Books from the Bolehland: Highlights of Contemporary Malaysian Literature

Tan Twan Eng story of political turmoil The Garden of Evening Mists, was a Man Booker favourite. An acclaimed member of 2012’s Man Booker Shortlist and the winner of the Man Asian Literary Prize, The Garden of Evening Mists tells the poignant and often heart wrenching tale of Yun Ling Teoh, a battered and broken survivor of the Japanese camps during WWII. Teoh ventures from the land of her torture and torment desperately seeking consolation at Cameron Highlands, a tea plantation. By chance Teoh meets a Japanese garden owner whose violent past is an initial barrier between them. An unlikely bond forms across national and political borders as the two become deeply involved in a passionate relationship examining their own transgressions, secrets and sins. A literary opus whose prose is as mesmerizing as it is emotionally stirring, Tan Twan Eng’s The Garden of Evening Mists solidified him as a major literary force whose narratives examine the power of the human spirit as it seeks to overcome the emotional and physical carnage of wartime destruction.

Published in 1971 by Malaysia’s esteemed writer Abdullah Hussain, Interlok (1971), was subjected to censorship in school systems and bookstores alike. However, it remains one of Malaysia’s most accomplished and thrilling literary works in its narrative weaving of the country’s post-colonial history and its beautifully complex tale of friendship. Set in the early 20th century when Malaysia was still under a turbulent British colonial rule; Hussain tells the story of three friends, Maniam, Seman and Chin Huat, whose personal lives are linked, woven and fused together during their homeland’s pursuit for a national identity. The friendship of Maniam, Seman and Chin Huat is tested by the turbulence of Malaysia’s struggles for independence, to devastating effect. The parallels between their brotherly intimacy and their country’s struggle for self-determination are as poignant as they are inspiring. But Hussain’s greatest accomplishment seems to be his tight control of contextualizing a fictional narrative within a grand scheme of political and colonial history. In a search for freedom, both individual and national, Interlok is an inspiring tale with frequently painful and dark speed bumps along the way.

The first print of Lat’s (also known as Datuk Mohammad Nor Khalid) graphic novel The Kampung Boy came out in 1979 at which time it was a unique prospect for a country in which comic books and graphic novels had never taken hold. The novel was inspired by Lat’s own childhood and adolescence as a boy living in the rural Malaysian state of Perak during the 1960s. The Kampung Boy has had a profound effect on Malaysia’s literary and artistic tradition. It ignited a successful career for its author and artist Lat, solidifying him as a major artistic talent. The Kampung Boy earned its author a multitude of international accolades including numerous children’s book awards worldwide. Lat’s highly autobiographical graphic novel begins with his own birth and then gives detailed depictions of the religious, spiritual and traditional rituals and ceremonies surrounding such an occasion. Lat’s story then continues with both his secular and religious education as a young boy, an illegal act committed with his friends as an adolescent and continues as he matures. Lat’s The Kampung Boy is highly regarded for its beautifully crafted drawings and its presentation of a traditional childhood and adolescent life in his native Malaysia. The graphic novel has been the recipient of various international adaptations, including a televised cartoon airing in the US, the Philippines and Malaysia. The Kampung Boy has been reprinted countless times and remains one of Malaysia’s most prized narratives.
By Lindsay Parnell