On Suchen Christine Lim...

During lecture this week, Suchen Christine Lim was invited to be our guest speaker/writer for the day.

Having met her before during my JC days, I didn't expect much since I thought that it will probably be about the same thing.

However, the woman writer, though petite, struck me as a very passionate woman about her work. She holds a love towards her writing and her characters, which is evident in both times that I've heard her speak. The way she read parts of her novel were energetic and full of life.

There was something she said during that lecture that really caused me to wonder. That is, when she kept urging us to read the novel to enjoy it rather than as a literary text.

This made me wonder if sometimes, we tend to over-analyse certain subjects and themes in novels, in literature itself. With the aim to write a good report, we debunk every single sentence to find something beyond what the normal reader would see. Through that process, we may actually get a deeper sense of the novel and how it relates to the world that the author sees, but does that diminish the simple enjoyment of just reading a book as it is? Is that really the author's intention?

I would always remember during a lecture in JC, when one of my classmates asked Lim why the title 'Fistful of Colours' and she replied that there wasn't any particular reason for that, it was just a nice name that her friend had suggested to her. We were all taken aback as we had spent many lessons discussing about that, trying to figure out what went through the author's mind.

But that said, there is always a little sense of accomplishment after every attempt to discover a theme and seeing the grades go up with each try. I guess it's a matter of balancing... and yes, I still love Lit.

Yeo: The Singapore Trilogy (Part 2 & 3)

Along with, Are You there Singapore?, Yeo’s One Year Back Home and Changi are known in ensemble as the Singapore Trilogy. The latter two dramas follow the same characters after their return to Singapore and deal with different themes than Are You there Singapore? Political themes are very heavy in these dramas including questioning the duty to one’s country and duty to one’s friends. Different takes on nationalism also play a major role in the plot as well as a lurking unrequited love story.

Yeo originally had problems staging One Year Back Home because of the inclusion of dialogue debating opposition platforms with those of the PAP. This led to his major run in with government censors who he felt were unqualified to make judgements on literature based solely on stiff bureaucratic standards that ignore the work’s meaning. Changi, though written later, was pretty critical of the government at the time and the Internal Security Act in particular.

But onto the themes-

Politics in Early Singapore:

Politics is so heavy in these dramas that I can imagine watching this being staged and believe that I’m at a debate. Honestly, I can not imagine a few of these scenes being captivating for an audience unless everyone is really into politics (and I mean REALLY). This part of the drama focuses around two characters who are running for the same MP seat. Chye is running as the PAP candidate and Fernandez, a minor character in the first play, now becomes a central character running as an opposition candidate. Their debate focuses on class representation and struggle, the need for an opposition in parliament, and the usefulness of symbols and values. It takes place in the context of Singapore’s chit fund scandal which teaches me some history at the same time. Singapore’s political system is very interesting to me, so it was useful to read Yeo’s take on it as he examines two different viewpoints. The opposition viewpoint is presented as one which emphasizes the need for lively debate and dissension within politics for a healthy government, and the PAP becoming deaf to the needs of smaller groups and steamrolling them in the name of culture. The PAP take is shown to argue that Singapore as a still developing country needs strong leadership instead of debate for state influenced economic growth to work. The example used is that while other Asian countries are overly cautious with letting in foreign investment and companies, the PAP has made the opposite choice rightly and has grown the economy successfully as a result.

Duties, Values, and Integrity:

While reading Changi, I couldn’t help but notice the similarity with Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Both involve main characters who hold onto their values and integrity over their life and freedom. This play sees Fernandez in Changi prison being held as a suspected communist. This is another example of Yeo writing what he knows and mirrors the plight of his friend who suffered the same fate. Fernandez holds out against the television confession and starts a hunger strike to protest the conditions, ultimately imagining himself as a possible Nelson Mandela type. What ultimately convinces him to agree to the terms is a sense of duty to his parents and friends to not leave them to worry. Duty then becomes another theme, whether it’s to one’s family or country.

