Arriving by: K.S. Maniam
The Story
• Focused on the Malaysian Indian male named Krishnan.
• Always spend time at a Chinese coffee shop with 3 of his Chinese friends and a Malay friend named Mat.
• Got accused by Mat as a “ pendatang”.
• Became confused and lost after wondering about the notion of “ pendatang “
• Nearly surrendered to this notion.
• Came back to his senses after remembering an experience of him with Mat and Mr. Cuthbert.
• Accepted the fact that he is a “pendatang” like Mat has said but he also thought that he is a local like Mat too.
The Theme : Self-Identity
• Conflict of self-identity ; the search for the meaning of “ pendatang “
• Related to the effect of Diaspora ; Unhomeliness.
• A person who was affected by this effect will be in a state of in-between-ness, not a part of a something, not whole.
• This is the experience that Krishnan went through.
• Had to find the meaning of “ pendatang “ in the in-between-ness
Monday, May 5, 2008
What Is Literature?
INTRODUCTION
Literature noun (U) 1. stories, poems and plays, especially those that are considered to have value as art and not just entertainment.
They are cultural documents which offer a deeper understanding of a country or countries (Basnet & Mounfold 1993). Other linguists say that there is no inherent quality to a literary text that makes a literary text, rather it is the interpretation that the reader gives to the text (Eagleton 1983). This brings us back to the above definition in the sense that literature is only literature if it is considered as art.
WHY USE LITERATURE?
Literature is authentic material. It is good to expose learners to this source of unmodified language in the classroom because they skills they acquire in dealing with difficult or unknown language can be used outside the class.
Literature encourages interaction. Literary texts are often rich is multiple layers of meaning, and can be effectively mined for discussions and sharing feelings or opinions.
Literature expands language awareness. Asking learners to examine sophisticated or non standard examples of language (which can occur in literary texts) makes them more aware of the norms of language use (Widdowson, 1975 quoted by Lazar 1993).
Literature educates the whole person. By examining values in literary texts, teachers encourage learners to develop attitudes towards them. These values and attitudes relate to the world outside the classroom.
Literature is motivating. Literature holds high status in many cultures and countries. For this reason, students can feel a real sense of achievement at understanding a piece of highly respected literature. Also, literature is often more interesting than the texts found in course books.
PROSE FICTION
Prose consists of writing that does not adhere to any particular formal structures (other than simple grammar); "non-poetic writing," writing, perhaps. The term sometimes appears pejoratively, but prosaic writing simply says something without necessarily trying to say it in a beautiful way, or using beautiful words. Prose writing can of course take beautiful form; but less by virtue of the formal features of words (rhymes, alliteration, meter). But one need not mark the distinction precisely, and perhaps cannot do so. Note the classifications:
Narrative fiction (narrative prose) generally favours prose for the writing of novels, short stories, and the like. Singular examples of these exist throughout history, but they did not develop into systematic and discrete literary forms until relatively recent centuries. Length often serves to categorize works of prose fiction.
A short story comprises prose writing of less than 10,000 to 20,000 words, but typically more than 500 words, which may or may not have a narrative arc.
A story containing between 20,000 and 50,000 words falls into the novella category.
A work of fiction containing more than 50,000 words falls squarely into the realm of the novel.
A novel consists simply of a long story written in prose; yet it developed comparatively recently.
DRAMA
A play or drama offers another classical literary form that has continued to evolve over the years. It generally comprises chiefly dialogue between characters, and usually aims at dramatic / theatrical performance (see theatre) rather than at reading. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, opera developed as a combination of poetry, drama, and music. Nearly all drama took verse form until comparatively recently.
Greek drama exemplifies the earliest form of drama of which we have substantial knowledge. Tragedy, as a dramatic genre, developed as a performance associated with religious and civic festivals, typically enacting or developing upon well-known historical or mythological themes. Tragedies generally presented very serious themes and treated important conflicts in human nature, but not necessarily "tragic" ones as currently understood — meaning sad and without a happy ending. Greek comedy, as a dramatic genre, developed later than tragedy; Greek festivals eventually came to include three tragedies counterbalanced by a comedy or satyr play.
