, and the Bharathiyar and Bharathidasan Literary Award in 2007.
SIMON TAY [Young Artist Award, 1995]
Simon Tay is a respected academic, thinker, political and economic adviser, and creative writer. Concurrently a law professor at the National University of Singapore, chairman of the think-tank Singapore Institute of International Affairs, and senior consultant at WongPartnership, he has written numerous articles and books, the latest of which, Asia Alone: The Dangerous Post Crisis Divide from America, was reviewed internationally. His short stories and poems have been highly commended, adapted for television and stage, translated, and published in anthologies. His novel, City of Small Blessings, was awarded the 2010 Singapore Literature Prize.
TAN CHEE LAY 陈志锐 [Young Artist Award, 2004]
Tan Chee Lay is an Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University and the Deputy Executive Director of the Singapore Centre for Chinese Language. He has lived in Singapore, Taipei, and Cambridge and studied a wide range of subjects from Chinese literature and English Studies to Business Administration. A founding member of the Singapore National Poetry Festival, he has published twenty creative writing and scholarly books to date and received the Young Artist Award and the Singapore Youth Award. His recent creative publications include a poetry collection Original Poetics (2012), a collection of short stories Hiccups in the Family (2013), a children’s picture book Sleepless (2013), and a collection of letters Sidgwick Writings (2014).
EDWIN THUMBOO [Cultural Medallion, 1979]
Edwin Thumboo is Emeritus Professor at the National University of Singapore and has held visiting professorships at universities in the US, UK, Australia, Austria, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. He has published numerous collections of poems, including Rib of Earth (1956), Gods Can Die (1977), Ulysses by the Merlion (1979), A Third Map: New and Selected Poems (1993), Still Travelling (2008), Bring the Sun (2008), Singapore Word Maps (2012), The Best of Edwin Thumboo (2012), and Word-Gate (2013). He received the Cultural Medallion in 1979 and the Suthorn Phu Award in 2013.
TOH HSIEN MIN [Young Artist Award, 2010]
Toh Hsien Min has published three collections of poetry, most recently the Singapore Literature Prize-shortlisted Means to an End (2008). His work has also been published in periodicals such as London Magazine, the London Review of Books, and Poetry Salzburg Review as well as anthologies such as Carcanet’s Oxford Poets 2013 and W. W. Norton’s Language for a New Century. He has read at international literary festivals such as the Edinburgh International Book Festival and Finland’s Runokuu Poetry Festival.
WONG MENG VOON 黄孟文 [Cultural Medallion, 1981]
Wong Meng Voon was an academic and is a writer of fiction with over eleven collections of short stories and mini-stories. His books include 再见 惠兰的时候 [When I Met Hui Lan Again; 1969]; Glimpses of the Past, which was translated into English by himself in 1981 and into Tagalog by Rustii Caspio in 1989; and 黄孟文 微型小说 [Wong Meng Voon’s Mini-Stories; 2004]. He has published thousands of essays and academic research papers and compiled or edited several anthologies. His co-edited 新加坡华文文学史初稿 [The History of Singaporean Chinese Literature; 2002] was the first, and still is, the only literary history of its kind in Singapore. Wong received the Translation Prize in 1978 for his manuscript of Glimpses from the National Book Development Council of Singapore; the Cultural Medallion in 1981; the Southeast Asian Writers Award in 1981; and the Lifetime Achievement Award for Mini-stories from China in 2008. He was given another lifetime achievement award, 小小说创作终身成就奖, in Zhengzhou, China, in 2011.
WONG YOON WAH 王润华 [Cultural Medallion, 1986]
Wong Yoon Wah was Professor and Head of the Department of Chinese Studies at the National University of Singapore before retiring in 2003. He joined Yuan Ze University, Taiwan, in 2003, serving in different appointments including Head of Chinese Linguistics and Literature and Director of International Language and Culture. He is now the Senior Vice-President of Malaysia’s Southern University. A recipient of many literary awards like the Southeast Asian Writers Award in 1984 and the Cultural Medallion in 1986, he has published creative works in prose and poetry, including Taste of Durian (2003) and Cultural Landscape (2005).
CHIA HWEE PHENG (XI NI ER 希尼尔) [Cultural Medallion, 2008]
Chia Hwee Pheng has received First Prize at the Golden Lion Literary Awards in both 1982 and 1993 as well as the National Book Development Council of Singapore Book Awards in 1990 and 1994 and the Singapore Literature Prize in 2008. He was the recipient of the Cultural Medallion in 2008 and the Southeast Asian Writers Award in 2009. He has published nine books, including the poetry books Kidnapping Times and The Stretched Credulity and a collection of mini-fiction The Unbearable Heaviness of Life. He is currently the President of the Singapore Association of Writers.
