This is a detailed, narrative–based history of Classical Malay Literature. It covers a wide range of Malay texts, including folk literature; the influence of the Indian epics and shadow theatre; Panji tales; the transition from Hindu to Muslim literary models; Muslim literature; framed tales; theological literature; historical literature; legal codes; and the dominant forms of poetry, the pantun and syair. The author describes the background to each of these particular literary periods. He engages in depth with specific texts, their various manuscripts, and their contents. In so doing, he draws attention to the historical complexity of tradisional Malay society, its worldviews, and its place within the wider framework of human experience. Dr. Liaw’s History of Classical Malay Literature will be of benefit to beginning students of Malay Literature and to established scholars alike. It can also be read with benefit by those with a wider interest in Comparative Literature and in Southeast Asian culture in general.

Traditional literature, or 'the deed of the reed pen' as it was called by its creators, is not only the most valuable part of the cultural heritage of the Malay people, but also a shared legacy of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei. Malay culture during its heyday saw the entire Universe as a piece of literature written by the Creator with the Sublime Pen on the Guarded Tablet. Literature was not just the creation of a scribe, but a scribe himself, imprinting words on the 'sheet of memory' and thus shaping human personality. This book, the first comprehensive survey of traditional Malay literature in English since 1939, embraces more than a millennium of Malay letters from the vague data of the seventh century up to the early beginnings of the modern literatures in the late nineteenth century. The long path trodden by traditional Malay literature is viewed in historical and theoretical perspectives as a development of integral system, caused by cultural and religious changes, primarily by gradual Islamization. This changing system considered in the entirety of its genres and works, is seen both externally and internally: from the point of view of modern scholarship and through the examination of indigenous concepts of literary creativity, poetics and aesthetics. The book not only repesents an original study based on a specific historico-theoretical approach, but it is also a complete reference-work and an indispensable manual for students.

First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The Wajorese people were one of many groups that spread across Indonesian during the early modern era. In the wake of the Makassar War (1666–1669), the Dutch took control of Makassar on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and used it to consolidate their power in the region. Because the Wajorese had sided with the war's losers, they were treated very harshly and many opted to emigrate. They scattered far and wide across the Southeast Asian archipelago, settling in eastern Kalimantan, western Sumatra, the Straits of Malacca, and the Sulawesian port city of Makassar. Wellen reconstructs the fascinating and little-told story of the Wajorese diaspora. Wajorese migrants exhibited remarkable versatility in adapting to local conditions in the areas where they settled. They perpetuated their own culture overseas while simultaneously using various assimilation strategies such as intermarriage to thrive in their adopted homelands. Relations between Wajorese migrants and their homeland intensified in the early 18th century when successive rulers in Wajoq deliberately sought to harness the growing military and commercial potential of the migrant communities. This effort culminated in the 1730s when the exiled La Maddukelleng, an Indonesian national hero, returned to Makassar from neighboring eastern Kalimantan and attempted to expel the Dutch from South Sulawesi. His campaign exemplifies the manner in which overseas Wajorese remained an essential part of Wajoq long after they left home. The Open Door's strong thematic organization allows readers with specific interests such as commercial law, family networks, diaspora, and comparative politics to quickly find fascinating and relevant information about this lesser-known Southeast Asian society.