I had a meeting in
Singapore recently with personnel of the National Arts Council
over there. It appears that they liked some of the work Silverfish Books
is doing and asked if we would collaborate on more projects in
future. Of course, we'd like to collaborate, I said, but I'm very
picky. I added that, to Silverfish Books, there was no such thing as
'good enough'. If a work was considered'good enough' than it was not
'good enough'. It is either good or bad. (My friend Joan told me
that years ago.) There is simply no point in becoming champion of
Subang Jaya. Anyway, that, at least, is our ideal. When Silverfish Books started publishing, we set out to put Malaysian writing in English on the world literary map. (We hoped Malay and Chinese literature would be handled by others because that was not our core competence.) That we have done to a certain extent. (Apparently, the Silverfish Books' 'footprint' in several School of Oriental Studies in international universities is 'huge', according to some travelling academics. So, we have the 'fame', but I can't help thinking that a bit of 'fortune' would be good too!)
That was the other reason I was in Singapore. NAC has given us money to translate, edit and print a series of books. And they want to us to do more, their only condition being they have to be Singaporean authors. Is that selling my soul to the devil?
The kaya syndrome
I grew up in Johor Bahru and Singapore was my backyard (or the front-yard, depending on which direction you faced when you woke up). I have friends and relatives in Singapore. We share common experiences, at the non-political level at least (although some in Malaysia may regard that as almost blasphemy). But, most importantly, they are willing to give me money to help establish Singapore literature to the world, and they are serious. What are the chances of Silverfish Books (or any other independent publisher) getting assistance from any such institution in Malaysia? Are there any we can take seriously? (I can hear all sorts of sarcastic remarks coming up, but you get my point.)
To Malaysian government institutions, anyone in business is kaya, rich. And this kaya syndrome is killing the country. They have no idea about the sacrifices we make (not to mention our frequent 14-15 hour days). They think we exist to support them, when it should be the other way round. They cannot understand that without businesses, government servants won't get paid.
Why we write
So why do we persist? It's almost like the plot of a Bruce Willis Die Hard movie (but then he always win in the end). I recently read an article on Why we write? George Orwell listed the reasons as sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse and political purpose. Others have suggested other reasons like: an access to her own mind (Joan Didion); for fun (David Foster Wallace); to find a gateway from the darkness to light (Joy Williams); springing from the soul like a rocket (Charles Bukowski); and for the comfort of belonging to a collective enterprise (Italo Calvino), amongst others.
Strange, how all this applies to publishing, and I guess to many other enterprises except maybe crass commerce where the only motivator is greed. Okay, here I go:
- Publish good Malaysian works that will last for years, no decades -- sheer egoism (Orwell)
- For the enormous buzz something good creates -- aesthetic enthusiasm (Orwell)
- Record snapshots of history before it's all lost -- historical impulse (Orwell)
- Says something important about us -- political purpose (Orwell)
- Says something new about ourselves that we didn't know (or shut out) for whatever reason -- access to our mind (Joan Didion)
- For entertainment -- for fun (David Foster Wallace)
- For empathy and acceptance -- darkness to light (Joy Williams)
- For the 'wow' factor -- like a rocket from the soul (Charles Bukowski)
- Stories about us -- for the comfort of belonging to a collective enterprise (Italo Calvino)
