‘SPUN WITHIN THE BRAIN, WOVEN IN THE HEART’

Abstract

Among the literary studies of R.J. Wilkinson (1867–1941) – an administrator-scholar of diverse interests and the compiler of the famous Malay-English dictionary – his survey Malay literature: romance, history, poetry (1907) occupies a special place. Published in the series, ‘Papers on Malay subjects’, created by Wilkinson with a view to broadening prospective colonial officials' understanding of the Malays, this survey drew material from both his ‘field studies’ and from written texts, often Singaporean lithographs. The use of these sources, more demotic than was usually the case in Malay studies at the time, influenced Wilkinson's insights into the significance of the oral element in traditional Malay literature, the nature of its creators' literary views and their audiences' particular characteristics. A number of his pioneering ideas have been confirmed and further elaborated by contemporary students of traditional Malay literature. At the same time, Wilkinson's survey, like his other works, had the overarching task of defending the ‘Malay cause’, which he understood as the conservation of Malay traditions and customs combined with their development. It is precisely this approach that explains Wilkinson's position vis-à-vis traditional Malay literature, which is expressed in the survey through what can metaphorically be viewed as a theatrical performance, with a ‘Malay rhapsodist’, a ‘pedantic scribe’, a ‘European’ and ‘Wilkinson’ himself as its characters.