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The Taximan's Story
Wednesday, March 27, 2013 | 1:17 AM | 0 comments
The Taximan's Story
What I like about The Taximan's Story is the
way I feel it elevates the status of the ordinary man, as a mere taxi driver is
handed the power of semi-omniscience. He does not possess power in the
traditional sense, like a Prime Minister, President or King does, but is
all-seeing and all-knowing as he encounters passengers from all walks of life
on a daily basis. The taxi driver is even aware of what activities go on in the
fringes of society, such as that of prostitution.
"Ah, madam, I know, I know! As taximan, I know them and
their habits... Ah, madam, I see you surprise, but I know, I know all their
tricks."
If knowledge is power, that would make the
taximan an extremely powerful individual, as he is, as I mentioned earlier,
all-seeing and all-knowing. However, one questions whether or not the power he
wields is real power. The possession
of information does not make him invincible or less vulnerable to it than any
other individual - his own daughter is discovered to be engaging in the
activities that he himself looks down upon. Clearly, the power of omniscience
does not necessarily mean that he is above being affected by such activities. In fact, one can even say that in
this story, knowledge is seen to be a burden. By being painfully aware of the
tricks used by young schoolgirls, the hurt and anger that he feels with regard
to his daughter's actions are probably even more heightened. This is especially
so when one considers how ironic it is that something that has brought him
sustenance (the young girls paying him for their taxi rides) is now coming back
to haunt him.
Labels: Catherine Lim, Syahirah
Interesting Videos featuring Catherine Lim
Saturday, March 23, 2013 | 10:12 AM | 0 comments
Videos featuring Catherine Lim
In this interview for Singapore Can Speak
2010, Lim speaks about how she became a writer, and how she draws inspiration
from her everyday observations of people. There are 4 other parts to the
interview which you can find listed below, in which she speaks about numerous
topics like the standard of speaking in Singaporean youths today, the
importance of confidence in life, and what she feels makes a good speech. Check them out!
Catherine Lim was also featured on a program called Peschardt's People, which is a documentary television series. Hosted by Michael Peschardt, he interviews personalities whom he feels "have something extraordinary about their lives", some of whom include Robert de Niro, Amitabh Bachchan, Olivia Newton-John, Fann Wong, and of course, Catherine Lim.
Labels: Catherine Lim, Syahirah
The English Language Teacher's Secret
Monday, March 18, 2013 | 11:51 PM | 0 comments
The English Language Teacher's Secret by Catherine Lim
I found this short story both highly amusing
yet poignant at the same time; in fact, after I'd finished reading it I felt
this profound sadness for the main character Miss Ponniah. It is one thing to
have lost someone that you love dearly, but it is quite another to be reminded
of that loss on a daily basis.
The story begins with a description of an
issue that remains highly relevant to this day: the "increasing tendency
among graduate women to stay unmarried". Women are becoming increasingly
empowered and are choosing to focus on their careers, which has consequently
contributed to Singapore's worryingly low total fertility rate - a problem that
is not easily rectified.
The combination of exaggeration with a
matter-of-fact tone is employed in order to create humour: the narrator tells
us that the issue is of such high importance that no less than the Prime Minister himself is
alerting the nation to the "perils of this trend", and that "the
minister whose prestige was only slightly less than the Prime Minister's, took
upon himself the task of personally interviewing" graduate women in order
to get to the root of the problem. The image of an important minister going
around asking graduate women for the reason they do not want to marry the
educated Singaporean man is one that creates a derisive sort of humour, as he
has been reduced to such a task, and one that does not correspond with his high
ranking. On the other hand, one could also look at it from another point of
view, which is that this problem has become one that is so crucial that even a
high-ranking minister must now get directly involved in the effort of fixing
it.
There is some critique of the government's
methods here in this piece, as the narrator describes them as "not
normally given to these methods of getting things done". On such an issue
of love and marriage, one cannot simply hope to fix all problems by building
"social grooming" into the curriculum of students in Junior Colleges.
The writer also shows critique of the government by portraying that to them, love
and marriage are only important in the sense that the lack of "brainy
children" is hindering the country's future economic development.
This brings me to the issue of women's roles,
which is also highlighted in this short story. This trend whereby graduate
women are staying unmarried is described as one that is depriving the country
of future growth, and one that is caused by the "error of their
ways". Furthermore, nearing the end of the second paragraph, female
graduates are described as a "crop" that was "left largely
unsought". What all these pieces of evidence point to is an attitude
towards women that sees them as only being good for producing children. The use
of the word "crop", especially, paints a picture of women as reduced
to plants good only for yielding babies, and crops controlled by farmers who,
in a patriarchal society, are the males.
