Novel
Tak Ada Jalan Keluar
Not translated into English
Suratman Markasan · 1962
Synopsis
No way out: before the Second World War, a wretchedly poor Malay family tears itself apart. The novel follows Fatma Lawa from the beginning of her marriage to Hassan, who ends up abandoning her. Alone with six children, she lives from day to day; a neighbour takes advantage of her distress, and she becomes a kept woman, while the family sinks into quarrels and poverty.
Context
The novel was written in 1958 for the novel competition of the language institute in Kuala Lumpur, and appeared in 1962 from Marican & Sons; it is its author's first. Critics see in it a reflection of the social struggles of the Malays of the fifties, transposed to the pre-war period. Several of the author's later novels would, for their part, grow out of his short stories. The author was then twenty-eight and had recently begun teaching in Singapore, after his training as a schoolteacher in Perak; he had been writing poems since 1954, and would publish his first collection the following year.
Who it is for
A novel in Malay, which exists neither in French nor in English; it can be read without any particular knowledge of the history of Singapore.
Prizes and reception
Honoured in 1958, behind Musafir by Hassan Ali and Salina by A. Samad Said; counted among the notable works of its author.