the words poem by Edwin thumboo......essay
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Explanation:
Edwin Thumboo [i] is arguably the most famous and powerful figure in Singaporean literature. He is also the most controversial, generating a broad range of responses to the meaning and value of his verse. Thumboo’s poetry parallels not just the stages of his life but problematically also how Singapore has developed socio-politically. These inextricable aspects create the very possibility for conflicting readings, which essentially disagree over historical decisions, the role of art and the impact of Thumboo’s career and character.
My essay will look at the construction of the image of Thumboo and its relation to these differing outlooks. I shall consider the dimensions of his historical place, his artistic convictions, his status in literary and academic culture and his own personality. A different way of working with Thumboo – without using him to frame Singaporean literature–is also proposed. My wish is to be able to confront objectively where this major poet’s legacy stands today.
Introduction
Edwin Thumboo turns eighty in what is also the sixth decade of his poetry. The span of his career makes it more possible now than ever before to speak objectively about the man and his body of contributions. A huge amount of primary and secondary material on this celebrated writer-critic is already available at our disposal. Among the newer resources for researchers is my own annotated guide that has been housed at the National Library of Singapore’s website since 2011 and updated from time to time. [ii] This bibliography on Thumboo – the most exhaustive one to date – contains several hundred entries from across over half a century that involve the poet in his various capacities.
Mentions of Thumboo are fascinating because they are not just tied to literary discussions on the English canon, postcolonial, emergent and diasporic writing and Singaporean, Southeast Asian, Commonwealth, world and comparative literature. They also appear in other academic fields such as linguistics, political science, sociology, geography, architecture and cultural, migrant, urban, Singapore and international studies. Then there are the records of his institutional work, the journalistic reports on his travels and social engagements and the articles on any of the aforementioned areas in other global languages. The absolute historiographer may be thrilled to find numerous early drafts, manuscripts and paraphernalia belonging to Thumboo in the National Library.
Even as documents from a less organised past and different parts of the world are still being discovered and catalogued, one fact now stands beyond dispute. Thumboo is the most widely cited Singaporean writer and remains – at this point in time – unparalleled in his reach across cultural and intellectual communities. Yet, it must also be admitted that he is fast becoming unfamiliar to younger domestic readers who may nonetheless be acquainted with the poets of the last two decades. The conflicting trends would be odd in the context of another writer, but Thumboo derives much critical importance precisely from his ability to generate paradoxes. The aim of my essay here is to pay tribute to this poet’s life and career by means of the various contesting forces of perception that serve to designate his place of influence.
This discussion should, in fact, also shed light on some more noteworthy puzzles about Thumboo’s status. For example, while others may have written earlier or written more, exploring a wider range of themes, styles, genres and perspectives, it is Thumboo who is known universally as the father of Singaporean literature. [iii] Singapore may still lack a strong dialogue across its different literary traditions, yet Thumboo sits comfortably as the champion of writing in not just English but all of its official languages. His poems are controversial, dividing poets as fiercely as they do critics – and, for this reason, he is deemed as the touchstone for understanding an entire written culture. The centrality is unassailable: no commentator on Singapore’s literary scene can be considered well-informed without having demonstrated a legitimate opinion on his verses
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Explanation:
There is an element of mystery in the poetry of Edwin Thumboo. Mystery in the sense of there being, to borrow Einstein’s wording, “something subtle, intangible and inexplicable”, and truly beyond anyone’s ability to fit neatly into some literary or linguistic description. For some this leads to “[v]eneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend” (Einstein); for some, this force is the Muse, while others “listen to the one we come to find” (E Thumboo, A Poet Reading), we come expectant of an encounter with “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14).
Together with three other scholars, the editor contemplates the wonder of the mystery of the poet on Poem’s calling.