Tok Dalang and Stories of Other Malaysians is a collection of short fiction written by Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof over several years. The stories deal with a range of characters and issues that in some ways are unique in Malaysian fiction in the English language. Its main strength lies in the fact that while Malay characters still make their appearances in several of the stories, the stories also touch upon aspects of their traditional culture, something rare in Malaysian writing. Additionally, lives and particular concerns of members of the minority communities in the country, including Tamil Muslims, Sikhs, Pakistanis, as well as Indonesians, have been explored both in depth as well as in a sympathetic manner for the first time in Malaysian writing. Through the writers grasp of the English language, including its local nuances, as well as a sensitive appreciation of their diverse cultures and cultural manifestations, the lives of Malaysians have been subtly coaxed into these stories, which are likely to find an important place in contemporary Malaysian literature in English.

SuvaRna-Padma, the Golden Lotus is one the most important works of well-known Malaysian writer and scholar, Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof, whose two previous plays, Halfway Road, Penang and The Trial of Hang Tuah the Great, have become internationally recognized for their originality of style, as well as significance of issues raised. This play, written in similarly original style, this time approaching the subject matter through the slant of symbolism and myth, deals with the existential dilemma of a writer, Vacha, in a repressive society where censorship is a major problem inhibiting creativity, seriously affecting him psychologically, as well as in terms of his private and public life. In terms of the pertinent issues it deals with, its meaning as well as its stylistic approach, this play transcends cultural boundaries to attain universality.

This book brings together fourteen articles by prominent critics of Malaysian Anglophone literature from five different countries: Australia, Italy, Malaysia, Singapore, and the US. It investigates the thematic and stylistic trends in the literary products of selected writers of the tradition in the genres of drama, fiction, and poetry, from its beginnings to the present, focusing mainly on the postcolonial themes of ethnicity, gender, diaspora, and nationalism, which are central to the creativity and imagination of these writers. The book explores the works of not just the established writers of the tradition but also those who have received little critical attention to date but who are equally gifted, such as Adibah Amin, Edward Dorall, Rehaman Rashid, and Huzir Suleiman. The chapters collectively address the challenges and achievements of writers in the English language in a country where English is widely used in daily life and yet marginalised in the creative domain to elevate the status of writings in the national language, i.e., Bahasa Malaysia. The book will demonstrate that in spite of such recurrent neglect of the medium, Malaysia has produced a number of outstanding writers in the language, who are comparable in creativity and craftsmanship to writers of other Anglophone traditions. The book will be of interest to readers and researchers of Malaysian literature, postcolonial literatures, minority literatures, gender studies, and Southeast Asian studies.

This book, dedicated by its author to all who understand or do not understand the Malays as well as to those who wish to know them better, provides a rare and insightful entry into those elements that best define and represent the Malaysian Malay community. Fully aware of the fact that the Malays, as a relatively small race in global terms, has been influenced in terms of their traditional beliefs as well as cultural practices by elements from India, Indonesia as well as the World of Islam, the author yet manages to successfully indicate what makes the Malays unique when it comes to their identity. In essence, he catches the spirit or soul of the Malays. The features selected for this purpose have been defined or described in a relatively uncomplicated manner and in simple terms so that the work is accessible to non-expert readers both at home and abroad. It makes an interesting and almost casual entry into what may be defined as Malay. The photographs and illustrations provided add value to the work, which in many ways is a unique piece of writing.

Malaysian writing in English has had a history of over five decades since Malaysia attained independence. This anthology of Malaysian poetry in the English language represents the most complete single collection of poems by veteran as well as new authors to be released in recent decades. In keeping with general trends in poetry, the poets presented in this volume begin with themselves as centres of their own little worlds and then move outwards to those still close to them in different kinds of situations and relationships. They touch upon individual growth and experiences before taking the world and its concerns into their purview. Other poems explore religious and spiritual consciousness. The potential that Man has on his journey of life leads beyond his daily obsessions and takes him into realms of expanding consciousness, with the final stages of the long journey reaching the transcendental and mystical. Altogether, while providing a spectrum of recent Malaysian poetry in English, this collection also gives the reader insights into the unique voices of several generations of Malaysian poets dealing with a whole range of themes connected with their lives, universal issues and concerns.

The first of two studies included is “Music in Kelantan, Malaysia and Some of Its Cultural Implications,” by William P. Malm. Kelantan is the northernmost province on the east coast of Malaysia. It is considered to be the most orthodox area in a nation whose state religion is Islam. At the same time it must be noted that it borders to the north with the Buddhist country of Thailand and to the west is the Malaysian province of Perak whose jungles and mountains contain many “pagan” tribal traditions. Beyond Perak is Kedah with its larger Indian and Chinese populations and to the south is Trengganu where some Indonesian traits are still to be found. It is in this context that Malm’s study of music is made. The second study is “Professional Malay Story-Telling: Some Questions of Style and Presentation” by Amin Sweeney. In view of the hitherto almost exclusive concern with the content of such tales as those of Sang Kanchil or Pak Pandir, Sweeney throws some light on the form, style, and presentation of oral Malay literature, with special reference to that class of story-telling popularly known as penglipur lara, or what Winstedt termed “folk romances.”

The first of two studies included is “Music in Kelantan, Malaysia and Some of Its Cultural Implications,” by William P. Malm. Kelantan is the northernmost province on the east coast of Malaysia. It is considered to be the most orthodox area in a nation whose state religion is Islam. At the same time it must be noted that it borders to the north with the Buddhist country of Thailand and to the west is the Malaysian province of Perak whose jungles and mountains contain many “pagan” tribal traditions. Beyond Perak is Kedah with its larger Indian and Chinese populations and to the south is Trengganu where some Indonesian traits are still to be found. It is in this context that Malm’s study of music is made. The second study is “Professional Malay Story-Telling: Some Questions of Style and Presentation” by Amin Sweeney. In view of the hitherto almost exclusive concern with the content of such tales as those of Sang Kanchil or Pak Pandir, Sweeney throws some light on the form, style, and presentation of oral Malay literature, with special reference to that class of story-telling popularly known as penglipur lara, or what Winstedt termed “folk romances.”