The Editor: Mohammad A. Quayum has taught at universities in Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and the US, and is currently professor of English at International Islamic University Malaysia. He is the author or editor of sixteen books, and his scholarly articles have appeared in distinguished literary journals in the UK, the USA, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Singapore, Taiwan, India, and Malaysia.
«This fascinating and invaluable collection of interviews will be
of lasting interest, not only to those with a specific interest in
Malaysian and Singapore literature written in English, but also to
the growing number of scholars and students working in the broader
field of South East Asian literature. Professor Quayum's innovative
use of email interview has elicited considered and articulate
responses from sixteen major modern Malaysian and Singaporean
writers on a range of important issues, such as the choice of
English as a literary language, the role and responsibility of the
writer, literature in a consumerist society and national identity.
The interviews are complemented by an informative and lucid
introduction, which provides the historical and literary contexts
in which Professor Quayum's subjects have written, outlines his
methodology and highlights both similarities and contrasts in some
of the writers' responses. Professor Quayum is to be congratulated
for making these interviews accessible to a wide audience in this
volume.» (David Smyth, Chair, Department of the Languages and
Cultures of South East Asia and the Islands, SOAS, University of
London)
«This is an exceptionally well-edited and thought-provoking
collection of interviews with writers from an important region of
South-East Asia. In the course of these fascinating and engaging
interviews that were conducted through e-mail - an instance of
technology as friend rather than foe as the editor notes in his
informative introduction - the writers express their views on such
important issues as the value of literature in contemporary social
life, the politics of language choice and use, the problems of
censorship, the status of women, the complexities of diasporic
identity and ethnicity, and modern Asian responses to consumerism
and globalisation. 'Peninsular Muse' is not just a «first» in
gathering together interviews with writers from Malaysia and
Singapore, it is also a most welcome addition to the growing field
of new literatures in English.» (Victor Li, Professor of English,
University of Toronto, Canada)
«Mohammad A. Quayum has done us a great service by bringing
together this collection of interviews with sixteen major
English-language writers of Malaysia and Singapore. It allows the
writers to speak for themselves on the meaning and purpose of
literature and on the particular issues raised by writing in
English in these two countries. His comprehensive introduction
provides, in effect, a history and commentary on these two
interconnected literatures. Anyone interested in the exciting
writing coming from Singapore and Malaysia will find this book a
fascinating source of information and ideas.» (Graham Tulloch,
Professor of English, Flinders University, Australia)
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