| Title | : | LONTAR #5 |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9789814655187 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 112 |
| Publication | : | First published October 1, 2015 |
Inside these pages, you’ll find: an ancient and fatal karmic reunion in Jakarta by award-winner Gord Sellar; the true origin of the Merlion by Singapore Literature Prize winner Amanda Lee Koe; a young man's literal transformation into an island by award-winner Ng Yi-Sheng; a far-future Malaysian fairy tale by Kawika Guillermo; a gentle aquatic apocalypse from novelist Erica Verrillo; an enlightening visit with a forest monk in northern Thailand by Italian journalist Massimo Morello; a comic on the price of technological hubris by Benjamin Chee; and speculative poetry from Tania De Rozario, Joel Donato Jacob, Lee Jing-Jing, Daryl WJ Lim, Christina Sng and Sokunthary Svay.
LONTAR is the world’s only biannual literary journal focusing on Southeast Asian speculative fiction.
LONTAR #5 Reviews
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Issue number five was released earlier this month, and given my recent forays into Indonesian literature I thought a read and a review of other writers from the Southeast Asian region could be in order, using the publication as a starting point to learning a little more about writers on the fringe and possibly exploring some of their other works in a little more detail at some later stage.
Issue number five contains works by thirteen writers, five short stories, six poets, one nonfiction piece and a single “sequential art” (Graphic art) entry. The publication weighs in at 104 pages and opens with an editorial talking about the male/female representation in their publication to date, with women writers constituting 41% of the works published to date. An interesting aside is that for their unsolicited submissions female writers make up 46% up the works received so at least one journal out there is ensuring a balanced approach!
The fiction kicks off with a short story “No Man Is” by Singapore poet, fictionist, playwright, journalist and activist Ng Yi-Sheng. It is the story of a young man who decides to become an island – literally. He floats in the ocean attempting to find a place to remain, to grown, take root, but like all islands he is plundered and corrupted. A tale of identity with an environmental message this mixes folklore and fantasy to open a world of thought about our connection to the land we walk on.
The non-fiction entry is “Let The Stupid Ones Die” by Massimo Morello an Italian Thai journalist, who travels to the Thailand/Laos border and lives with a Buddhist monk, a retreat of sorts. However instead of the usual romantic tales we normally read about such journeys, we have the reality of living simply, the tepid water, the dirty surroundings, the rats, and the fear of living in the rainforest:
The positive aspect of this experience, as on certain trips to the rainforest earlier in my life, is the progressive disappearance of individual needs. A kind of psychophysical Occam’s Razor. According to the 14th century Franciscan friar by the same name, the simplest explanation to a problem is usually the correct one, so more complex and less probable hypotheses can be eliminated. This reducing down to the essentials applies to one’s lifestyle – if we eliminate everything but the indispensable, the body no longer feels the need for anything else. According to the venerable monk – and especially according to Buddha – this means closing the six doors of suffering, i.e. the five senses plus the mind. The doors lead to desire, which should be eliminated in order to be free from dukkha, or suffering. But if you begin to analyse the Four Noble Truths at the heart of Dharma, Buddha law and teaching, things get too complicated. Let’s just get back to the Razor.
This is a Westerner’s view of the East, and the East feeding off of the Westerner’s view – an interesting take on what we normally see as a romantic retreat with a Buddhist monk.
For a full review go to
http://messybooker.blogspot.com.au/20...
