WEEK 5BBL 4306

LITERATURE OF MALAYSIA

LEE KOK LIANG

BIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

Born in 1927 in Sungai Petani, Kedah A fifth-generation Chinese Educated in both Chinese and English lower education: Penang Free School & Chung

Ling High School higher education: Melbourne University Return to Malaysia as qualified lawyer Ventured into politics for a short while -

served as a state assemblyman for one term after winning the Tanjung State Assembly seat

Began writing while still a student in Melbourne University

PUBLISHED WORKS

Novels: Flowers in the Sky; London Does Not Belong to Me

Novelette: The Mutes in the Sun Short stories collection: Death is a

Ceremony Others: collections of Commonwealth short

stories; journals and anthologies in the UK, Australia, Malaysia, and the US

CONTRIBUTIONS

Editorial Consultant of Tenggara (1967-1969)

Judge in the New Straits Times Short Story Competition (1987-1992)

LEE KOK LIANG

Passed away on December 24, 1992 – was in the process of completing a compilation of short stories, The Magical Moments of Mollika and a book, Ah Tong and the Horseface Princess

DISCUSSION OF WORKS

Focused much of his work on the immigrant Chinese community

His writing is based on personal experiences and things that went around him

He wrote more on characters than incidents The characters: often portrayed as sufferers

who are caught in the whirl of life Employed an ‘experimental style’

Experimented with various kinds of characters in his stories based on the people he met or read about

DISCUSSION OF WORKS

His novel and novella are classified as ‘truly Malaysian novels’ Laden with elements of local colour in

the setting, speech, social structure and custom of a particular locality

The novels are written in a narrative method - creates a sense of realism in the portrayal of characters

DISCUSSION OF WORKS

Favourite literary genre is short story: simple and unelaborated narrations of a single

incident dwell on the minds of his characters often begins close to or on the verge of the climax use ‘realism technique’:

narrative elements the use of dialogue the use local dialect

Often end without a conclusion – to allow creative and critical interpretations on the reader’s part