Books by "Andrew C. Wicks"
4 books found
Religion has featured in Anglophone literature in Malaysia from colonial times to the present. In Intimating the Sacred, Andrew Hock Soon Ng considers the practice of everyday religiosity as represented in literature, which is often starkly opposed to the impression created by religious rhetoric promoted by the government. The book's examination of intersections between (post)modernity and religion highlights links between religion and other facets of colonial and postcolonial identity such as class, gender and sexuality. It will appeal not only to scholars and specialists, but also to anyone who enjoys modern Southeast Asian literature. Andrew Hock Soon Ng is senior lecturer in literary studies at Monash University, Sunway Campus, Malaysia. He is the author of Dimensions of Monstrosity in Contemporary Narratives and Interrogating Interstices. "In Intimating the Sacred, Andrew Hock Soon Ng confirms his status as one of the most important new voices in Malaysian literary studies, moving beyond national and postcolonial frameworks to a more subtle plotting of the psychic contours of Malaysian modernity." – Philip Holden, National University of Singapore "In Malaysia, the relationships between various religions, the state ideology and the multicultural composition of the populace are fraught with tension. Ng's book, with critical insights derived from a balanced treatment of texts and theory, deals with these issues in a robust and uncompromising manner. This is a welcome contribution to Southeast Asian literary studies." – Eddie Tay, author of Colony, Nation, and Globalisation "This refreshing approach to Malaysian canonical texts combines diverse literary theories and religion. Courageous and convincing, it engages post colonialism, feminism, and theories of religion with a sophisticated focus on texts." – Gaik Cheng Khoo, Australian National University
This study attempts to multiculturalise the Gothic by reading a wide selection of Postcolonial Asian and Asian American narratives in light of familiar Gothic tropes such as the uncanny, the double, spectres, and the sublime. Discussing some of the more important concepts in postcolonialism such as subjectivity, belonging, hybridity and nationalism, the author argues that the trajectory of the postcolonial and diasporic experience is fraught with profound moments of trauma, loss and transgression which the aesthetics of the Gothic can illuminate. Throughout the study, a careful balance is maintained between deploying Gothic criticism and emphasising the narrative's cultural, historical and ideological specificity to ensure that a textual form of colonial imposition does not occur. Writings by well-known authors such as Rushdie, Roy, Ondaatje and Mukherjee, and lesser known ones such as Lan Samantha Chang, K.S, Maniam and Beth Yahp are analysed.