A Luxury We Must Afford by Christine Chia


A Luxury We Must Afford
Title : A Luxury We Must Afford
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : -
ISBN-10 : 9789810986612
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 168
Publication : First published November 1, 2016

What does the future of Singapore hold?

In 2015, the anthology A Luxury We Cannot Afford commemorated 50 years of man-made myth — 50 years of mysteries and ministries, Marxists and memorandums, the Merlion and The Man — and whether the 1969 assertion that "poetry is a luxury we cannot afford" still held true in the 2010s.

But instead of looking back, this companion volume to the first looks forward to everything after SG50 and beyond. It is a collection of bold narratives of Singaporeans shaping their own future, a cornucopia of hyper-modern dreams of robots and aliens, yet also tales of muted despair at a future slipping out of touch with the past. But in this uncertain future, there is no longer any need to debate whether poetry is a luxury we cannot afford. In this island of oxymorons and contradictions, in this brave new world we look forward to —

Poetry is a luxury we must afford.


A Luxury We Must Afford Reviews


  • mm

    I prefer the first volume to this of Singapore in another 50 years. This collection isn't as strong. However, it features more younger writers – writers with more opportunities than our older poets who've had to write in their free time. These are writers who have been able to live as a writer, an opportunity not accorded our writers when poetry was seen as 'a luxury we cannot afford'.
    Most talk about a science-fiction future for our tiny isle, with everything provided. Not a dystopian future.
    Maybe I am a cynic, but I think that is more probable than all our needs being provided for – with our thoughts read.