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Memorandum
Featuring new translations of previously untranslated Chinese short stories, Memorandum maps out seven decades of Sinophone Singaporean Literature. From bargirls to student activists, from trishaw men to tea merchants, this collection provides a glimpse into a world that has been previously invisible to Anglophone readers. Paired with critical essays, these stories showcase the richness and diversity of Singapore’s Chinese community, but also its inherent interconnectedness with other cultures within Singapore.
- GenresShort Stories
476 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2020
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About the author
Quah Sy Ren
6 booksQuah Sy Ren is Associate Professor of Chinese at the School of Humanities, Nanyang Technological University. His research interests include literary and cultural studies, theatre and performance studies, and Singapore studies. He is the author of Scenes: A History of Singapore Chinese Language Theatre 1913-2013, Keywords: Literary Terms for Chinese Literary Study, and Gao Xingjian and Transcultural Chinese Theatre. He is also general editor of The Complete Works of Kuo Pao Kun.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 9, 2021
Memorandum is a, well, memorandum of Sinophone Singapore literature, and consist of works by 22 authors written over a span of almost 70 years.
The best part of the book is the foreword, translator's note, and the introduction for me. It details the working framework of the drivers of this project, and what they wanted to achieve, which they found was important for the Sinophone Singapore literature landscape. The translator and editors wanted to ensure this collection remains Singaporean and would not be recognised by readers of a different Sinophone origin.
The memorandum was divided into three themes that defines minor literature: deterritorialization, political element, and collective value.
The first theme explains in the introduction the history of the Chinese language in Singapore and the struggle of Chinese Singaporeans during the colonial era:
This revelation prompted me to ask my dad, for the first time, his experience with this. He was educated in one of the last few Chinese schools up to university, where he was then the first batch of Chinese-educated students to take their degree in English, with no preparation and concession whatsoever. He called it a collective trauma, and personally, it has also greatly impacted his mental health completing his degree. In that moment, I strongly feel connected to this book and was grateful it gave me an opportunity to understand the struggles of my older relatives.
The second theme explained that because the Chinese language was boxed in by social and power structures during that era, literature became very political, and it showcases stories that were metaphors or commentary of the political scene at that point in time.
The last theme aimed to surface how Sinophone Singapore literature, having the characteristic of minor literature, is charged with the role of the collective. If I were to try to explain this, I would parallel this with similar themes looking at majority-minority groups across other identities, such as gender and race. The dominant identity is free to live, create art, interact with society as an individual, without the burden of their identity, while the minority always have their minority identity tagged as their primary identity. Literature and women's literature. Music and black music.
The translator hopes that readers would want to seek out the original stories after reading them in this collection. What frustrated me was that the collection did not include the original titles and names of the authors in hanyu, making it impossible for me to google or begin my search for the original. I read this book because I was bilingual and wanted to understand my roots. I'm thankful that having English translations made me assessible for me, but without the original piece, the story feels distant, flat, washed out.
So it's a shame that after the introduction, I found that I was dragging myself through stories that I didn't enjoy reading. It is great actually that each story is paired with a short analysis which can include the author's background, the era in which the story was written, and an analysis of the theme or elements of the story. I found that fascinating too.
Overall, a really eye opening collection.
The best part of the book is the foreword, translator's note, and the introduction for me. It details the working framework of the drivers of this project, and what they wanted to achieve, which they found was important for the Sinophone Singapore literature landscape. The translator and editors wanted to ensure this collection remains Singaporean and would not be recognised by readers of a different Sinophone origin.
The memorandum was divided into three themes that defines minor literature: deterritorialization, political element, and collective value.
The first theme explains in the introduction the history of the Chinese language in Singapore and the struggle of Chinese Singaporeans during the colonial era:
"They experienced the struggle between topolects and Mandarin during their school education, which also denoted shifting social, political, and class identities. After graduation, they once again had to face language change and a new round of negotiation, this time with the increasing dominance of English, a symbol of the ruling elite."
This revelation prompted me to ask my dad, for the first time, his experience with this. He was educated in one of the last few Chinese schools up to university, where he was then the first batch of Chinese-educated students to take their degree in English, with no preparation and concession whatsoever. He called it a collective trauma, and personally, it has also greatly impacted his mental health completing his degree. In that moment, I strongly feel connected to this book and was grateful it gave me an opportunity to understand the struggles of my older relatives.
The second theme explained that because the Chinese language was boxed in by social and power structures during that era, literature became very political, and it showcases stories that were metaphors or commentary of the political scene at that point in time.
The last theme aimed to surface how Sinophone Singapore literature, having the characteristic of minor literature, is charged with the role of the collective. If I were to try to explain this, I would parallel this with similar themes looking at majority-minority groups across other identities, such as gender and race. The dominant identity is free to live, create art, interact with society as an individual, without the burden of their identity, while the minority always have their minority identity tagged as their primary identity. Literature and women's literature. Music and black music.
The translator hopes that readers would want to seek out the original stories after reading them in this collection. What frustrated me was that the collection did not include the original titles and names of the authors in hanyu, making it impossible for me to google or begin my search for the original. I read this book because I was bilingual and wanted to understand my roots. I'm thankful that having English translations made me assessible for me, but without the original piece, the story feels distant, flat, washed out.
So it's a shame that after the introduction, I found that I was dragging myself through stories that I didn't enjoy reading. It is great actually that each story is paired with a short analysis which can include the author's background, the era in which the story was written, and an analysis of the theme or elements of the story. I found that fascinating too.
Overall, a really eye opening collection.
Displaying 1 of 1 review