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Shifting Perspectives on Text and History: A Reflection on Shelly Errington's Paper*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Tu Wei-ming
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Abstract

This reflection on Errington's thought-provoking paper, by an intellectual historian and a student of Chinese philosophy, does not dispute her interpretive position on classical Malay literature in general and on hikayat in particular. Rather, it attempts to challenge three salient points of her argument: that the distinction between “oral” and “written” is a hazy one in the paratactic style of the hikayat; that the “images” in this type of literature are flat, repetitive and without content; and that the Malay art of story-telling is diametrically opposed to the rhetorical style of history characteristic of the post-Renaissance West. It is hoped that such a discussion will bring about fruitful encounters between scholars in different fields and disciplines in Asian studies.

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Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , February 1979 , pp. 245 - 251
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1979

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References

* I am indebted to my colleagues, Irwin Scheiner of History and Amin P. L. Sweeney of South and Southeast Asian Studies, for their thoughtful criticisms of an earlier draft of the paper.