Farewell To Malaya:a Study Of Malaysian Chinese Fiction Anthology Edited By Chin-shu Huang

In the Malaysian literary world,Chin-Shu Huang is widely known for his achievements in fiction writing and literary criticism.In fact,he has abundant anthologies with 12 compilations.Among them,4 anthologies of Malaysian Chinese literary fiction,including An Ocean Apart,Don’t Look Back,The Story Always Begins,and Return to Malaya.Taking Malaysian Chinese fiction anthologies as the research object,this paper explores Chin-Shu Huang’s criteria for constructing literary classics of Malaysian Chinese literature,and explores his attitude about cultural identity of Malaysian Chinese literature,which also depicts the significance of the anthology.The introduction firstly introduces the tradition of anthology compilation in Malaysian Chinese literature.Secondly,it reviews the relevant domestic and international literature,analyzes the limitations of the existing literature in terms of research objects and research methods.Finally,it clarifies the research methodology from three aspects of anthology criticism tradition,anthology criticism function and anthology criticism mechanism.The first chapter focuses on the criteria of anthologies regarding literary classics.The first section describes the characteristics of the two major anthologies,"Contemporary Fiction in Malaysian Chinese Literature" and "Fiction in Malaysian Chinese Literature".The second section focuses on the works of writers without being selected by Chin-Shu Huang deliberately,and outlines his screening criteria in comparison.The third section delves into his selected texts to recreate the dynamic construction of literary classics.This chapter explores the selector’s personal conception of the literary classics.by tracing the appearance of the anthology and outlining the factual criteria presented by the selected and unselected texts.The second chapter focuses on the cultural identity of the anthologies.The first section discusses Chin-Shu Huang’s claim of "Chineseness" presented by the anthology,analyzes his attempt to break down the essentialist "Chineseness",then highlights his search for a new vitality in Malaysian Chinese literature with the idea of "recreating Chinese".The second section seeks his claim of "localness" as presented by the anthology,reviews the history of the formation of the "localness" discourse,and argues that "localness" is in danger of being divorced from reality.The third section depicts his attempts to break the dilemma of "cultural identity",discovers the resistance to the hegemonic discourse in the anthology,and explores the possible path of "stateless literature".The third chapter focuses on the significance of the anthology.The first section conveys the anthology’s rewriting of past literary history,analyzes the anthology’s rewriting of the nomenclature and staging of Malaysian Chinese literature.The second section claims the anthology’s contribution to the construction of contemporary literary history,and discusses the promoting the change of literary generations in Malaysian Chinese literature.The third section reviews the continuity of the anthology for the future,then analyzes the future path of the "classical language" and "literary establishment" embodied in the anthology.Above all,Malaysian Chinese Fiction Anthology edited by Chin-Shu Huang can present his conception of literary classics,as well as an attempt to solve the problem of "cultural identity",rewrite the literary history of Malaysian Chinese literature,promote the change of generations in the literary world of Malaysian Chinese literature,and explore the future of Malaysian Chinese literature.