Lost Nostalgia: Stories

by Mohamed Latiff Mohamed

Genres: Short Stories

198 pages

Published January 1, 2017

About the author

Mohamed Latiff Mohamed is one of the most prolific writers to come after the first generation of writers in the Singapore Malay literary scene. His many accolades include the Montblanc-NUS Centre for the Arts Literary Award (1998), the SEA Write award (2002), the Tun Seri Lanang Award (Malay Language Council of Singapore, Ministry of Information, Communication and Arts) (2003), the National Arts Council Special Recognition Award (2009), the Cultural Medallion (2013) and the Singapore Literature Prize in 2004, 2006 and 2008. His works revolve around the life and struggles of the Malay community in pre- and post-independence Singapore, and have been translated into Chinese, English, German and Korean.

Reviews

[Harith Raduwan · Rating 4 out of 5]

read the original version

[Imran Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories are powerful. They compress ideas into small spaces and require author's not to waste time with frivolous words. Still, a good short story pierces Life (with a capital L) easier than many of the best novels.

Latiff's collection, Lost Nostalgia, is an anthology about Malay identity in a changing world. Changes wrought upon the Malay community by Singapore's independence from the colonial power, i.e. Britain, as well as the island state's messy divorce from Malaysia are seen through the lens of characters developed by Latiff's pen. To be sure, there must be an autobiographical element in many of these stories.

It is understandable that readers without knowledge of the historical, regional context of Latiff's writings may not readily appreciate the stories. The stories are provocative and reflective more than simply mindless entertainment.

[Fezhah Maznan · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a kid of the 90s, Lost Nostalgia brought back sentiments of my childhood and what I know of my mother’s and grandmother’s experience living in a Singapore that have been wiped away in the name of progress. Between the lines, I also read the frustrations of the Malay and Muslim community.

I recommend this to any one who wants to know the lived experience, the dreams and the frustrations of a Malay and Muslim in Singapore or even to find out more about a Singapore that we can now only access through nostalgia.