May 3, 2019

In conjunction with the newly-launched Edwin Thumboo prize, Emeritus Professor Edwin Thumboo from the NUS Department of English Language and Literature discusses poetry and personal history in this interview with FASS alumnus and poet Marc Nair.

The Edwin Thumboo prize was established to recognise outstanding work in English Literature by pre-university students. It was set up to honour Prof Thumboo, one of Singapore’s most distinguished poets and literary scholars, who helped to create and sustain some of the most necessary conditions for the practice of poetry in Singapore.

Recalling his formative writing years, Prof Thumboo highlighted several prominent figures in early Singapore literature, such as University Professor Wang Gungwu from the NUS Department of History, who published Pulse (1950), the first known collection of English poems by a Malayan. He also recounted some of his literary adventures, including travelling to Malaysia to sell copies of a journal which he had put together with his friends, and Saya (1969-78), a literary journal that was sent out mostly to secondary schools.

For Prof Thumboo, poetry involves an important equation: meaning = making. As the writing succeeds, the equal sign diminishes and eventually disappears as the poem becomes increasingly seamless. These days, however, such seams are no longer important; rather, it is the constant urge to find wonder, and allow the poem to take one by surprise.

Read the full article here.