“An Author’s Relationship with His Audience”: the earliest autobiographical work of local Malay

This study describes the confusion regarding the term ‘autobiography’ which is being disputed by some scholars of Malay literature as well as proves that Tarikh Dato’ Bentara Luar Johor, written by Mohamad Salleh Perang is the earliest Malay autobiography. In the early 20th century, the colonial sch...

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Main Authors: Hamdan, Rahimah, Sujud, Arbaie
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Medwell Journals 2016
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/55018/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/55018/1/An%20Author%E2%80%99s%20Relationship%20with%20His%20Audience.pdf
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author Hamdan, Rahimah
Sujud, Arbaie
author_facet Hamdan, Rahimah
Sujud, Arbaie
author_sort Hamdan, Rahimah
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This study describes the confusion regarding the term ‘autobiography’ which is being disputed by some scholars of Malay literature as well as proves that Tarikh Dato’ Bentara Luar Johor, written by Mohamad Salleh Perang is the earliest Malay autobiography. In the early 20th century, the colonial scholars were of one mind in their recognition of Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah and Hikayat Abdullah, written by Abdullah Munshi as the first Malay autobiographical works. This recognition, in turn, led to the division of the history of Malay literature into the traditional and modern periods. Nevertheless, the recognition accorded to Abdullah Munshi gave rise to a controversy when it was said that his works were not composed for the ruler and the Malay audience but for the Western colonialists. The autobiographical works that deserve recognition should be those that were written for the ruler and the Malay audience because of the close relationship between the Malay community and their ruler. By using C.W. Watson’s scale for Western autobiographies, this study discusses the pertinence of Tarikh Dato’ Bentara Luar Johor as the earliest autobiographical work of a local Malay. Indirectly, the recognition of Abdullah Munshi’s work as the first autobiography should be reviewed because it would not be fair to recognize a work whose contents were hurtful to the ruler and the Malay audience. In conclusion, this study has triggered a re-interpretation of the history of Malay literature in this country if the autobiography genre is used to mark the beginning of the ‘modern’ period.
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spelling upm-550182018-07-12T10:40:32Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/55018/ “An Author’s Relationship with His Audience”: the earliest autobiographical work of local Malay Hamdan, Rahimah Sujud, Arbaie This study describes the confusion regarding the term ‘autobiography’ which is being disputed by some scholars of Malay literature as well as proves that Tarikh Dato’ Bentara Luar Johor, written by Mohamad Salleh Perang is the earliest Malay autobiography. In the early 20th century, the colonial scholars were of one mind in their recognition of Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah and Hikayat Abdullah, written by Abdullah Munshi as the first Malay autobiographical works. This recognition, in turn, led to the division of the history of Malay literature into the traditional and modern periods. Nevertheless, the recognition accorded to Abdullah Munshi gave rise to a controversy when it was said that his works were not composed for the ruler and the Malay audience but for the Western colonialists. The autobiographical works that deserve recognition should be those that were written for the ruler and the Malay audience because of the close relationship between the Malay community and their ruler. By using C.W. Watson’s scale for Western autobiographies, this study discusses the pertinence of Tarikh Dato’ Bentara Luar Johor as the earliest autobiographical work of a local Malay. Indirectly, the recognition of Abdullah Munshi’s work as the first autobiography should be reviewed because it would not be fair to recognize a work whose contents were hurtful to the ruler and the Malay audience. In conclusion, this study has triggered a re-interpretation of the history of Malay literature in this country if the autobiography genre is used to mark the beginning of the ‘modern’ period. Medwell Journals 2016 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/55018/1/An%20Author%E2%80%99s%20Relationship%20with%20His%20Audience.pdf Hamdan, Rahimah and Sujud, Arbaie (2016) “An Author’s Relationship with His Audience”: the earliest autobiographical work of local Malay. The Social Sciences, 11 (18). pp. 4511-4522. ISSN 1818-5800; ESSN: 1993-6125 10.3923/sscience.2016.4511.4522
spellingShingle Hamdan, Rahimah
Sujud, Arbaie
“An Author’s Relationship with His Audience”: the earliest autobiographical work of local Malay
title “An Author’s Relationship with His Audience”: the earliest autobiographical work of local Malay
title_full “An Author’s Relationship with His Audience”: the earliest autobiographical work of local Malay
title_fullStr “An Author’s Relationship with His Audience”: the earliest autobiographical work of local Malay
title_full_unstemmed “An Author’s Relationship with His Audience”: the earliest autobiographical work of local Malay
title_short “An Author’s Relationship with His Audience”: the earliest autobiographical work of local Malay
title_sort “an author’s relationship with his audience”: the earliest autobiographical work of local malay
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/55018/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/55018/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/55018/1/An%20Author%E2%80%99s%20Relationship%20with%20His%20Audience.pdf