POETRY
A poem is a composition usually written in verse. Poems rely heavily on imagery, precise words choice, and metaphor; they may take the form of measures consisting of patterns of stresses (metric feet) or of patterns of different-length syllables (as in classical prosody); and they may or may not utilise rhyme. One cannot readily characterise poetry precisely. Typically though, poetry as a form of literature makes some significant use of the formal properties of the words it uses — the properties attached to the written or spoken form of the words, rather than to their meaning. Metre depends on syllables and on rhythms of speech; rhyme and alliteration depend on words that have similar pronunciation. Some recent poets, such as E. E. Cummings, made extensive use of words' visual form.
Literature noun (U) 1. stories, poems and plays, especially those that are considered to have value as art and not just entertainment.
They are cultural documents which offer a deeper understanding of a country or countries (Basnet & Mounfold 1993). Other linguists say that there is no inherent quality to a literary text that makes a literary text, rather it is the interpretation that the reader gives to the text (Eagleton 1983). This brings us back to the above definition in the sense that literature is only literature if it is considered as art.
WHY USE LITERATURE?
Literature is authentic material. It is good to expose learners to this source of unmodified language in the classroom because they skills they acquire in dealing with difficult or unknown language can be used outside the class.
Literature encourages interaction. Literary texts are often rich is multiple layers of meaning, and can be effectively mined for discussions and sharing feelings or opinions.
Literature expands language awareness. Asking learners to examine sophisticated or non standard examples of language (which can occur in literary texts) makes them more aware of the norms of language use (Widdowson, 1975 quoted by Lazar 1993).
Literature educates the whole person. By examining values in literary texts, teachers encourage learners to develop attitudes towards them. These values and attitudes relate to the world outside the classroom.
Literature is motivating. Literature holds high status in many cultures and countries. For this reason, students can feel a real sense of achievement at understanding a piece of highly respected literature. Also, literature is often more interesting than the texts found in course books.
PROSE FICTION
Prose consists of writing that does not adhere to any particular formal structures (other than simple grammar); "non-poetic writing," writing, perhaps. The term sometimes appears pejoratively, but prosaic writing simply says something without necessarily trying to say it in a beautiful way, or using beautiful words. Prose writing can of course take beautiful form; but less by virtue of the formal features of words (rhymes, alliteration, meter). But one need not mark the distinction precisely, and perhaps cannot do so. Note the classifications:
Narrative fiction (narrative prose) generally favours prose for the writing of novels, short stories, and the like. Singular examples of these exist throughout history, but they did not develop into systematic and discrete literary forms until relatively recent centuries. Length often serves to categorize works of prose fiction.
A short story comprises prose writing of less than 10,000 to 20,000 words, but typically more than 500 words, which may or may not have a narrative arc.
A story containing between 20,000 and 50,000 words falls into the novella category.
A work of fiction containing more than 50,000 words falls squarely into the realm of the novel.
A novel consists simply of a long story written in prose; yet it developed comparatively recently.
DRAMA
A play or drama offers another classical literary form that has continued to evolve over the years. It generally comprises chiefly dialogue between characters, and usually aims at dramatic / theatrical performance (see theatre) rather than at reading. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, opera developed as a combination of poetry, drama, and music. Nearly all drama took verse form until comparatively recently.
Greek drama exemplifies the earliest form of drama of which we have substantial knowledge. Tragedy, as a dramatic genre, developed as a performance associated with religious and civic festivals, typically enacting or developing upon well-known historical or mythological themes. Tragedies generally presented very serious themes and treated important conflicts in human nature, but not necessarily "tragic" ones as currently understood — meaning sad and without a happy ending. Greek comedy, as a dramatic genre, developed later than tragedy; Greek festivals eventually came to include three tragedies counterbalanced by a comedy or satyr play.