I found the characterization to be very strong with Fernandez. Underneath his political plot, there was a love subtext involving him being in love with Hua and her not returning this love. I thought that this pain added to and was an important part of his political fire and recklessness.

My Thoughts:

All in all I thought the two plays provided me with an interesting glimpse into the political and cultural landscape of 70's Singapore. It was a very turbulent decade in the world and was effectively managed and portrayed by the two plays. What was especially interesting was the criticism of imprisonments without trial and possible human rights abuses at the time.

AS: What is it about corridors anyway?

From his collection of 12 short stories titled 'Corridor', Alfian Sa'at explores a place so ingrained in our HDB flat lifestyles that we take them for granted. In the titular short story 'Corridor' - the corridor becomes a symbol of the harmony/distrust dichotomy between neighbours in HDB flats. Corridors which have been officially lauded as 'common spaces' for Singaporeans to share and connect as taught to us in our Social Studies textbooks, are painted with a tinge of cynicism in Alfian's story. In fact in the short story, the tainted reality manifests itself through a murder that takes place in the corridor. For my creative interpretation post, I have decided to look at these cherished corridors and see what is it that makes them such apt symbols of our lives in Singapore.

A typical corridor in a HDB flat. Narrow and concrete floors.

Prison corridors. Narrow and concrete floors

Whilst the comparison may be too exaggerated the similarities in the picture do not lie. Whilst HDB dwellers are in no way imprisoned, we ARE allocated our own cubes of space. Albeit, it comes with many more amenities and with the newer 'Design & Build' flats - WE MIGHT EVEN GET IT FULLY FURNISHED (!!!)... But in principle, the space we are allocated isnt that much different from prisons. HDB corridors provide a common space for residents but the reality is far from the idealistic picture potrayed by the HDB website. (see below)

Ideal neighbours in an ideal neighbourhood

 I for one, have never played with my neighbours along my corridor. In fact, the reality potrayed in Alfian's story is more familiar. "Along our corridor there was a lot of screaming" Yes, that's more like it. The proximity of our houses just meant the corridor acted like a walkway of echoes. Fights in a neighbouring household was broadcasted through the floor whether anyone liked it or not. In this respect,I do lean towards Alfian's potrayal of corridors.

However, I do appreciate when residents make their corridors look like this :- 

A very beautiful oasis - too bad it's a corridor.

These corridors just like Alfian's creative work push boundaries with what falls within the 'regulations' of  HDB with regards to corridor use. In fact, STOMP (thrashy citizen journalism) is forever rampant with pictures posted by citize-razzis (part time citizen part time paparazzi) of corridors that they feel are treated like (and I quote) 'like they own the place' In a way,branching our private spaces into corridors signify a breaking out of our 'cubes' of life. However instead of signifying a 'shared community life' it lends itself to a more cynical view of how fixed and rigid Singaporean life is.Furthermore, instead of the perfect "My neighbour and I are the bestest of friends" picture that is painted by HDB, we get these pictures instead :-

"noisy machinery too much in corridor" - stomp

"inconsiderate neighbour treat commonspace like they own it" - stomp

In my opinion, corridors are only a necessary evil. They're needed but definitely not wanted. If Singapore was gifted with more land, then I would want a fenced yard of my own. I do not want a 5m long slab or concrete that I have to share with my next door neighbours. But reality is Singapore is land scarce and the majority of us have no choice but to retreat back to our cubes and hope to be amicable enough with our neighbours so they will help us water our plants when we're away on holiday. We cant let them die now can we?

A Review: The Enclosure of Love (2001)

In comparison to Hsien Min’s later works in ‘Means to an End’, this collection was a lot more foreign in content. Titles such as ‘The Central Railway Station in Beijing’, ‘Meeting in Trafalgar Square’ and ‘Leaving Nottingham’ tells of experiences in a foreign land and are set overseas. Having been introduced to Toh Hsien Min as a Singapore poet, it was refreshing to be exposed to his perspective of a foreign country, which made up most of the poetry in this collection.

