This collection rounds up three of Philip Jeyaretnam’s best-known works in a single volume. Together, they showcase his mastery of the written word across a range of forms, subject matter and emotional landscapes. The short stories and novels set in Singapore explore themes of identity, materialism, interracial relationships, power and betrayal while exposing the nation’s frailties, cracks and contradictions. Jeyaretnam’s characters–the thinkers, dreamers and doers–make their own way, searching for meaning in the gaps between achievement, aspiration and regret. First Loves displays Jeyaretnam’s intimate understanding of young love and loss, while Raffles Place Ragtime examines the place of love in relation to ambition, deception and material aspiration. In Abraham’s Promise, an old man comes to an understanding and reconciliation of his life and times hard-won in maturity. Charged with emotional power and clarity, Jeyaretnam’s spare, thoughtful prose shows off his gift for characterisation and confirms him as an elegant, eloquent stylist.

A collection of essays and two novels by critically acclaimed Singaporean writer Philip Jeyaretnam. This anthology includes the two novels 'Raffles Place Ragtime' and 'Abraham's Promise', his collection of short stories ('First Loves' with two new stories), essays and a Foreword by Peter Wicks.

Chapters on Asia features selected papers written by scholars who have been awarded the National Library’s Lee Kong Chian Research Fellowship. These works examine the history and heritage of Singapore and the region, and contain fresh research based on materials and resources from the collections of the National Library and National Archives of Singapore.

The dark side of The Lion City is explored in a thrilling anthology that gives “plenty of new and unfamiliar voices a chance to shine” (San Francisco Book Review). The island city-state of Singapore harbors unique customs and traditions largely unknown to the West. A booming economy and embrace of conformity overshadow its gambling dens, red-light districts, and a collective passion for ghostly and gory tales. Now, in Singapore Noir, some of its best contemporary authors delve into its seedy side, including three winners of the Singapore Literature Prize: Simon Tay (writing as Donald Tee Quee Ho), Colin Cheong, and Suchen Christine Lim, whose contribution was named a finalist for the Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Award for Best P.I. Short Story. Eleven more tales showcase the talents of Colin Goh, Philip Jeyaretnam, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, Monica Bhide, S.J. Rozan, Lawrence Osborne, Ovidia Yu, Damon Chua, Johann S. Lee, Dave Chua, and Nury Vittachi. “Singapore, with its great wealth and great poverty existing amid ethnic, linguistic, and cultural tensions, offers fertile ground for bleak fiction . . . Tan has assembled a strong lineup of Singapore natives and knowledgeable visitors for this volume exploring the dark side of a fascinating country.” —Publishers Weekly

This book brings Anglophone Singapore literature to a global audience for the first time, embedding it within literary developments worldwide. Drawing on postcolonial studies, Singapore studies, and critical discussions in transnationalism and globalization, essays introduce neglected writers, cast new light on established writers, and examine texts in relation to their local-historical contexts while engaging with contemporary issues in Singapore society. It sets new directions for further scholarship on a body of writing that has much to say to those interested in issues of nationalism, diaspora, cosmopolitanism, neoliberalism, immigration, urban space, and literary form and content.