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Nurturing Young Singapore Writers
Tuesday, April 2, 2013 | 10:45 PM | 0 comments
Recent newspaper articles have discussed the
big drop in number of students taking Literature as an O Level subject. I mourn
this trend and feel that more should be done to encourage students to take it
as a subject, as I fully believe that the aforementioned subject is wonderfully
enriching and a great way to learn about the world.
However,
on the related note of nurturing budding writers (who could very well be publishing
works that will make up Singapore Literature in the future!), I'm pleased to
say that there are definitely avenues and programs that encourage youths to
express themselves through writing, be it novels, poems, or plays.
One
example of an event that allows one to express oneself is the Singapore Poetry SlamTM.
What
is Poetry SlamTM? It is the competitive art of writing and
performing poetry, staged as a friendly 3-round contest with prizes. Over 150,000
students and the general public have participated and watched Poetry SlamTM
in Singapore since 2003.
There
is also a youth section for this event, called the National Youth Poetry Slam
League (NYPSL) Championship, which was launched in 2006 by Word Forward Limited
with the help of the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts.
In fact, here is a video of the best slam of NYPSL 2009 for your interest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpwoRX2msEE
In fact, here is a video of the best slam of NYPSL 2009 for your interest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpwoRX2msEE
Yet
another event would be the All In! Young Writers Media Festival, an annual
festival for aspiring writers between the ages of 16 and 25.
Various workshops
and seminars are included in the programme of this event, with the purpose of
enabling young writers to meet peers and established practitioners, impart knowledge
and skills to these youths, and last but not least spark inspiration and
creativity in them, hopefully pushing them to embark on their future careers.
Hopefully, such events as those mentioned above will inspire and encourage more youths to form the next generation of Singapore writers, following in the footsteps of those like the 5 writers we have chosen to cover in our blog.
Evening Song by Leong Liew Geok
| 10:47 AM | 0 comments
I found this poem while I was on the hunt for Singapore
Literature-related items, and thought I'd like to share it with the world, even
if its writer isn't featured in our anthology (Writing Singapore: An
Historical Anthology of Singapore Literature). But first, some quick
background information on the writer:
Leong Liew Geok is a renowned local poet. Born in 1947 in Penang, Malaysia, she
was one of the ten Singaporeans selected for American publisher W. W. Norton's
2008 international anthology titled Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle
East, Asia, and Beyond, which features 440 poems by 440 poets. Leong's
first poetry collection, Love Is Not Enough (1991) (from which this poem
is taken!), was recommended for a book award by the National Book Development
Council in 1992.
Evening Song
by Leong Liew Geok
Come, my darlings, let me see
Your files and papers please;
Put them neatly on my table:
How did you fare in Assessment Three?
Off with TV; sit on either side;
Let’s first look at Chinese and Math.
I wonder if you’ve progressed –
80 for Math? A shocking slide!
And you, my girl? This will never do!
Chinese, only 82? Listen, both:
Peabrain! Cretin! These are the pits –
I expect better things from you!
All this will count toward
Your final position in the standard;
Pull up your socks; shape up, or else
Demotion will be your reward.
Since overall performance is AVERAGE,
I must assign more exercises,
So you’ll improve in CA Four
To secure an A‐STAR percentage.
A word with your tutor may increase
A 70% stake in the subject;
Spending holidays with her, my boy,
May change your grades in Chinese.
What’s that whispering I hear?
Brain damage from too much work?
There’s mud in your cerebral cortex –
Grey matter has nothing to fear!
Never forget the fact –
There’s nothing like an early start;
Avoid Normal and Express for SAP
You brats – take that! And that!
Leong, Liew Geok. Love is Not Enough. Singapore, Times Editions Pte Ltd
Some quick discussion on the poem:
Evening Song takes on the much-discussed issue of the academic pressure and stress that is placed on students in Singapore nowadays, but in a light-hearted manner. As seen in this poem, parental expectations of good academic results can come into play even as early as primary school, in addition to pressure created by teachers as well as by the students themselves.
The persona starts out with the use of an affectionate term in "Come, my darlings" and the use of a polite, rational tone with his/her children. However, this quickly changes into a tone of disappointment and an inability to hear her children's pleas and complaints of fatigue. Though the poet employs the use of humour to look at this issue, one also notes an underlying sinister atmosphere, as the children have little say in their lives due to the authoritarian personality of the persona.
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