YOU JIN 尤今 [Cultural Medallion, 2009]
You Jin is a prolific writer of travelogues, essays, short stories, and novels and has published close to 160 literary works. She won the National Book Development Council of Singapore Book Awards in 1982 and 1991 and was the inaugural recipient of both the Singapore Chinese Literary Award in 1991 and the Montblanc-NUS Centre for the Arts Literary Award in 1996. She was honoured in China with the establishment of the You Jin Research Centre in Chongqing University in 2000. You Jin has been a schoolteacher for nearly thirty years and received the Cultural Medallion in 2009. Her essay “A Fish in Water” was included in Lee Kuan Yew’s 2012 book, My Lifelong Challenge: Singapore’s Bilingual Journey. In the same year, her writing was translated into English for the first time when her 2004 collection of short stories was published as Teaching Cats to Jump Hoops. Her two other books translated into English were Death By Perfume and In Time, Out of Place, published in 2015.
ZIZI AZAH [Young Artist Award, 2012]
Zizi Azah is a playwright, a theatre director, and the artistic director of Teater Ekamatra. A graduate of the National University of Singapore in
philosophy and sociology, she has helmed numerous theatre productions performed in English, Malay, and Peranakan. Her plays have been nominated for “Best Script”, “Best Actress”, and “Best Sound Design” at numerous The Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards. The Gunpowder Trail, which she wrote while attending the Fifth Annual International Playwright Retreat at the non-profit cultural centre La MaMa Umbria, was recently presented as part of the Esplanade Studios series. Her children’s book, Fatimah and Her Magic Socks, was illustrated by her husband, Izmir Ickbal.
About the Editors
GWEE LI SUI is a poet, a graphic artist, and a literary critic. His works of verse include Who Wants to Buy a Book of Poems? (1998), One Thousand and One Nights (2014), and The Other Merlion and Friends (2015). He wrote Singapore’s first full-length graphic novel in English, Myth of the Stone (1993), which has since been re-released in an expanded twentieth-anniversary edition. A familiar name in Singapore’s literary scene, Gwee has written and lectured on a range of cultural subjects. He edited Sharing Borders: Studies in Contemporary Singaporean-Malaysian Literature II (2009), Telltale: Eleven Stories (2010), and Man/Born/Free: Writings on the Human Spirit from Singapore (2011) and wrote FEAR NO POETRY!: An Essential Guide to Close Reading (2014).
TAN CHEE LAY is an Assistant Professor at Nanyang Technological University and the Deputy Executive Director of the Singapore Centre for Chinese Language. He has lived in Singapore, Taipei, and Cambridge and studied a wide range of subjects from Chinese literature and English Studies to Business Administration. A founding member of the Singapore National Poetry Festival, he has published twenty creative writing and scholarly books to date and received the Young Artist Award and the Singapore Youth Award. His recent creative publications include a poetry collection Original Poetics (2012), a collection of short stories Hiccups in the Family (2013), a children’s picture book Sleepless (2013), and a collection of letters Sidgwick Writings (2014).
SA’EDA BTE BUANG is a Senior Lecturer-cum-Assistant Head of the Asian Languages and Cultures Academic Group and the Head of the Malay Language and Culture Division, at Singapore’s National Institute of Education. Her research interests include comparative literature and literature education, Malay civilisation, faith-based education, and educational equity. She has published chapters, edited books, and presented papers on literature at both local and international conferences. Sa’eda has won the literary prize awarded by the Singapore Malay Language Council for her poetry in 2003 and for both her fiction and poetry in 2005. Currently, she is an Associate Editor of the international journal Asia Pacific Journal of Education and sits on the International Advisory Board of International Journal of Islamic Studies and Arabic Language Education and Journal of Educational Studies.
AZHAGIYA PANDIYAN is the Deputy Editor of Tamil Murasu, Singapore’s only Tamil newspaper. He has previously held senior posts in public relations, academia, management, broadcasting, and software development. He is also the author of two highly popular Tamil books: வரலாற்றில் இன்று [Today in History] and வானம் வசப்படுமே [You Can Reach For the Skies], which were originally produced as radio programmes. His first radio programme won an industry award for excellence. In 2005, Pandiyan was selected as one of twelve celebrity icons for Singapore’s Speak Good English Movement by the National Library Board. A recipient of the prestigious Chevening Scholarship from the British High Commission in 1998, he holds a Master’s degree in media studies from the University of Sussex and a Bachelor’s degree in computer science from the National University of Singapore.
