A History of Amnesia: Poems

by Alfian Sa'at

Unapologetic, unafraid and unyielding, Alfian’s second collection of verse delves in greater depth the concerns in his first volume and moves into reclaiming our collective history and memory.

In mining our psyche, he casts light where whispers and shadows lurk. He draws inspiration from censored histories, subsumed myths and invokes imagined voices from the exiled, demanding of the reader to witness the ubiquitous ideological fictions that surround us.

This is one of the most dissonant and penetrating voices in Singapore poetry.

A History of Amnesia is listed in the notable books list by the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Award (administered by University of San Francisco).

Genres: Poetry, Fiction

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[WYKW · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am surprised that this book is listed on Goodreads. No Other City (An anthology of Urban Singapore) isn't. I like how Alfian Sa'at teases apart the darker side of multi-cultural urban Singapore. Themes such as apathy, shallowness and contrived national identity have been flogged to death many times over by many a Singaporean poets. Alfian Sa'at manages to address these issues and others without coming across as overbearing or stale.

[chloe prasetya · Rating 3 out of 5]

sa’at writes from the margins of collective memory (see ‘residues’). his vision is "peripheral", disallowing forgettance of the political “suicidees, exiles and hermits of conscience” that the state has consigned to the annals of amnesia.

he writes of national unity at the cost of annihilation of the individual spirit, of truncated histories (“this poem / that did not know how to end. only when.”) at times, he echoes the singaporean state’s paternalism (see ‘why a man cannot have wings’). he casts his poetry in the state’s language: a “counterfeit”.

other times, sa’at is the “searchlight” beaming back out from a political prisoner’s scars, incriminating and implicating, always probing: who or what is the real counterfeit in the singaporean story/ies?

[sbs transit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as a break from macroecons and honestly surprised he found time to do this up during M4/5

Choice quote:

"Family Portraits

i. The Son is in Secondary School

My badge has a Lattin motto
Hope for the future
The future is hope
Or something

At times black crows interrupt
When we sing the National Anthem

It is difficult to maintain
The whiteness of my shoes
Especially on Wednesdays"

[r.x. ang · Rating 5 out of 5]

A recent buy, I didn’t think “The History of Amnesia” was still in print & was so glad to purchase it.

The opening poem, ‘Autobiography’, is one of my favourite Sa’at poems and I’ve read it so many times.

When I awoke, I was twenty, being asked
If I had a happy childhood. Yes, the one
We all have: filled to the brim
With the love of absent things.

[Nic · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Alfian’s earlier poetry anthologies. In recording not just unmentionables in our history, there’s also an interweaving of the personal histories which the book tries to capture. There are a few poems in this collection that I was already familiar with, but they were rendered more powerful when read within other works.

[Yifarn Loo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was more political rant than poetry for me.

[mushyreading · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling read, digging into lost histories and nostalgia.

[Atikah Wahid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alfian Saat came at the right time in my life. I was younger and wore my heart on my sleeve. I stumbled upon his earlier work, "One Fierce Hour" at the library and was floored. Alfian won me over in a way that no other poet had. Fast forward to 2016, I am reading this poetry anthology, a book that was sitting on my shelf for years. I'm older now with more distance between what I feel and what I think. I have mostly lost interest in poetry altogether because poetry is subjective and emotive, and if you don't feel moved then I personally think the poem has failed. This anthology, however, still has the ability to catch me off-guard. He has this ability to use simple everyday terms and events, and string them together to create so much meaning and depth. He is also unmistakably Singaporean in these poems, writing intimate observations of his own family and also, commenting on local political topics. My favourite poems in this anthology are "Fasting in Ramadhan", "Minority Report", "Why a Man Cannot Have Wings", "The City Remembers" and "Apathy".

[Ray Ong · Rating 4 out of 5]

seething with anger and sarcasm, Sa'at's second collection of poetry is laced with an undercurrent of bitterness. not so much for himself perhaps, but at the plight of the marginalized and prosecuted, including disgraced Singaporeans such as Chia Thye Poh and Josef Ng. The irony in the title is definitely not lost to the reader, and succinctly sums up his feelings towards the State.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lost this book in my room but I found it again today and finally finished it. I'd personally actually put it closer to a 8.5/10, but I felt like the overall rating should be higher than it is. Reading Alfian's writing makes me want to breathe poetry. Favourite poems include, but are not limited to Why A Man Cannot Have Wings and the Electric Ghazals.

[JL · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brutal diagnosis of the undertones of Singapore's society, portraying its manifesting symptoms with seductive wit. It demolishes optimistic nationalism to replace it with a disenchanting revelation of what we have always suspected but never dare confess, leaving the reader in a pathetic mess of a drug-addict begging - begging for another dose of medicine, of poetry, and of truth.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

hard-core singaporean-styled writings. intentionally heartlander stylistics, but so precise in its desires that it pierces like an arrow through the apple from the bow of robin hood. dare i say that it will win your singapore-shy heart if you even mildly shun to defend your country.

[Didi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can't sleep, finished reading this at 3.30am. Second time reading this; first being the time I bought it, back in 2003. Sheesh! Nearly a decade ago. Think I like it better this time round, or maybe it's just the insomnia talking ;)

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best local poetry collection I've come across.

[Sabrina Loh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A daring poetry collection, one that touches on race, the private life, national identity, etc.; and all in a lyrical, dramatic voice that is also charged with philosophical and political insight.