I am assigned to delve deep into a famous Malaysian writer, Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir by Dr. Haslina for our Malaysian Literature class. Though the name did not bring much at first, a quick search on the name brought me to the realization of how significant a name this is. Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir, or more known as Munshi Abdullah is one of the greatest names in Malaysian Literature. A teacher, translator, writer and functionary for the British Empire in the Straits Settlements, Munshi Abdullah is the pioneer of modern Malay literature.

His prominent work includes Hikayat Abdullah, Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah ke Kelantan and Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah ke Mekah.


More to follow.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lee Kok Liang and Return to Malaya

Image
Name: Lee Kok Liang Year of Birth: 1921 Year of Death: 1992 Profession: Lawyer, Former member of the Penang State Assembly, Writer Famous Works include Mutes in the Sun and other stories  (1963), Return to Malaya  (1944), Death is a Ceremony and other short stories (1992) and Flowers in the Sky (1981). The late Lee Kok Liang was one of the most prominent English short story writer in South East Asia. Born in Alor Star, Kedah in  pre-independence Malaya, Lee's father was in his description, a stern follower of the British raj whilst his mother a fourth-generation Straits-Chinese and a sarong-woman with a mixture of Siamese, Chinese and Malay culture. In retrospect, his lineage oozes that of the multi-cultural fusion that Malaysia is known for and as such is what makes his writings so enjoyable and unique. Added to that his distinctive curriculum vitae of being educated in the Malaya's Chinese, Japanese and Malay schooling system of the 1930s and 1940s, Le...
Read more

Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir: A Biography and Overview of Major literary works.

Image
Name: Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir Gender: Male Year of Birth: 1796 Year of Death: 1854(aged 57 years old) Place of Birth: Kampung Pali, Malacca Place of Death: Jeddah Occupation: Author, translator, teacher(Munshi), functionary, scribe, copyist. Abdullah Abdul Kadir or more commonly known as Munshi Abdullah was a Malayan writer of Tamil and Yemen descent. Born in Kampung Pali, Malacca, Abdullah was the youngest of five sons and the only one who reaches adulthood as all of his siblings died in infancy. His early childhood was plagued by him being sick most of the time and as such led to his parents taking great care of him. Furthermore, he was taken care of by various individuals besides his parents as it was customary in Malay society at that time to exert such practices with a child that is deemed to have low body immunity. Abdullah despises such acts though, later describing it as stupid in his work, Hikayat Abdullah. He later became a Munshi, a title bestow...
Read more

lloyd fernando: short biography and list of works

Image
Lloyd Fernando was born in Kandy, Sri Lanka in 1926, and migrated to Singapore with his family in 1938. After obtaining his PhD in Literature in English from Leeds University, he served as Head of the English Department at the University of Malaya from 1967 to 1978, then took an early retirement at 52 to study Law in London. Fernando was admitted as Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 1980, at the age of 54. Fernando is best known in the literary world for his novel Scorpion Orchid . His other novel,  Green is the Colour , also explores the issues of identity and cultures in a multi-ethnic society. For his contribution to the University of Malaya, he was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus in 2005. Fernando passed away in 2008, leaving behind his wife, Marie, two daughters and four grandchildren major works: green is the colour This reprint of the novel by Lloyd Fernando is about racial and religious tolerance set against the shadow of the 1...
Read more