Bunga Emas: An Anthology of Contemporary Malaysian Literature (1930-1963) assemble two books that are Bunga Emas and Tracks of a Tramp, which first appeared over half a century ago, in the period after Merdeka, when the nation, still a fledgling, had so much hope and promise. Bunga Emas means tribute, as the editor explains in the glossary, an offering of Chinese and Indian writers and poets, who had made Malaysia their home, to ‘their evanescent mother culture.’ This anthology of Malayan/Malaysian Literature in English, Chinese and Tamil from 1930 to 1963 (all translated into English), is something that’s never been done before, nor since.
Apart from being an excellent historical record of pre- and post-independence Malaysia writing, this collection proves that good stories never grow old or tired. Although this volume is only a small sample from the period, and it will be dangerous to draw too many conclusions from it, one cannot help but admire the sheer quality, the ideas, and the craftsmanship. They might have been written half a century ago, but they sound so current. More importantly, in here are voices of the other that we seldom hear (and often ignore).
Preface to Second Edition (Revised & Augmented) of Bunga Emas and Tracks of a Tramp
BUNGA EMAS
Dedication (second edition)
Acknowledgments
Preface (First Edition)
PART ONE: ENGLISH
Wong Phui Nam
— How the Hills are Distant
— A Version from T’ao Yuan Ming
— Nocturnes and Bagatelles (selections)
Goh Poh Seng
— Reformation from Dissolution
— The Un-attenuatable Sameness
— Back to Dry Leaves
— No Amalgamation of Silhouettes
Oliver Seet Beng Hean
— Volcano
— Vihara
— The Tuning Fork
— Tomorrow’s Termites
— Inspiration
— He who lives by the Hammer
Lee Geok Lan
— Credo (To-)
— Cross-Roads
— Finale (To-)
— Batu Road
— Nirvana
Tan Han Hoe
— Cathedral
— Northern Fingers
— Readers
— Amoeba
— Changi
— Once
— Mine
— Lallang
— Croc
— Stroke
— Taste
Awang Kedua
— On Hearing of a Friend’s Death
— If I was Born to Rule
— In a Silk-Draped Hothouse
— I am not a Soldier
S. Rajaratnam
— Famine
— The Locusts
— What Has To Be
Lee Kok Liang
— Birthday
— Ami To Fu
— Return to Malaya (An Essay)
Awang Kedua
— A New Sensation
Ooi Boon Seng
— Obsession
T. Wignesan
— One more War
— The Altar Cloth and The Pope
— The Bogey in the Tall Tree of the Long Name
PART TWO: CHINESE
Wei Pei-Hua
— Stone Lion
Tu Hung
— Picture
Chien Shih
— I do not sing
Miao Hsiu
— Hang out the Red
Wei Yun
— The Dusk
Sung Ya
— Excerpts from The Green Leaf
Ho Chin
— Excerpts from The Little Thatched Hut
PART THREE: TAMIL
N. Palanivelu
— Ant—Man—Nature
K. Perumal
— Accusation
— Destiny
T. S. Shanmugam
— Sprouting Young Leaf
R. Karthigesu
— The Plantain Tree
B.S. Narayanan
— Love of Eyes (A Play for Sound)
PART FOUR: POSTSCRIPT
Eric N.W. Morrram
— Wong Phui Nam
T. Wignesan
— The Malayan Short Story in English
— Origins and Scope of Tamil Literature in Malaysia
— A Brief Survey of Contemporary Malay Literature
Wang Gung-Wu
— A Short Introduction to Chinese Writing in Malaya
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
GLOSSARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
TRACKS OF A TRAMP
Acknowledgements
Dedication
Preface (first edition)
Preface (second edition)
Introduction (by Eric Mottram)
POEM FOR ANANGA
Part One
The Death of the Hindu
The Snake Charmer and the Hamadryad
The Temple Drummer and Piper
The Breath of the Informer, an Allegory
Who dares to take this life from me, knows no better,
Notes to Who dares to take this life from me, knows no better
Part Two
Blinks through Blood-shot walks
Pied à terre
Feet, feet that walked away with the toes Tracks in the Private Country
Night in the Eyes Invading
Bedtime on Tramp
I saw a tree a-falling
Little Clock
Coal-Truck
The Gnat Nebula
Part Three—for Ananga
Fish don’t bite
The Pinch
Unheeded in the spread of his name, quaking
Letter to… from the Classic Archetypal Dope, January 4 1960
Kritik der Urteilskraft
About the author (from the first edition)
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet