Gregory Nalpon’s “The Rose and the Silver Keyâ€: A Historicist Reading
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31436/asiatic.v7i1.293Abstract
Gregory Nalpon, while today a virtually forgotten Singaporean writer, represents one of the most unique, imaginative and colourful voices in Singapore fiction, c. 1960-80. This paper focusses on Nalpon’s most well-known, and perhaps most accomplished short story, “The Rose and the Silver Key.†By subjecting Nalpon’s story to a careful historicist reading I suggest that the distinctive qualities of “The Rose and the Silver Key†derive from both the specific moment and the normally marginalised figures represented, as well as Nalpon’s fairly unique stance, in the Singapore as Indian, trades unionist and “gentleman of leisure.†At the same time this historicist reading complements Frank Brennan’s earlier benevolent reading, revealing “The Rose and the Silver Key†as mediated and often beguilingly ambiguous social critique of the colonial city c. 1960 and the nation state c. 1978.
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