On a Journey Homeward: An Interview with Muhammad Haji Salleh

Abstract

An interview with Malaysia's most prominent bilingual writer Muhammad Haji Salleh, who has published twelve volumes of poetry since his commencement as a writer in 1963, one of which he wrote originally in English and the remaining in Malay/Bahasa Malaysia (but some of which he has himself later translated into English). The interview explores various aspects of Muhammad's psyche/imagination, including his attitude to his own creative process, Malay/Malaysian nationalism, the state of Malaysian literature in English generally as well as that in Malay/Bahasa Malaysia (the national language), and his dichotomous relationship with the English language in the post-colonial era. The interview comes with a 1,200 word introduction, explaining Muhammad's position and contribution as a writer in the country/region, and the implied metaphor in the interview's title.