Tok Dalang and Stories of Other Malaysians

About the Book

Tok Dalang and Stories of Other Malaysians is a collection of short fiction written by Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof over several years. The stories deal with a range of characters and issues that in some ways are unique in Malaysian fiction in the English language. Its main strength lies in the fact that while Malay characters still make their appearances in several of the stories, the stories also touch upon aspects of their traditional culture, something rare in Malaysian writing. Additionally, lives and particular concerns of members of the minority communities in the country, including Tamil Muslims, Sikhs, Pakistanis, as well as Indonesians, have been explored both in depth as well as in a sympathetic manner for the first time in Malaysian writing. Through the writer’s grasp of the English language, including its local nuances, as well as a sensitive appreciation of their diverse cultures and cultural manifestations, the lives of Malaysians have been subtly coaxed into these stories, which are likely to find an important place in contemporary Malaysian literature in English.

About the Author

Professor Dato’ Ghulam Sarwar Yousof graduated in English from the University of Malaya (1964), and did a Doctorate in Asian Theatre at the University of Hawaii (1976). He is one of Malaysia’s most distinguished scholars of performing arts and one of the world’s leading specialists of traditional Southeast Asian theatre. He was responsible for setting up Malaysia’s first Performing Arts programme at the Science University of Malaysia (USM) in Penang in 1970. Dato’ Ghulam Sarwar Yousof served at that university as lecturer and Associate Professor. He joined the Cultural Centre, University of Malaya (UM) as Professor in 2002. Currently he is Senior Academic Fellow in the Department of English Language and Literature, International Islamic University Malaysia, and also Expert/Pakar at the Cultural Centre, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. He is also Director of The Asian Cultural Heritage Centre Berhad, a private research initiative set up by him to promote research in traditional Asian cultures. Apart from traditional Asian theatre, his major interests include Asian literatures, folklore studies, as well as South- and Southeast Asian cultures, comparative religion, mythology and, Sufism. In ethnographic and folklore studies he has explored Malay-Indonesian mythology and folk literature, Malay concepts of the soul (semangat), and angin as well as traditional healing processes, and their role in the cases of disease as well as healing. As a creative writer, he has published poetry, drama as well as short stories. He has also done a translation of Kalidasa’s Sanskrit play Shakuntala as well as translations of Urdu poetry into English. Dato’ Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof’s most outstanding contribution to academia is in traditional Southeast Asian Theatre. In this area he has carved a unique niche for himself, with meticulous field work and research, in some previously unexplored genres, resulting in the most important existing publication, his Dictionary of Traditional Southeast Asian Theatre. His vast collection of fieldwork materials and documentation is currently held by the Asian Cultural Heritage Centre Berhad. Among other things, he is currently working on a two-volume anthology of Islamic Literature. Dato’ Ghulam-Sarwar Yousof has held visiting positions as professor at several universities, has lectured in many countries in both Asia and Europe on a broad spectrum of culture-related subjects and on altogether unclassifiable disciplines alike to absolute novices and specialized audiences. He has also given readings of his poetry and short stories as well as organised major poetry events in Kuala Lumpur and Penang in conjunction with UNESCO World Poetry Day. He has been, over the decades, involved in various capacities in numerous cultural organizations, national and international, including the Asia-Europe Foundation as Malaysia’s official representative and member of the foundation’s Board of Governors.