The more “Singaporean” poems I came across in the collection were ‘Central Business District’ and ‘Queenstown’. The persona in ‘Central Business District’ describes vibrant images of the Singapore scene contrasted with ‘Queenstown’ portrayal of a grittier Singapore. Both poems however, suggest a deep appreciation and understanding of the local Singapore scene, with a fresh, young perspective.

I found most enjoyable the foreign settings found in this collection. Hsien Min’s style as he described such foreign elements was a little harder to follow, perhaps because there was less for me to relate to. The subjects of the poems were also more varied and scattered demonstrating the Hsien Min’s versatility in his poetry.

Min, T. H. (2001). The Enclosure of Love. Landmark Books Pte Ltd.

Interviews with Suchen Christine Lim

Here are some interview excerpts taken from a blog and websites. Having mentioned a lot about her novels, the interview excerpts serve to reveal more about Lim's personal life and her perception about Singapore writing. 

-Interview by Ng Yi Sheng, taken from Writing the City, an online community.-

NYS: How did you start writing yourself?

SCL: I stumbled into writing. I’ve spoken about it in a number of interviews. I was invigilating an exam in Catholic Junior College, and you know those three-hour literature exams: everybody writing, and the afternoon is hot. And I started doodling, and the words turned into sentences, and the sentences turned into paragraphs, and before you knew it, I caught myself writing.

So I walked again, and I wrote some more. I walked again, and I wrote some more as I invigilated. And it grew into quite a few paragraphs. And I thought that I was writing a children’s story, just centered on this convent. Then I thought that I was writing a story for teenagers, because my first story was actually for teenagers.

NYS: Wow. How did you decide to do that?

SCL: I think, it was during the SARS crisis, and I found myself at almost ten o’clock, still working in the Ministry of Education. The first two victims had just died of this strange disease, and there was so much anxiety and fear, and I think my soul suddenly said, “Would I like to die holding a report on the teachers’ state of grammar in my hand, or would I like to die with an unfinished manuscript?”

So I resigned. And I remember my Deputy Director asking me whether I was resigning to seek another job. And I said no, and she asked me, “What are you going to do then?” I said, “Maybe I will end up serving fries and chips in McDonald’s.” (Laughs) Because it was unplanned, totally unplanned. But since then I think I’ve been blessed. It has been an amazing journey ever since I left Buona Vista.

NYS: What do you think of Singapore as a whole today?

SCL: When I came here, Singapore struck me at that time as being grey, brown, flat and dirty. That was in the 1960s. And now, at my age, at 62, I see Singapore as a brash, sassy young woman, you know, in high heels, ready to take her place. Sometimes she’s a woman, sometimes it morphs into a brash, arrogant young man, just saying, “I’m number one, I want to be number one.” And that’s the part I hate.

NYS: That’s really weird, that Singapore has aged from being old into youth.

SCL: In a way, in a way, you know. Because I think we have reinvented ourselves as a city: it’s like parts of the city are like a prettified middle-aged woman with a botoxed face.

- Interview by Melissa De Villiers, taken from a blog.-

MDV: What was it like starting out as a writer in a very conservative cultural environment?

It wasn't easy. But I have to take my hat off to writers like Lee Tzu Pheng and Edwin Thumboo, poets who were publishing in English at a time when it was even more difficult: one, because of the political climate; two, because back then people in Singapore were so focused on the economy, on getting ahead, on filling the rice bowl. You were faced with attitude like: "So what's all this airy-fairy, arty-farty stuff like writing, eh? You've no business to write!" I was told to my face: "Sorry, Suchen, we don't read Singapore writers. We'd rather read Jane Austen and George Eliot." Proudly it would be declared to you, the Singaporean writer, that the reading public was only interested in the classics or Nobel prizewinners.

MDV: And that's changing?