POETRY
A poem is a composition usually written in verse. Poems rely heavily on imagery, precise words choice, and metaphor; they may take the form of measures consisting of patterns of stresses (metric feet) or of patterns of different-length syllables (as in classical prosody); and they may or may not utilise rhyme. One cannot readily characterise poetry precisely. Typically though, poetry as a form of literature makes some significant use of the formal properties of the words it uses — the properties attached to the written or spoken form of the words, rather than to their meaning. Metre depends on syllables and on rhythms of speech; rhyme and alliteration depend on words that have similar pronunciation. Some recent poets, such as E. E. Cummings, made extensive use of words' visual form.
Poem AT THE TABLE By Hilary Tham
"Selfishness? I'm very good at that," the beautiful young
woman said, turning her searchlight eyes
from the good-looking waiter
momentarily in my direction.
I am disconcerted by her braggadocio.
Only the most vulnerable go on the offensive
to distract possible enemies. The fortified
send their words like ambassadors
on caparisoned horses to negotiate
alliances, common ground to build
enduring structures, civilization.
I hope she will arrive at Rabbi Hillel's wisdom:
If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, then what am I?
And if not now, when?
But I do not quote Hillel to her.
An insecure country does not
let unknown messengers cross its borders.
woman said, turning her searchlight eyes
from the good-looking waiter
momentarily in my direction.
I am disconcerted by her braggadocio.
Only the most vulnerable go on the offensive
to distract possible enemies. The fortified
send their words like ambassadors
on caparisoned horses to negotiate
alliances, common ground to build
enduring structures, civilization.
I hope she will arrive at Rabbi Hillel's wisdom:
If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, then what am I?
And if not now, when?
But I do not quote Hillel to her.
An insecure country does not
let unknown messengers cross its borders.
WRITERS' RETREAT IN TUSCANY By Hilary Tham
The women here, five to every male, hang
their hopes on the thread of a man's yes or no; changing
course like a river meeting hard rock. Secret hopes, flowering
unbidden, like hawkweed on stony slopes, at the foot
fall of Endymion wandering by. I sense unspoken
invitations, subtle skirmishes for place on the tour bus.
Everywhere I look, stone walls and marble statues,
bearing Time's marks and erasures, crumbling walls,
stairs to an Italian garden, now a road where buses, cars
carry tourists to invade your hill towns, Siena, Certaldo,
San Gimignano. In the country of love, your sad gates open
to overnight guests without reservations.
Each midnight, I walk on the terrace for my last cigarette,
check the skies for stars I know. I watch the lights
of distant hill-towns, with people bedding down
in their own beds, or another's, while the grapes ripen
on the vines and olives turn dark with oil, and night
winds bend around the straight cypresses.
I am filled with gratitude
for what I have: the quietude of balance, the heart's
being free of wanting, knowing out there
beyond the hazy slopes of convoluted olive trunks
and grape vines, my love remembers holding me,
as I remember holding him, each absence a gift of affirmation,
desire placed on hold waiting renewal. Beyond my terrace wall
a drift of voices, amazed at stone shaped by human hands,
structures that endure.
their hopes on the thread of a man's yes or no; changing
course like a river meeting hard rock. Secret hopes, flowering
unbidden, like hawkweed on stony slopes, at the foot
fall of Endymion wandering by. I sense unspoken
invitations, subtle skirmishes for place on the tour bus.
Everywhere I look, stone walls and marble statues,
bearing Time's marks and erasures, crumbling walls,
stairs to an Italian garden, now a road where buses, cars
carry tourists to invade your hill towns, Siena, Certaldo,
San Gimignano. In the country of love, your sad gates open
to overnight guests without reservations.
