Novel
Salina
A. Samad Said · 1961
Synopsis
In Singapore, in the aftermath of the Second World War, poor families crowd into Kampung Kambing, a wretched neighbourhood whose landlords are Tamil. Siti Salina lives there on her charms and supports Abdul Fakar, a man who exploits her. Around them, the young Hilmy, the young Nahidah, whose mother Zarina pushes her towards work as a hostess, the religious teacher Haji Karman and others struggle against poverty and the wounds of the war.
Context
Singled out in a novel competition held by the national language institute, the book appeared in 1961 from Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. It focuses less on its heroine than on the collective life of a multi-ethnic neighbourhood, where postwar poverty pushes everyone towards choices that society condemns. Often reissued, it has been translated notably into Japanese, Chinese, French and three times into English, most recently in 2013; a study by Lalita Sinha compares two of these English versions.
Who it is for
A long novel in Malay, slow and teeming; it has existed in French since 1997, in the translation by Laurent Metzger.
Prizes and reception
Celebrated as a milestone of the modern Malay novel and reprinted many times since 1961.
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