A reimagining of history based on the Novel The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw

This article analyses the text, The Harmony Silk Factory, by Tash Aw and employs the novel to negate the idea of history as scientific and stable depiction of reality. The text specifically focuses on the central character, Johnny Lim, and utilises the character as an analogy to the act of histori...

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Main Authors:	Lajiman Janoory, Mohammad Sidik Ariffin, Mazura@Mastura Muhammad
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2016
Online Access:	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10701/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10701/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10701/1/12091-39666-1-PB.pdf

id	ukm-10701
recordtype	eprints
spelling	ukm-107012017-10-02T03:51:07Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10701/ A reimagining of history based on the Novel The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw Lajiman Janoory, Mohammad Sidik Ariffin, Mazura@Mastura Muhammad, This article analyses the text, The Harmony Silk Factory, by Tash Aw and employs the novel to negate the idea of history as scientific and stable depiction of reality. The text specifically focuses on the central character, Johnny Lim, and utilises the character as an analogy to the act of historical writing. The article hypothesises that historical writing is an intellectual production with strong fictional elements embedded into it. The article also frames its argument based on ideas elucidated by Beverly Southgate about the fictional nature of history and the historical nature of fiction. The frame of argument presupposes that historical narration has more similarity to fictional writing than previously assumed. By analysing the central character in the novel and utilising him to symbolise our conception of history, the research strives to demystify the idea of history as scientific and objective narrative of our historical reality. The research concludes that the novel by Tash Aw can be considered as metaphorical allusions to the idea of history. The implication of the research allows us to view historical texts much more critically due to the inability of historians to write objectively and authentically about history/reality. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2016 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10701/1/12091-39666-1-PB.pdf Lajiman Janoory, and Mohammad Sidik Ariffin, and Mazura@Mastura Muhammad, (2016) A reimagining of history based on the Novel The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 22 (2). pp. 187-198. ISSN 0128-5157 http://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/807
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building	UKM Institutional Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
description	This article analyses the text, The Harmony Silk Factory, by Tash Aw and employs the novel to negate the idea of history as scientific and stable depiction of reality. The text specifically focuses on the central character, Johnny Lim, and utilises the character as an analogy to the act of historical writing. The article hypothesises that historical writing is an intellectual production with strong fictional elements embedded into it. The article also frames its argument based on ideas elucidated by Beverly Southgate about the fictional nature of history and the historical nature of fiction. The frame of argument presupposes that historical narration has more similarity to fictional writing than previously assumed. By analysing the central character in the novel and utilising him to symbolise our conception of history, the research strives to demystify the idea of history as scientific and objective narrative of our historical reality. The research concludes that the novel by Tash Aw can be considered as metaphorical allusions to the idea of history. The implication of the research allows us to view historical texts much more critically due to the inability of historians to write objectively and authentically about history/reality.
format	Article
author	Lajiman Janoory, Mohammad Sidik Ariffin, Mazura@Mastura Muhammad,
spellingShingle	Lajiman Janoory, Mohammad Sidik Ariffin, Mazura@Mastura Muhammad, A reimagining of history based on the Novel The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw
author_facet	Lajiman Janoory, Mohammad Sidik Ariffin, Mazura@Mastura Muhammad,
author_sort	Lajiman Janoory,
title	A reimagining of history based on the Novel The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw
title_short	A reimagining of history based on the Novel The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw
title_full	A reimagining of history based on the Novel The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw
title_fullStr	A reimagining of history based on the Novel The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw
title_full_unstemmed	A reimagining of history based on the Novel The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw
title_sort	reimagining of history based on the novel the harmony silk factory by tash aw
publisher	Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate	2016
url	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10701/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10701/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10701/1/12091-39666-1-PB.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T19:58:14Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T19:58:14Z
_version_	1777406673805115392

A reimagining of history based on the Novel The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw

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