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This will be the first of three weeks in which we will look at the beginnings of English-language Literature in Singapore. In the first week, we will be looking at a selection of the writings of Hugh Clifford, and a story by W. Somerset Maugham. Clifford was Resident of Pahang in the 1890s, and Governor of the Straits Settlements in the 1920s--Clifford Pier, just down from the Fullerton building on Shenton Way, is named after him. Maugham was a professional writer who was later visitor to Singapore and Malaya: "The Letter" emerges from a visit during the 1920s.
I'm going to be using both Clifford and Maugham as examples of writing about Malaya and Singapore produced by British writers, to which local writers in English would need to respond.
As in each of the next three weeks, we will be using a "classic" postcolonial studies theoretical text in conjunction with our other readings. Note that I'm not just asking you to apply Said to the stories, but also to use the stories dialectically with the theoretical text in order to ask a series of questions. How useful is Said's work, over two decades after its publication, and what are its strengths, weaknesses, and oversights? Is the unique environment of colonialism of Malaya and the Straits Settlements amenable to Saidean analysis, or do we need to make modifications?
Print out the Clifford texts, read them carefully, and make notes. Try to explore how the "literary" elements of the texts--the attitude of the narrator, the descriptive passages, the manipulation of time--for instance, connect with some of the thematic material. These texts both describe a landscape and people who live in it and construct notions of bourgeois Englishness in contrast to them.
Post a 100-200 word reply to any ONE of the following questions to our IVLE bulletin board by 10 p.m. the day before our class meeting. If this is the first time you have written an IVLE response on which you will be assessed, consult the Guidelines on IVLE postings first. Make sure you print out a copy of your response and bring it to class for discussion.
1. What overall patterns and themes emerge in Clifford's or Maugham's depiction of any ONE of the following:
2. Do Clifford's or Maugham's short stories remind you of anything else you have read? What are the similarities and differences between the short stories and the text you have in mind?
3. Is there aspect which you found unexpected or surprising in the stories? If possible, choose something which appears with regularity in the stories, rather than a single isolated incident.
4. If you have read Said before, what is your reaction in reading an extract from Orientalism again? Which elements of the extract do you find useful, and which would you wish to critique?
5.In what ways can Said's concepts can be applied to the stories you have read? In what way are they deficient?
Last updated: 29 December, 2003