• Contemporary Literature from Singapore

    Author(s):
    Weihsin Gui (see profile)
    Date:
    2017
    Group(s):
    CLCS 20th- and 21st-Century, CLCS Global Anglophone, CLCS Southeast Asian and Southeast Asian Diasporic
    Subject(s):
    Singaporean literature, Southeast Asian literature, English literature, English-speaking countries
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Singapore, southeast asia, postcolonial, contemporary, anglophone, Singapore literature, Postcolonial literature, Contemporary literature, Anglophone literature
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6RC14
    Abstract:
    Literature in Singapore is written in the country’s four official languages: Chinese, English, Malay, and Tamil. Since 1999, with the state’s implementation of the Renaissance City Plan to revitalize arts and culture in Singapore, there have been various initiatives to increase the visibility of contemporary Singaporean writing both within the country itself and on an international scale. Translation plays a key role in bridging the linguistic and literary divides wrought by the state’s mother tongue policies, with several works by Cultural Medallion winners in different languages translated into English, which remains at present the shared language in Singapore. Literary anthologies are also invaluable forms through which the concepts of a national literature and national identity are expressed and negotiated. Writings about gender and sexuality have also become more prominent in single-author collections or edited anthologies, with writers exploring various inventive and experimental narrative forms. A number of poets and writers are also established playwrights, and theater has historically been and continues to be an extremely vital form of creative expression and cultural production. Graphic novels, crime and noir fiction, and speculative and science fiction publications are also on the rise, with the awarding of the Singapore Literature Prize to Sonny Liew’s The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye signaling that these genres merit serious literary consideration.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Book     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.189
    Publisher:
    Oxford University Press
    Pub. Date:
    2017-12-18
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    5 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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