Each midnight, I walk on the terrace for my last cigarette,
check the skies for stars I know. I watch the lights
of distant hill-towns, with people bedding down
in their own beds, or another's, while the grapes ripen
on the vines and olives turn dark with oil, and night
winds bend around the straight cypresses.
I am filled with gratitude
for what I have: the quietude of balance, the heart's
being free of wanting, knowing out there
beyond the hazy slopes of convoluted olive trunks
and grape vines, my love remembers holding me,
as I remember holding him, each absence a gift of affirmation,
desire placed on hold waiting renewal. Beyond my terrace wall
a drift of voices, amazed at stone shaped by human hands,
structures that endure.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
"Grandmother" by Kemala
Grandmother by Kemala and translated by Hafiz Arif
No one knows her exact age.
She herself isn’t really sure.
She is very old. And apart from God,
she most loves the mats she weaves.
She takes the thorny mengkuang from the deep
jungle.
She knows the cruel sting of its thorns and the pain
of torn flesh as the thorns strike deep.
She has boldly drunk the ancient waters of this
love.
Grandmother clears the thorns from the green
leaves.
She passes through difficult days of smiling,
laughing like the water in which she boils her
leaves,
before she dries and straightens them.
She loves the dazzling colours of the forest,
learns answers to the riddles of life from the criss-
cross of flowers.
Knows the meaning of love
and ordered devotion.
The mat is done.
She flings it forward.
It is beautiful.
Lost in thought, she is happy,
and grateful.
Then her customers come. Their sting
is worse than that of the mengkuang.
How deep the meaning of love.
How high the price of parting.
(In-sights-Malaysian poems)
No one knows her exact age.
She herself isn’t really sure.
She is very old. And apart from God,
she most loves the mats she weaves.
She takes the thorny mengkuang from the deep
jungle.
She knows the cruel sting of its thorns and the pain
of torn flesh as the thorns strike deep.
She has boldly drunk the ancient waters of this
love.
Grandmother clears the thorns from the green
leaves.
She passes through difficult days of smiling,
laughing like the water in which she boils her
leaves,
before she dries and straightens them.
She loves the dazzling colours of the forest,
learns answers to the riddles of life from the criss-
cross of flowers.
Knows the meaning of love
and ordered devotion.
The mat is done.
She flings it forward.
It is beautiful.
Lost in thought, she is happy,
and grateful.
Then her customers come. Their sting
is worse than that of the mengkuang.
How deep the meaning of love.
How high the price of parting.
(In-sights-Malaysian poems)
Short Stories & Poems Link
SHORT STORIES:
The Stolen Bacillus
http://www.classicreader.com/read.php/sid.6/bookid.1423/
A White Heron
http://www.geocities.com/short_stories_page/jewettheron.html
Poems:
Miracles by Walt Whitman
http://www.internal.org/view_poem.phtml?poemID=225
Once Upon a Time
http://ol.pi-noe.ac.at/e5_station8.pdf
(you need adobe reader for once upon a time)
Hope is a thing with feathers
http://www.greatest-love-poems.com/Dickinson/Emily_Dickinson_hope_is_a_thing_with_feathers.htm
Heir conditioning by m. Shahmugalingam
http://www.viweb.freehosting.net/vilit_M-SHAN.htm
The Stolen Bacillus
http://www.classicreader.com/read.php/sid.6/bookid.1423/
A White Heron
http://www.geocities.com/short_stories_page/jewettheron.html
Poems:
Miracles by Walt Whitman
http://www.internal.org/view_poem.phtml?poemID=225
Once Upon a Time
http://ol.pi-noe.ac.at/e5_station8.pdf
(you need adobe reader for once upon a time)
Hope is a thing with feathers
http://www.greatest-love-poems.com/Dickinson/Emily_Dickinson_hope_is_a_thing_with_feathers.htm
Heir conditioning by m. Shahmugalingam
http://www.viweb.freehosting.net/vilit_M-SHAN.htm
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