SINGATHOLOGY
SINGATHOLOGY
50 New Works by Celebrated Singaporean Writers
VOLUME TWO
ART
Edited by
GWEE LI SUI
with
TAN CHEE LAY
SA’EDA BTE BUANG
AZHAGIYA PANDIYAN
CO-PUBLISHED BY
© 2015 National Arts Council and Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Pte Ltd
Co-published by National Arts Council and Marshall Cavendish Editions
Marshall Cavendish Editions is an imprint of Marshall Cavendish International
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Requests for permission should be addressed to the Publishers, Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited (1 New Industrial Road, Singapore 536196. Tel: (65) 6213 9300. E-mail: [email protected].
The publishers make no representation or warranties with respect to the contents of this book, and specifically disclaim any implied warranties or merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose, and shall in no events be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing-in-Publication Data:
Singathology : Fifty New Works by Celebrated Singaporean Writers. Volume Two, Art. – Singapore : Marshall Cavendish Editions, [2015]
pages cm
eISBN : 978 981 4721 93 6
1. Singaporean literature (English). 2. Singaporean literature (Chinese). 3. Singaporean literature (Malay). 4. Singaporean literature (Tamil). I. Gwee, Li Sui, 1970- editor.
PR6010
808.8995957 – dc23 OCN919189735
Printed in Singapore by Craft Print Pte Ltd
The artist strives, first and foremost,
to capture the world sub specie aeternitatis.
In part at least, the work of art is the objectification
of the deep human desire to capture the world:
all that the world is in a moment
and all that it is in all time.
At once.
T. SASITHARAN
Contents
About this Volume: Art
1
Bani Haykal, artbarrage
2
Jason Wee, Alms for A Pair
3
英培安, 沿着这条街道走下去
Yeng Pway Ngon, When You Walk Down This Road
4
Chong Tze Chien, Penny
5
T. Sasitharan, Capturing the World sub specie aeternitatis or Why Do Art?
6
Natalie Hennedige, A Litany of Broken Prayer and Promise
7
க. து. மு. இக்பால், குழந்தையும் கவிதையும்
K. T. M. Iqbal, Child
8
Haresh Sharma, Girl Talk
9
Ho Minfong, The Balinese Duck
10
சிங்கை மா இளங்கண்ணன், கொக்கொக்கக் கொக்கு
Ma Elangkannan, The Big Crane
11
吴耀宗, Post-中年
Gabriel Wu Yeow Chong, post-middle age
12
刘瑞金, 岛国意象
Henry Low Swee Kim, Images of the Island Nation
13
Daren Shiau, The Esplanade
14
Nadiputra, Penunggu Muara
Nadiputra, Guardian of the Bay
15
Cyril Wong, From a Beautiful Country
16
梁文福, 回去的路
Liang Wern Fook, The Path Back
17
Isa Kamari, Otai
Isa Kamari, Otai
18
Toh Hsien Min, Littoral
19
林高, 人生三段以后
Lin Gao, The Three Stages of Life, and After
20
Suratman Markasan, Dia Gila Burung
Suratman Markasan, Mad about Birds
21
韩劳达（韩永元）, 网上�
�头
Han Lao Da, Old Man on the Net: A Comedy
22
ஜே. எம். சாலி, விருப்பங்கள்... திருப்பங்கள்
J. M. Sali, Desires Twisted
23
Tan Mei Ching, The Long Walk
24
周粲, 散文: 人物志
Zhou Can, Three Essays: Character Studies
25
Troy Chin, A Wild Chicken Chase
About the Authors
About the Editors
About this Volume: Art
BY GWEE LI SUI
This volume balances two seemingly diametrical aspects of art: its idea or contemplation and its creation. Each of the twenty-five works featured here manifests a felt tension between the spiritual content of art, what compels its existence, and the pragmatic world to which it is given, what struggles to accommodate its essence. Art in this context appears in a variety of ways: as a material thing, a socio-cultural veneer, a technique or style making sense of life, and a subject of inquiry.
The thrust of this volume is not linear, and you will find no easy narrative from the abstract and sublime to the practical and mundane. My planned sequence is determined more by a general rhythm involving how art as a subject reappears each time, consuming a theme and then transmuting it to celebrate itself. In other words, the duality of art as concept and product – art in the head and in the world – is always maintained. The recurring invitation is to see the subtle self-vindication that art makes.