Guess whose back? Back again, Avi's Back, back again!!(and I did not return from the dead)
Well technically I've been back every weekend, this was just to herald my return to the blogosphere, after a very very very very (you get the point) long hiatus/absence/inactivity etc etc etc...
Alrighty, let us begin, the semester started off pretty well, with me having only 16 units (credit hours) of subjects!! The subjects for this semester can be said, to be a little lighter, to a certain extent if weren't for the fact that my minor is in BM, otherwise, it would have been a stroll in the park (so to speak) but nevertheless, it was still fun, compared to my previous semesters.
It was more fun and at the same time an eye opener, to the Malaysian writing scenario. Previously, I've never given, as a matter of fact, any thought on Malaysian literature and this semester was a real eye opener, we, especially me in this case, who has been fed all the while with books from Tolkien, Susan Cooper, C.S.Lewis and so on and so forth, was quite amazed to the fact that our own home grown writers can actually write, of course the language is suited to a more local palate but then again, the plot, the drama and the sleaze fest, it was really enlightening. Especially when certain taboos come under the spotlight, melting away the facade that our society puts on to cover their so called 'shame' such as incest, pre-marital sex, transvestites. I know that these issues have been around, but how many dare bring them to the spotlight in the manner our Malaysian writers has done. But of course you need a sharper mind to spot them, and going by Malaysian reading habits...hmm i doubt many but a handful will be able to spot them. Many I know will either trun away in disgust and rather not address them allowing it to fester. Harsh as it may sound, but that is the reality behind the Malaysian reading habits. But those things aside, I now have developed an appetite for Malaysian authors, thanks to my course and it was also in this duration where I was lucky enough to meet these authors, and in all standards deserve the pedestal in which I have placed other foreign authors before, (this is of course my opinion, you may have yours but once again this is mine).
*TRIVIA- DO YOU KNOW THAT, IN MALAYSIA, TO REACH "BESTSELLER" STATUS, YOU ONLY NEED TO HAVE SOLD 1000 COPIES!!!(Speaks wonders of MALAYSIAN READING CULTURE!!!!)
Till then signing off,
and as I often unabashedly quote "I forgot who it was" 'Parting is such sweet sorrow'
Bye!!