Yang Empunya Cerita: The Mind of the Malay Author

Author: Muhammad Haji Salleh Pages: 248

Yang Empunya Cerita explores the concepts of authorship, text, and genre through the lines, words, and nuances of Malay literature. It discusses how traditional Malay artists, deeply buried under a oral and anonymous tradition, are now more enigmatic and alienated due to technological changes, differing modes of literary communication, and the disappearance of the rural environment that fostered their creativity. The book reflects on how, despite feeling (rasa) and thinking (fikir) about the world, the traditional artist's work was considered a property of the community, with various versions and fragments of stories, styles, and plots passed orally and collectively. These works often had multiple versions, sharing a relationship with a collective authorship, accessible to anyone skilled in retelling or adding to the oral library of spoken literature.

The text also discusses how the custom of inscribing authors' names became common in the mid-19th century under Arab and British influence, though older works generally lacked traceability of the original authors. Terms of humility and modesty were used by scribes, who tried to remain transparent or blend into the text. Despite the anonymity, early works indicate that traditional artists grappled with ideas of literature, genres, metaphors, and the quest to translate ideas into words and capture truth amid different epochs.

Few traditional Malay literary, historical, or religious texts explicitly address questions about the craft of writing, the purpose of art, or the relationship of the writer to their work, patrons, and audience. Exceptions, mostly from the 19th century or later, include some with prologues or prefaces, notably the Sejarah Melayu, which describes the relationship between the writer and their work, including loyalties, conceptions of history, literature (kesusasteraan), and the writer's role.