Memory and Nation-Building: World War II in Malaysian Literature (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Literature)

Nations are built by narrating their past. Threads of common memories weave the fabric of the national culture, integrating the heterogenous communities into the idea of a single nation. In multicultural societies, the process is a messy one. Different communities remember the past from perspectives that often clash with each other. Multiple memories of a multicultural nation challenge the idea of a singular national identity and call for multiple forms of belonging. Memory and Nation-Building explores the contemporary images of World War II in Malaysian literature and the continuing significance of the conflict in the collective memory and nation-building in Malaysia. Given the multicultural nature of the nation, the War memories of Malaysia are multiple and often contradictory. In the contemporary Malaysian literature, these memories embody the search for a historical narrative that would accommodate the cultural and ethnic diversity of the country. Cover Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Acknowledgements 1 Reading World War II in Malaysian Literature The War in Malaya: History, Politics, and Poetics Why the War in Malaya? Malaysian Literature in English and ‘The Cult of Authenticity’ Notes Works Cited 2 Memory, Literature, and Nation-Building Collective and Cultural Memory: A Theoretical Background Cultural Memory and History Literature and Memory Literary Mnemonics Memory, Literature, and Nation-Building Notes Works Cited 3 Multicultural Memoryscapes: History, Memory, Storytelling The Harmony Silk Factory – History and Story Through Time and Space History, Counter-Memory, and Fiction Collective Memories and the Carnival – Space and Time of Literature From Archive to Carnival of Memories Note Works Cited 4 Maternal Memories: Diasporic Women and the Legacies of Memory The Work of Memory Generational Continuities: The Mother/Daughter Plot The Shifting Continuities of the Diaspora Diasporic Women and the Nation Note Works Cited 5 Moving On: Changing Images of Japan in Malaysian Literature Malaysia’s Look East Policy Imagining Japan in Malaysian Literature Leyla Shuri’s Morning Momiji Remembering, Forgetting, and (Re)building the Nation The War and the Nation – Between Memory and Amnesia Notes Works Cited 6 Mediated Memories and Nostalgia in Cyberspace Colonial Afterlives: Noel Barber’s Tanamera History and Romance: History as Romance Reader Reviews On the Net: Degradation of Taste or Democratization of Reading Reader’s Response: ‘A Great Read’ Reading the Romance: Star-Crossed Lovers Between Colonialism and Nostalgia: ‘The Epitome of “Dolce Vita”’ Framing Nostalgia: Collective Memory in Cyberspace Notes Works Cited 7 Towards Remembrance and Reconciliation: The Role of Literary Narration The Scene of Literary Testimony ‘To Have Memories’: Characters On the Scene of Recollection Testimony – the Tableau of Self and the Other Towards Empathy and Reconciliation Notes Works Cited 8 Memories in a Multicultural Nation Works Cited Index "'Memory and Nation-building' turns to the contemporary images of World War II in Malaysian literature to explore the way the collective memories of the conflict embody the search for a historical narrative that can accommodate the cultural and ethnic diversity of the country"-- Provided by publisher