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WEEK 5. BBL 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
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WEEK 5 BBL 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