Collision of Authority and Resistance in a Juxtaposition of the Past and Present: Re-visioning Voices of the Nation in Kee Thuan Chye's Swordfish then the Concubine

Abstract

Kee Thuan Chye in his play Swordfish then The Concubine has reconstructed history in order to situate it into contemporary era. He has utilised and manipulated specific historical narratives from the Malay Annals; the second story of Hikayat Damang Lebar Daun and the tenth story Hikayat Hang Nadim. The analysis of this play will be based on the tenets of Pierre Macherey's theory of literary production as well as New Historicism. Both of these theories shall be used to justify Kee's notions and views in his act of re-visioning historical narratives. Apart from that, the notions of Bakhtin's dialogism are adopted to study the two main voices, authoritative and resisting, that have emerged in this play. Lastly, the strategies of re- visioning shall also be adopted in order to explore the representations of Kee's characters and how these characters are willing to break from the norm and tradition when they were awarded with significant voices and agency. It is found that these two main voices illustrated by Kee contain concealed speech and dynamic interaction that are engaged in opposition and struggle. This multiplicity of voices indicate Kee's resistance towards authoritative voice and his attempts in reducing authorial power as featured in this play.