Another theme crucial to this story is that of filial piety. In Asian societies like Singapore, this is a value highly regarded and esteemed, and in this piece Miss Ponniah, the protagonist, is described as a daughter who stays loyal to her father as he lives out his last days. This fulfillment of her duty and responsibility to her father, however, is what costs her the love of her life, Dr Chellam. The writer thus brings to light the problems with blindly following orders, even if those orders come from someone respected and loved, such as a parent.
Labels: Catherine Lim, Syahirah
10 Facts about Catherine Lim
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 | 9:53 AM | 0 comments
10 Facts about Catherine Lim
1.
Catherine Lim's novella Leap of Love was
made into a movie (The Leap Years) by
Singapore's Raintree Pictures in 2008. The movie was directed by Jean Yeo and
stars Wong Li-Lin and Ananda Everingham. (I actually remember watching this in the cinema!)
2. She has published more than 20 works.
3.
She has 13 siblings!
4.
5.
Her works have been published in the UK, the US, France, Germany, the
Netherlands, Israel, Greece, Italy, Spain and Iceland.
6.
Major themes in Lim's stories include that of traditional Asian culture (in
particular Chinese culture) and women's issues.
7. "I write because I enjoy it. I
write about things that interest me - human behaviour, human relationships, the
not-so-pleasant abilities people posses to deceive one another, seek revenge,
inflict pain. And their capacity to bear it all as well".
8. Lim's inspiration for her stories
comes from her personal life experiences. Many of her characters are drawn from
her childhood memories, the people she has encountered and her mother's and
grandfather's stories that she heard while growing up in Malaysia.
9. She considers herself both a liberal
feminist and a conservative.
10. Her 2 collections of short stories, Little Ironies: Short Stories of Singapore and Or Else, The Lightning God and
Other Stories have been selected as literature texts for the international GCE O' Level Examinations.
Labels: Catherine Lim, Syahirah
Catherine Lim
Sunday, March 3, 2013 | 1:05 PM | 0 comments
The Writer
Born
on 21st March 1942 in Penang, Malaysia, Catherine Lim is a well-known
Singaporean writer with over 20 works to her name. Prominent themes present in some of her works are that of traditional
Chinese culture and the clash between tradition and modernity.
Many
of these works have gained her international acclaim, with some accolades she
has received including an Honorary
Doctorate in Literature from Murdoch University, the Southeast Asia Write Award,
as well as the Chevalier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Ministry for
Culture and Communications of France for her contributions to literature.
Lim
continues to write both fiction and social and political commentary today.
Her Works:
Novels:
· The
Serpent's Tooth, Times Books International, Singapore, 1982
· The
Bondmaid, self-published, 1995 (Orion 1997; foreign edns 1997, 1998)
· The
Teardrop Story Woman, Orion, London, 1998
· Following
the Wrong God Home, Allen & Unwin, London, 2001
· Leap
of Love, Horizon Books, Singapore, 2003 (a novella)
· The
Song of Silver Frond, Orion, London, 2003
· Miss
Seetoh and the World, Marshall Cavendish, 2010
Short
Story Collections:
· Little
Ironies: Stories of Singapore, Heinemann Asia, Singapore, 1978
· Or
Else, the Lightning God and Other Stories, Heinemann Asia, Singapore, 1980
· They
Do Return...But Gently Lead Them Back, Times Books International,
Singapore, 1983
· The
Shadow of a Shadow of a Dream: Love Stories of Singapore, Times Books
International, Singapore, 1987
· O
Singapore! Stories in Celebration, Times Books International, Singapore,
1988
· Deadline
for Love and Other Stories, Heinemann Asia, 1992
· Meet
Me on the Queen Elizabeth 2!, Heinemann Asia, Singapore, 1993
· The
Best of Catherine Lim, Heinemann Asia, Singapore, 1993
· The
Woman's Book of Superlatives, Times Books International, 1993
· The
Howling Silence: tales of the dead and their return, Horizon Books,
Singapore 1999
Poetry
· Love's
Lonely Impulses, Heinemann Asia, Singapore, 1992
· Humoresque,
Horizon Books, Singapore, 2006
Non-fiction
· Unhurried
Thoughts At My Funeral, Horizon Books, Singapore, 2005
· A
Watershed Election: Singapore's GE 2011, Marshall Cavendish, Singapore, 2011
Labels: Catherine Lim, Syahirah