Yes, because we have a confidence now that wasn't there before. There used to be what people called a "cultural cringe" - a lack of confidence in all things Singaporean, coming mainly from people who had been educated in English. That's when I started to consider myself very fortunate to have had uneducated, dialect-speaking grandparents, both great sources of stories, and of cultural confidence too.

MDV: So you were always conscious that your outlook as a writer was somehow different from the norm?

I was always conscious, starting out, that I was different, at least from Singapore writers here who are Chinese. I do not write like people in China. I am very clear about that. And so you will see me describing myself as of Chinese ethnicity, but situated in South-east Asia.

MDV: Is there a specifically South-east Asian approach to writing fiction?

I think there is a tradition in the West - I might be wrong - that if you are an artist or writer with talent, you can get away with almost any kind of destructive behaviour. As long as you have the talent to write and are considered good, or brilliant, or splendid in some way. Here in South-east Asia that's always balanced with a kind of responsibility to community and to family. I wouldn't call it self-censorship, as such, but we are always thinking about harmony, knowing that life is actually chaos. Life is chaos.

So I see myself as coming from a tradition that tries to use writing, like the Taoists, to create balance and harmony. If the subject is not balance and harmony, if the work needs to be about chaos, then at least it should lead to some understanding of that chaos. I mean, you know there is good and evil, yes? Yin and yang. So let's deal with it, as honestly as we can, without destroying somebody in order to achieve artistic success.

Yeo: Are You There Singapore?

Writers write best about what they know. I suppose one could view this play as semi-biographical as the plot centers around Singaporean students studying abroad in 1960's London just like Yeo himself did. It deals with common themes Yeo goes back to including personal identity and self discovery.

The Singaporean Identity:

Throughout the play the characters struggle to reconcile western life and values with those they grew up with. Dialogue explores the concept of protesting. It is pointed out to be strange that in London students are protesting a war on the other side of the world involving two nations that are not their own. Why then do Singaporeans who have an arguably larger stake and interest in the war and regional stability not protest and remain mostly silent?

The characters discuss Singapore politics and events in many scenes and speculate that their increased interest has arisen from the fact that they are now removed in London and are looking back on their home and identity through a different lens. That's my interpretation of the title at least.

Self Discovery/ Experimentation:

Another important theme of the drama is that of experimentation. Of the main characters, Richard is the one who embraces the more permissive society found in London and takes every opportunity to try new things and discover the what the outside world has to offer. A character on the opposite side of the spectrum, Sally, is reluctant to let herself go and forget her values ultimately sustaining them throughout the play. The more dynamic characters are siblings Chye and Hua who are hesitant but do go out and try new things, leading to the major plot points and drama of the story. 

Whether or not Yeo is trying to advocate being adventurous or conservative is ambiguous. The adventurous Richard is portrayed as having great and important experiences for self-growth. Conservative Sally is shown at one point to be unsure if what she is doing is too reserved but ultimately accepts herself as adhering to who she is and what she believes. Chye follows less of a clear path but seems to be more in line with Sally, being absent from many of the more scandalous scenes. Hua is the central and most dynamic character, letting herself get somewhat lost in the culture and having a trampling at a demonstration and unwanted pregnancy to show for it. Dealing with the pregnancy (whether to abort or not) is the catalyst that brings the entire cast together to analyze their true values regardless of the society they find themselves in. I think in this sense the characterization is very effective in establishing each player not only as a type or simple product of society but deep down as their own person. The pregnancy solution thus is driven by who the people are and not what is allowed in a freer London or unacceptable in a more conservative Singapore.

Legacy:

The play drew a lot of acclaim and attention at the time for reproducing realistic singapore dialect and conversation that was not common in drama at the time. It was one of the plays that helped reinvigorate local dramas and showcased a lot of themes and ideas that Singaporeans could relate to, contributing to its success.

Fun Fact: 

Yeo met his wife during the first staging of the play. Isn't that romantic?