Novel
Hidup yang Derhaka
Not translated into English
Shamsuddin Saleh · 1936
Synopsis
La Vie rebelle: in colonial Malaya in the mid-thirties, men find themselves caught between the loyalty expected of them and the truth they discover. The novel stages conflicts of ideas and moral dilemmas: faced with oppression, some choose to bend, others to rise up, even if it means being called traitors in order to remain faithful to their conscience and their principles.
Context
The novel appeared in 1936, the year its author published his first book in Muar. Long available only in Jawi script, it opens the first volume of a reissue of five of his novels, published in May 2026 on the initiative of his grandson, after fifteen years of research that began with the discovery of one of his texts in a university library; the Jawi Academy of Malaysia took part in the transliteration.
Who it is for
A pre-war novel in Malay, now transcribed into Roman script, in a volume of some three hundred and sixty pages; it does not exist in French.
Prizes and reception
Chosen to give its title to the 2026 reissue of its author's work, at a time when his books had almost disappeared.
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