For any history of Malaysian literature, it is remiss\nnot to consider the pioneering work of Lloyd Fernando (1926-2008) — author, academic,\nand eloquent champion of Malaysian literature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the landmark 1971 Cultural Congress that defined\nMalaysian literature into “national” and “sectional”, Lloyd\nspoke (in Malay) about his hopes for the future direction of the country’s\nculture and literature. He also edited the country’s first two anthologies of\nMalaysian playwriting in English, New\nDrama One<\/em> and New Drama Two<\/em>\n(1972, University of Malaya) and wrote the introductory essays which served to\nplace then-new writing in relation to contemporary Malaysian society and\nCommonwealth literature. His earlier essays, many already published in\njournals, were compiled in a book called Cultures\nin Conflict<\/em> (1982) where, amongst other original observations, Lloyd\npointed to the “detribalisation anxiety” common in Malaysian writers,\nwho focus on their own ethnicity and language as if each were in their own\nexile. He advocated a “necessary bilingualism” that would enable\nMalaysian writers to get out of their own skin. He encouraged many writers by\nanalysing their work critically, and often actively championed authors such as\nMuhammad Haji Salleh (later Sasterawan Negara Malaysia) and Wong Phui Nam (poet\nand, now, also playwright) for the ways they went beyond writing for their own\nkind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lloyd became an author himself when he started writing\nin the late 1970s, first with Scorpion\nOrchid<\/em> (1976), and later, Green is\nthe Colour<\/em> (1993), now regular study texts for international scholars of\nAsian and Southeast Asian culture and literature. Scorpion Orchid<\/em> was also adapted for the stage in 1995, in a\nproduction directed by Krishen Jit and Lok Meng Chue at the Singapore Festival\nof the Arts. Both books (the first written in an arguably modernist style,\nexperimenting with language), deal with individuals coping with “national\nbirth” in the 1950s, and the impact of the largely Kuala Lumpur-based\nriots in 1969. At least for one Malaysian writer and critic, Edward Dorall, the\ndescriptions in Green is the Colour<\/em>,\n“exactly recounted (the) terrifying experience … through those awful\nmonths.” The younger Amir Muhammad recommended Lloyd’s writing for the way\nit seeks to “strip the Englishness from English to find a uniquely\nMalaysian prose voice.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lloyd Fernando was born in Sri Lanka. At the age of\n12, his family emigrated to Singapore. When World War 2 broke out shortly\nafter, Lloyd was forced to stop school, and learned instead to become a trishaw\nrider and apprentice mechanic so as to support the family. (His father was\nkilled during the bombing.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the war, Lloyd went back to school, and by 1959\nhad graduated from the University of Singapore with double honours in English\nand Philosophy. A year later, he joined the University of Malaya, where he was\n“eventually” elevated (as the Silverfish Books author notes state) to\nProfessor and Head of English until his retirement in 1979 — just short of a\n20-year tenure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lloyd’s attendance at theatre plays during the 1980s\nand 1990s was a familiar and welcome sight. Even when he became ill by a stroke\n— his mobility aided by a wheelchair and the consummate care of Marie, his\nwife — Fernando lent his graceful presence as special guest at the launch of Krishen Jit: An Uncommon Position (Selected\nWritings)<\/em> (edited by Kathy Rowland). It was indeed moving when Lloyd, at\nthe launch, expressed sadly but assertively that he had run out of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Learned analysis of Malaysian literature is rare, but\nLloyd Fernando’s work provides valuable historical reference, detail and\noriginality for present and future students of Malaysian, Asian and world\nliterature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Much love and peace of mind is wished for his wife, Marie, daughters Eve and Sunetra, and extended family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ~~~ <\/p>\n\n\n\n First Published: 29.02.2008 on Kakiseni <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For any history of Malaysian literature, it is remiss not to consider the pioneering work of Lloyd Fernando (1926-2008) — author, academic, and eloquent champion of Malaysian literature. At the landmark 1971 Cultural Congress that defined Malaysian literature into “national” and “sectional”, Lloyd spoke (in Malay) about his hopes for the future direction of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":24,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,3541,3622,3539],"tags":[539,708,484],"language":[7523],"writer":[7597],"class_list":["post-27230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-literature","category-obituary","category-visual-arts","tag-literature","tag-lloyd-fernando","tag-obituary","language-english","writer-ann-lee"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27230"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38789,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27230\/revisions\/38789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27230"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=27230"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myartmemoryproject.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/writer?post=27230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}