Still on the theme of literature, there was this article in the weekend edition of TODAY, 'Discover local flavour', a rather long piece about how local lit is not doing so well here.
According to it (quoted parts in red, blue emphasis mine):
e A Population Survey on the Arts by the National Arts Council in 2002 found that only 40 per cent of 1,527 people surveyed had read a novel that year. (I'm actually surprised by this 40% figure; thought it would be much lower than that)
e In 2003, a nation-wide survey of 1,500 Singapore residents by the National Library Board revealed that the strongest motivation to read was neither leisure nor literary appreciation. It was career development.
e Sales figures support the bleak view that Singaporeans simply aren't reading local literature. The Arts House's EarShot bookstore, for example, carries almost 1,000 homegrown titles. But on average, it sells a combined total of fewer than a hundred such works per month... A large number of EarShot's customers are tourists, while BooksActually is a favourite among — guess who? — local writers themselves.
I am sorry to say that I have contributed to the lousy outlook for local lit. Before I read this article, I never even knew about shops like EarShot and BooksActually, which specialise in local lit.
In fact, since I did 'New Varieties of English' in uni a thousand years ago, I don't think I've read any local lit. One, because when I was working, I was almost like the 60% in 2002 who didn't even complete one novel in a year. At most, I would have read 1 or 2 books a year, I think. Two, because even when I was doing New Varieties, a course which I enjoyed very much, somehow I wasn't too attracted to local lit. Three, maybe I'm just a product of the system here. According to Dr Gwee Li Sui, AP in the Dept of EL and Lit at NUS (as quoted in the article):
'With many literature students here more familiar with iconic Western writers such as Shakespeare and Jane Austen, they end up using the same Western perspective to read Singapore literature.'
Hmmm... I don't really know how I'm supposed to use a different 'perspective' to read local lit.
If it's any comfort to local writers, I wasn't drawn to Indian lit either, although it's a much more established 'new varieties' tradition.
However, I did enjoy - very much - Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, the only African lit novel I've ever read. It's definitely on my list of books to be re-read. Very powerful and moving. It's also on the 'All-time 100 Novels' list drawn up by Time magazine last year. This is the first time I'm looking at the list and I surprise myself. I've actually read 6 of those 100 books. Ha ha, I'm not so suaku after all. Some more I have another book from the list, just haven't read it yet. I must say, though, that I didn't find some of the ones that I read particularly stunning, maybe only 2 - Things Fall Apart and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, my Sec 2 lit text, and a book I've read and loved over and over and over again. Loved the Gregory Peck movie too.
But back to local lit. I'm proud to announce that I recently started Walter Woon's The Advocate's Devil. I'm still at the first chapter (long) and it's pretty promising so far - interesting storyline, lively writing style, and, something that really appeals to me, it's set in the 1830s (Straits Settlements period).
I bought it a few years back (and of course didn't have time to read it then) not because I decided to start supporting local lit or anything, but only because it was by Walter Woon. And only because he was one of the Resident Fellows at RH, my 'second home' for 4 years. He wasn't even the RF of my block, but I just wanted to see what he was like as a writer. Another of my trival reasons for book-buying, along with judging a book by its stylo cover.
Anyhow, I guess I will blog about WW's book sometime, when I finish it...
According to it (quoted parts in red, blue emphasis mine):
e A Population Survey on the Arts by the National Arts Council in 2002 found that only 40 per cent of 1,527 people surveyed had read a novel that year. (I'm actually surprised by this 40% figure; thought it would be much lower than that)
e In 2003, a nation-wide survey of 1,500 Singapore residents by the National Library Board revealed that the strongest motivation to read was neither leisure nor literary appreciation. It was career development.
e Sales figures support the bleak view that Singaporeans simply aren't reading local literature. The Arts House's EarShot bookstore, for example, carries almost 1,000 homegrown titles. But on average, it sells a combined total of fewer than a hundred such works per month... A large number of EarShot's customers are tourists, while BooksActually is a favourite among — guess who? — local writers themselves.
I am sorry to say that I have contributed to the lousy outlook for local lit. Before I read this article, I never even knew about shops like EarShot and BooksActually, which specialise in local lit.
In fact, since I did 'New Varieties of English' in uni a thousand years ago, I don't think I've read any local lit. One, because when I was working, I was almost like the 60% in 2002 who didn't even complete one novel in a year. At most, I would have read 1 or 2 books a year, I think. Two, because even when I was doing New Varieties, a course which I enjoyed very much, somehow I wasn't too attracted to local lit. Three, maybe I'm just a product of the system here. According to Dr Gwee Li Sui, AP in the Dept of EL and Lit at NUS (as quoted in the article):
'With many literature students here more familiar with iconic Western writers such as Shakespeare and Jane Austen, they end up using the same Western perspective to read Singapore literature.'
Hmmm... I don't really know how I'm supposed to use a different 'perspective' to read local lit.
If it's any comfort to local writers, I wasn't drawn to Indian lit either, although it's a much more established 'new varieties' tradition.
However, I did enjoy - very much - Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, the only African lit novel I've ever read. It's definitely on my list of books to be re-read. Very powerful and moving. It's also on the 'All-time 100 Novels' list drawn up by Time magazine last year. This is the first time I'm looking at the list and I surprise myself. I've actually read 6 of those 100 books. Ha ha, I'm not so suaku after all. Some more I have another book from the list, just haven't read it yet. I must say, though, that I didn't find some of the ones that I read particularly stunning, maybe only 2 - Things Fall Apart and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, my Sec 2 lit text, and a book I've read and loved over and over and over again. Loved the Gregory Peck movie too.
But back to local lit. I'm proud to announce that I recently started Walter Woon's The Advocate's Devil. I'm still at the first chapter (long) and it's pretty promising so far - interesting storyline, lively writing style, and, something that really appeals to me, it's set in the 1830s (Straits Settlements period).
I bought it a few years back (and of course didn't have time to read it then) not because I decided to start supporting local lit or anything, but only because it was by Walter Woon. And only because he was one of the Resident Fellows at RH, my 'second home' for 4 years. He wasn't even the RF of my block, but I just wanted to see what he was like as a writer. Another of my trival reasons for book-buying, along with judging a book by its stylo cover.
Anyhow, I guess I will blog about WW's book sometime, when I finish it...
Comments
coincidentally I also bought a DVD copy of the gregory peck movie, to kill a mockingbird. Guess what? still in shrink wrap! after reading your comments, am motivated to open it.
hmmm, didn't know Walter woon can write novels. I recall he had interesting views on inheriting one's heritage/cultural values etc without the need of the mother tongue. when that article was published in the papers many years ago, there was a lot of response from readers, even one from a certain enlightened minister who was very much into the arts (you know who lah).
If I'm not mistaken, he's Peranakan.
Think he's written 2 novels so far.
Oh, do read Totto-chan. It's very read-friendly, chapters are short, etc.