Abstract
Literary reviews on King of the Sea (2012), a collection of nine short stories, by the Malaysian author Dina Zaman (b. 1969), have highlighted the theme of the supernatural through issues on the diversity of the Muslim Malay way of life. The text is a fictional narrative on the Muslim Malay beliefs and practices in the phenomenon of supernatural existence and how the influence of beliefs in the supernatural is inherent in the Malay culture. While literary critics agree that the stories are weaved with aspects of the magical to make it more culturally acceptable as a social reality, Bradley (2012: 206), however, contests this view by describing it as Dina’s transient and elusive attempt at magical realism although he concedes that there exist some vague impressions of it. Here, magical realism is understood to be fantastical elements which are miraculous, yet seen as ordinary, and ordinary as miraculous where the reality is not abandoned but is extended. Focussing on Dina’s depictions of supernatural beliefs among the Muslim Malay characters, this paper aims to discover how the alternative and non-objective Muslim Malay worldviews are demonstrated by the author in King of the Sea using the understanding of magical realism as conceptualised by Maggie Ann Bowers (2004). The findings show that Dina depicts the alternative and non-objective Muslim Malay worldviews of the Muslim Malay characters as grounded in their beliefs in the local Malay superstitions, myths and legends reflected through literary elements which are indeed characteristics of magical realism.
Highlights
Our critical thinking today is circumscribed by our culture and civilization; that is to say our perceptions of things and events are based upon our knowledge and way of thinking
The research objective of this study is guided by the following research question: how is the alternative and non-objective Malay Muslim worldviews revealed by the author in “King of the Sea”? “King of the Sea”, which was chosen as the title of the collection itself, begins with the real world where we are introduced to a male character named Zani, a young boy who is mourning the loss of his father, who used to earn a living as a fisherman
We have discovered that the alternative and non-objective worldviews of the Muslim Malay are put forward by the author to reveal the Muslim Malay view of the world that is different from the objective view of the general people. This indirectly conveys the author’s message of demonstrating that the Muslim Malay alternative and non-objective worldviews can be reflected by using magical realism as a medium
Summary
Our critical thinking today is circumscribed by our culture and civilization; that is to say our perceptions of things and events are based upon our knowledge and way of thinking. Ida Baizura Bahar and Nor Kamal Nor Hashim. This is best described by Bidney as the “psycho-cultural attitude or degree of belief” The theme of the supernatural represents our thoughts and beliefs with regards to how the human mind views life in general. It has been presented in literary works as a way of life for society, focussing on the themes of good versus evil as part of our system of belief beyond our own social reality. The role of literature was to act as a medium to record past thoughts and beliefs pertaining to paranormal elements for the awareness of future society
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