Women Fiction Writers and Images of Women in Modern Malay Literature

Abstract

Contact with the West, the availability and widespread use of printing technology and the role of education in the region are often cited as some of the factors which underlay the beginnings of modern Malay literature. In this regard, Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir (1797-1856), better known as Munshi Abdullah, who started his career as a copy clerk to Stamford Raffles, is generally regarded as the father of modern Malay literature. His famous autobiographical writings, Hikayat Abdullah [The story of Abdullah (1843)] and Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah [The story of Abdullah's voyage (1838)], which were rooted in the everyday world of human beings marked a distinct departure from the earlier association of literature and the world of mythology. This was enhanced by an approach and style of writing which was characterized by an unusual emphasis on the true and the real for its own sake1' (Skinner 1978, p. 470). However, it was not until the 1920s that the Malay literary world showed any renewed activity of the type Abdullah's work had suggested, when a widespread process of change became evident. This literary production was centred among the Malay-educated teachers and journalists; concomitant with this the newspapers and magazines, which proliferated during the time, played a crucial role as the media by which literary works reached their audience. On 4 February 1920, Pengasuh (Educator) published Kecelakaan Pemalas [The evil of sloth] by Nur Ibrahim (Madrasi), which was regarded as the first Malay short story. Six years later, the first Malay novel, Hikayat Setia Asyik Kepada Maksyuknya A tau