K. S. Maniam Explained

Subramaniam Krishnan (1942, Bedong, Malaysia – February 19, 2020, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), popularly known as K. S. Maniam, was a Malaysian academic and novelist.

Biography

KS Maniam was born in Bedong, Kedah in 1942, of Tamil origin and from a poor family; his father was the launderer of a hospital and to feed his family, also had to work in a rubber plantation near Bedong. After a year in a Tamil school, he attended an English school.^[1]

Maniam had been writing from his early teens. His stories have appeared in numerous journals around the world. His first novel, The Return, was published in 1981 and the second, In a Far Country, in 1993. He won the first prize for The Loved Flaw: Stories from Malaysia in The New Straits Times–McDonald short-story contest (1987) and for Haunting the Tiger: Contemporary Stories from Malaysia in The New Straits Times–Shell contest (1990). He was the inaugural recipient of the Raja Rao Award for Literature (New Delhi, September 2000), for his outstanding contribution to the literature of the South Asian diaspora.^[2] He was a lecturer (1980–85) and associate professor (1986–97) in the English Department, University of Malaya, in Kuala Lumpur. He lived with his wife, son and daughter in Subang Jaya, Malaysia, and devoted his time fully to writing.

He died on February 19, 2020, of cancer of the bile duct at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre in Kuala Lumpur.^[3]

Bibliography

Novels

• The Return (London: Skoob, 1981, 1993)
• In A Far Country (1993)
• Between Lives (2003)

Plays

• The Cord (1983)
• The Sandpit: Womensis (1990)

Short stories

• The Eagles (1976)
• Removal in Pasir Panjang (1981)
• The Pelanduk (1981)
• The Third Child (1981)
• The Dream of Vasantha (1981)
• Project: Graft Man (1983)
• We Make It To The Capital (1984)
• The Aborting (1986)
• Encounters (1989)
• Parablames (1989)
• Plot (1989)
• Haunting the Tiger (1990)
• Sensuous Horizons: The Stories & The Plays (1994)
• In Flight (written 1993, published 1995)
• Arriving ...and other stories (1995)
• Faced Out (2004)
• Guardian Knot
• A Stranger to Love (2018)

External links

• K. S. Maniam 2 essays by the author.
• Malaysia as myth in K. S. Maniam's In a Far Country by Peter Wicks (pdf).
• "A Portrait of the Imagination as a Malleable Kolam: K. S. Maniam's In A Far Country" by Shanthini Pillai.
• "Renegotiating Identity and Belief in K.S. Maniam's The Return" by Tang Soo Ping.
• "Your memories are our memories": Remembering Culture as Race in Malaysia and K.S. Maniam's Between Lives" by David C.L. Lim.
• David C. L. Lim, "The Path of the Imagination: A Conversation with K. S. Maniam", Wasafiri, Issue 41.
• The Infinite Longing for Home. Desire and the Nation in Selected Writings of Ben Okri and K.S. Maniam by David C.L. Lim.
• "K.S Maniam and diasporic issues"
• Bernard Wilson, "An Interview with K.S. Maniam, World Literature Written in English" Vo 33.2 & 34.1, 1993-1994 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17449859308589203
• Bernard Wilson, "Memory, Myth, Exile: The Desire for Malaysian Belonging in K.S. Maniam's The Return, "Haunting the Tiger' and In A Far Country'", Textual Practice Volume 17/2, Routledge, 2003. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0950236032000094908?src=recsys

References

• internationales literaturfestival berlin

Notes and References

1. Web site: Mialaret . Bertrand . 2017-05-05 . KS Maniam, a major writer, emigration and citizenship in Malaysia. . 2024-06-05 . Chinese book reviews . en-US.
2. Web site: The Indo-Malaysian connection. Khushwant. Singh. Tribune of India. October 28, 2000.
3. Web site: Culture icon Azah Aziz dies at age 84 The Star Online. www.thestar.com.my. 2020-02-19.