The Anxieties of Authorship in Malaysian and Singaporean Writings in English: Locating the English Language Writer and the Question of Freedom in the Postcolonial Era

Abstract

This essay focuses on the anxieties of authorship by assessing the English language writer's position in Malaysia and Singapore. Since writers are essentially subjected to a culture of censorship in both countries, this essay thus considers the psychological consequences of censorship on the writers through the varying concerns and views on freedom. The final part of the essay also analyzes some of the writers' ambivalence towards the liberal ideal of freedom, and the manner in which it is negotiated from an Asian and multi-racial context. Hence "the anxieties of authorship" also reflect the ambivalence and tension experienced by Malaysian and Singaporean writers who are themselves caught between two ideologically polarized worlds of the west and asia.