Minority Literature, Performativity, Resistance: The Case of Anglophone and Sinophone Malaysian Writings

Authors

  • Andrew Hock Soon Ng

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31436/asiatic.v12i2.1328

Abstract

This essay demonstrates how non-Malay language writers in Malaysia attempt to subvert the state’s promotion of a single-language (Malay) literature as national literature through the practice of authorial insularity, which is writing within one’s religio-ethnic community. In the case of sinophone literature, this practice has the added significance of refusing submission to a literary heritage (Chinese) that is fundamentally foreign to its cultural identity. The works of Malaysian anglophone writers such as Salleh ben Joned, Che Husna Azhari and K.S. Maniam, as well as Malaysian-born sinophone writer, Ng Kim Chew, will be discussed to illustrate my overarching point.

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Published

2018-12-30

How to Cite

Soon Ng, A. H. (2018). Minority Literature, Performativity, Resistance: The Case of Anglophone and Sinophone Malaysian Writings. Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature, 12(2), 65–82. https://doi.org/10.31436/asiatic.v12i2.1328

Issue

Section

Section II: Twenty-First Century Malaysian Literature