Abstract
In this paper, I examine the way in which the conventions of the Golden Age genre of crime fiction have been adapted to a completely different socio-cultural setting in Barbara Ismail’s “Kain Songket Mysteries”. The Golden Age novels of Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers offer neat solutions to their mysteries, implying an unproblematic return to the right path; at the same time, the conventions of the form underline the corruption and danger hidden within these apparently perfect societies. Similarly, Ismail focuses on life in a village in Kelantan, Malaysia, in the 1970s, offering her readers a chance to revel in the gracious social order of the time, while creating inevitable juxtapositions with the ways in which that society has changed in the present. Ismail’s seemingly rose-tinted vision of the Kelantan of forty years ago develops as the novel progresses, culminating in a rather bleak assessment of where that society is heading
Highlights
In this paper, I examine the way in which the conventions of the Golden Age genre of crime fiction have been adapted to a completely different socio-cultural setting in Barbara Ismail’s “Kain Songket Mysteries”
I would like to examine the way in which the conventions of the form have been adapted to a completely different socio-cultural setting, in Barbara Ismail’s “Kain Songket Mysteries”
Rather than the war looming in the background, Ismail focuses on social change in a village in Kelantan, Malaysia, in the 1970s, offering her readers a chance to revel in the gracious social order of the time, while creating inevitable juxtapositions with the ways in which that society has changed in the present
Summary
Golden Age crimes tend to be situated within small, contained areas such as villages. The time period is important for another reason; it reflects a moment before a stricter interpretation of Islam took hold, i.e. a time before these ancient rituals and practices began to be frowned upon as unIslamic, and were still very much a part of a sense of community well-being This older Kelantan was very much at home with a social structure that was not strictly patriarchal. In the same way that Golden Age crime fiction harks back to a “better” time, Ismail’s novels remind us of a Kelantan steeped in a rich culture, with a focus on behaving correctly for the sake of a harmonious society
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