Asian literatures
Indirect Speech: Contemporary Writing in Cambodia
Oppression and control of writers and literature has been a standard measure of social and cultural life in Cambodia for a thousand years at least, but since the last elections in 2013 there has been the appearance of change.
Rethinking Censorship in Indonesia
‘Perhaps the question that Ubud should prompt Indonesians and those who follow Indonesian affairs to ask is not “How can such censorship be happening?”, but rather, “Why are we shocked anew whenever censorship like this happens?” The answer to this new question may lie in the bifurcated narrative many of us rely on when thinking about recent Indonesian history.’ Tiffany Tsao on freedom of literary expression in Indonesia
Going home singing: The Analects of Simon Leys
Analects are gleanings, crumbs under the table, fragments of old text that, in the case of Confucius, have coalesced into a classic. Simon Leys, his latest translator and annotator, seldom misses an opportunity to remind us just how ragged and loopy this little book is — a mere one hundred pages in this edition (requiring another hundred pages of irresistible notes). The Analects consists of brief passages of partially recorded or remembered conversations between the Master and a set of often unidentified interlocuters.