Introduction

This collection of essays brings together work by some of the most internationally acclaimed critics of Malaysian literature in English from different parts of the world: Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the US. It investigates the works of major English-language Malaysian writers in the genres of drama, fiction and poetry, from the beginning to the present, focusing mainly on thematic and stylistic trends. The issues highlighted in the book include gender, ethnicity, nationalism, multiculturalism, diaspora,hybridity and transnationalism, all which are, in varying ways and measures, central to the creativity and imagination of these writers. The chapters collectively address the challenges and achievements of English-language writers in a country where English, first introduced by the colonisers, has experienced a mixed fate of ups and downs in the post-independence period, owing to the changing and at times strikingly different policies adopted by each successive government.