new directions in singapore studies
Posted in 10 so what on Sep 23rd, 2011
Philip Holden Review of Robert Yeo, Routes: A Singaporean Memoir, 1940-75, Singapore: Ethos Book, 2011, 384 pages. Robert Yeo’s Routes: A Singaporean Memoir 1940-1975 doesn’t at first seem like a memoir at all. The book consists of photographs, prose vignettes, fully transcribed letters, documents such as school reports, and long quotations from sources as diverse [...]
Posted in 9 the arts II on Jun 19th, 2011
Robert Yeo This is a personal essay to remember and chart my experience as a writer in the context of Singapore’s development, during the decade 1970-79, from cultural desert to global city. I will try to make connexions and generalizations which will, I hope, not seem too sweeping. “Only connect,” wrote E.M. Forster, and that [...]
Posted in 9 the arts II on Jun 19th, 2011
Alvin Pang Some months ago I was given the opportunity to curate an anthology of contemporary writing from Singapore. The result was a selection from thirty-nine living Singaporean writers spanning multiple genres working in the four major literary languages (Chinese, English, Malay, Tamil) in use today.
Posted in 9 the arts II on Jun 19th, 2011
A Tribute by Chng Seok Tin Translated by Karen Goh and Teng Siao See First published in 方修印象记 (Impressions of Fang Xiu), 2005 I was acquainted with Mr Fang Xiu. He was an unassuming but knowledgeable and amiable elder. Those who were not familiar with him could have easily dismissed him as an idling senior [...]
Posted in 9 the arts II on Jun 19th, 2011
Gwee Li Sui There is a case to be made for a literary impression that adaptation is the most difficult sub-genre in the field of comics. Any attempt to give Dave Chua and Koh Hong Teng’s Gone Case: A Graphic Novel its proper critical evaluation does well to keep this point in mind.
Posted in 7 men in white on Aug 7th, 2010
Philip Holden I thought I’d approach Men in White and the question of gender from two perspectives, both of which take advantage of my failings as a historian. In the first, I want to approach it as a general reader—as someone who came to Singapore in 1994 and so, like many younger Singaporeans, has no [...]
Posted in 6 the arts I on Mar 19th, 2010
Lee Tzu Pheng wolfnotes, a firstfruits exhibition We owe a considerable debt to Enoch for his trust and vision, his belief in the art of literature, which is what we are celebrating in this exhibition, wolfnotes. I see in this exhibition a way of affirming that literature’s roots are in the other arts even as [...]
Posted in 2 archives & memory II on Feb 26th, 2008
Robert Yeo Wang: I might start at the beginning. I’m not one of those schoolboy poets who wrote and published while still at school. When we arrived the very first month of the foundation of the University of Malaya in October 1949. it was a very exciting time for all of us. There was a [...]
Posted in 2 archives & memory on Jan 10th, 2008
Philip Holden Wang Gungwu is best known as a historian of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, and for a stellar academic career commencing at the University of Malaya in Singapore and culminating in periods as Vice Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong, and Director of the East Asia Institute, National University of Singapore. [...]
Posted in 2 archives & memory on Jan 10th, 2008
Wang Gungwu The Singapore Heritage Society presented a public talk by Professor Wang Gungwu, then Director of the East Asia Institute, on 10 April 2006 at the National Library, entitled “Learning Me Your Language”. Professor Wang discussed the politics of decolonization and English language writing in Singapore/Malaya in the early 1950s, a period when he [...]
Posted in 2 archives & memory on Jan 10th, 2008
Wang Gungwu From The Malayan Undergrad, Vol 9 No 5 July 1958 When I was a schoolboy a little more than ten years ago, no one talked of such a thing as Malayan poetry. It was not even known if there was any poetry written by people who lived in Malaya.
Posted in 2 archives & memory on Jan 10th, 2008
Sai Siew Min, with Lim Cheng Tju CC Chin: I have my ways. After all, history is not something that can be monopolized by a few individuals. Hundreds of thousands of people were involved in this movement. If I include supporters and sympathizers, there could be a million people involved over such a long time [...]
