Fiction and Faction in the Malay World

This book offers a variety of essays and perspectives on some of the foreigners and traders who came to the Malay World and wrote fiction and faction (writing that portrays real people or events in a dramatised manner) during their sojourn - regardless of whether they continued to stay in this region, returned to their home country, or migrated to another country. The essays tend to cross generic and disciplinary boundaries as the contributors of this book are drawn from various fields within the arts and humanities, including history, geography, language and literature and translation. All of them, however, deal with the colonial texts, the Malay World or primarily covering the period from the 18th to the 20th century. Including readings of fiction, diaries, vignettes, letters written by traders or colonial officers, the uniqueness of this book lies in the personal, private and/or informal nature of the various documents studied. The encounters of these 'outsiders' with the 'natives' not only offer fascinating historical insights to the Malay World, but to a significant degree vividly express the views and personalities of the writers themselves as mediated through their assigned commercial and colonial roles.