Poetry
Sajak-sajak Sejarah Melayu
Not translated into English
Muhammad Haji Salleh · 1981
Synopsis
Poems from the Malay Annals: a sequence drawn from the chapters of the great chronicle of Malacca, in thirty-four “tales” each of which carries at least one poem. The poet takes up the figures and episodes of the chronicle, from the love of Kasturi and Anum to the dynastic quarrels and the fall of the city, to draw from them a reflection on the poet's responsibility, personal virtue and the conduct of the state.
Context
The collection appeared in 1981 at the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. Its author, who had given up writing poetry in English in 1974, wrote it in the last years of the decade to reconnect with his culture. He himself translated twelve of these poems into English, reprinted in several of his English-language collections. Harry Aveling read in it in 2020 a moral rereading of the Annals, in which the poet becomes the guide of society rather than the chronicler of the court.
Who it is for
Poems in Malay, which assume at least a knowledge of the broad outlines of the Malay chronicle; a dozen exist in English.
Prizes and reception
A modern rereading of the great classical Malay text, which academic criticism continues to study.
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