A/P Philip Holden (email: ellhpj@nus.edu.sg)

Week 10: Literature Under Colonialism

In the final three weeks we'll be trying to bring some of the conceptual issues we've discussed in the last few weeks back home to Singapore by looking at the history of how English-language writing and the study of English Literature has developed in a Singapore context.

I've included my own article on the subject because little other research done: you should, of course, feel free to challenge any of the more polemical points raised in it.

In our first session, we will look at the development of English Literature under colonialism. Concentrate on the first half of my article, which will give you the context for the Macaulay, Kynnerseley and McLeod extracts if you want to explore further. You can read these extractsmore critically and at a faster pace--they serve to give a broader sense of how English Literature was seen under colonialism. Read the Conan Doyle and the Wee Tong Poh stories carefully, print them out and bring them to class. Wee models his writing to some extent on Conan Doyle's and his is one of the first texts written in English by someone we would now call a Singaporean: we might be interested in thinking how much the story represents a local identity, and how much it represents mere mimicry or parody of an established English form.

Reading

1. Philip Holden, "On the Nation's Margins: The Social Place of Literature in Singapore." Sojourn 15.1 (2000): 30-51.

2. Arthur Conan Doyle, "A Case of Identity" from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Print out the version above so that we all have common page numbers for class discussion. If you find Conan Doyle's English a bit obscure, try the following version of "A Case of Identity," which has notes attached.

3. Wee Tong Poh, "Is Revenge Sweet? (The Story of a Confession)"

The following texts are optional: you're encouraged to read them if you have the time:

4. Thomas B. Macaulay, "Minute on Indian Education"

5. Extract from the Kynnerseley Report on English Education in the Straits Settlements, 1902

6. McLeod's Syllabus of Instruction for Raffles Institution, 1937

Questions

1.  From your reading of "A Case of Identity" what would you say are the characteristics of the detective story as a genre? Of the Sherlock Holmes story in particular?
2.  What do you think of the Wee Tong Poh story? Is it a poorly written imitation of a Western story, or does it have markedly different themes or concerns?

[That's it for the questions because I imagine the majority of you will be getting ready for the quiz . . .]

Last updated: 25 September, 2003