ZURINAH HASSAN (MALAYSIAN NATIONAL LAUREATE): LIST OF PUBLICATIONS

               

                             

COLLECTION OF POETRY

1974.  Sesayup Jalan. (The Long Journey) Pulau Pinang: Publication Bureai, USM.

1977.  Di Sini Tiada Perhentian.(No Stopping Here) Kuala Lumpur: Pewarna.

1985   Keberangkatan  (Departure). Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

1988   Kuala Lumpur and Other Places,Penerbitan Al-Huda.

1994   Pujangga Tidak Bernama.  (Unknown Poet),  Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

2004   Pesanan dari Gunung Ledang (A Message from Mount Ledang),  Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

2005   Salasilah (Ancestral line).  Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

2014   Cerita dalam Cerita.  (The inside story)Kuala Lumpur: Institut Terjemahan dan Buku Malaysia.

2000.   Nota Waktu (Time Notes,  with  Lim Swee Tin).  Kuala Lumpur: Citra Publishing Sdn. Bhd.

                  TRANSLATIONS

              The work of  Zurinah Hassan (poetry and short story) have been translated into           several languages including English, Tamil, Mandarin, Spanish, Russian, French,       Japanese and Thai.  Some notable works are:

2010. Facing the Harbour /Menghadap ke Pelabuhan.  Kuala Lumpur:Malaysian  Institute of Translations and Books. ( translations into English by the poet).  

2012 Menghadap ke Pelabuhan/Frente al Puerto.  Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Institute of Translations and Books, (translation into Spanish by Patricia Vazquez Marin)

2012 Menghadap ke Pelabuhan/ Глядя на гавань, Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Institute of Translations and Books, (translation into Russian by Victor Pogadeav)

2015 Menghadap Ke Pelabuhan/En Regardant Le Port, Paris: L’Harmattan and  Malaysian Institute of Translations and Books. (translation into French by Jean Severy).

2016 short story  “Bendang Lahuma” (Lahuma Padi Field) in an anthology Miniatures, Nouvwelles de Malaisie, Paris Magellan &CIE and Malaysian Institute of Translations and Books 

1993, short story  “Nenek” (Grandmother) in Antologi Cerpen Penulis Wanita Malaysia, Xiandai Publication, China, (translation into Mandarin)

2014, cerpen “Kerongsang Berlian Wan Tempawan” (Wan Tempawan Diamond Brooch) in  Antologi Cerpen: Malaysia-Taiwan, Malaysian Institute of Translations and Books  and  Taipei Chinese Centre Pen International (translation into Mandarin .

2016 Poetry  “Puisi Cinta yang Lain” , Anthology  in conjunction with India-Malaysia Writers Meet, 2016 (translated into Tamil)

COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES

1989.    Meneruskan Perjalanan, (Going On) Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.         

2004.    Menjelang Pemilihan (Election Soon), Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

2016,  Murka Lautan (The Wrath of The Ocean), Kuala Lumpur, Institute of Translation and Books.

NOVEL

1991.  Hatimu Aisyah.  (The Story of Aisyah), Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

OTHER BOOKS ( LITERARY STUDIES AND NON CREATIVE)

1996.  Sasterawan Negara Usman Awang.  (Usman Awang, the Literary Laureate). Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

2003.  Memoir Zurinah Hassan Menjejak Puisi.  (Memoir of Zurinah Hassan Journey in Poetry), Bangi: Penerbit UKM.

2010.  Unsur Alam dalam Puisi Melayu.  (Nature in Malay Poetry), Bangi: Penerbit UKM.

2011.  Puisi Melayu Tradisional-Pantun, Syair, Gurindam, Nazam, Seloka.  ( Traditional Malay Poetry)Pekan Ilmu.

2013.  Catatan Perjalanan Seni Zurinah Hassan.( The Pessage Through Arts)  Kuala Lumpur: Institut Terjemahan dan Buku Malaysia.

QUOTING WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT ZURINAH HASSAN.

Muhammad Haji Salleh, in An Anthology Of Contemporary Malaysian Literature, 1988, Kuala Lumpur, Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka : 362 described Zurinah Hassan as an individualist based on her poems in seventies.

Muhammad said, “A further illustration of this individualism comes from the works of a woman poet, Zurinah Hassan. Her poems not only show that she is a different woman from other woman writers but also a person who finds in poetry the opportunity to speak out her inner most  soul without the decorum of the past literary practices.

Although Malaysian literature does not discriminate against women poets, because of certain attitudes of propriety and   femininity, the really vocal and individual woman poet is a rare person. Zurinah Hassan is a poet who does not shy away from the personal problems in poetry. Unlike traditional poets, her style is direct and she is her own theme. The woman alone, through  Zurinah, has never before been dealt with in such terms or put in her uncompromising reality.

Let us look at a short poem as a start to see how the poet sees herself

Now I am a mad actress on an empty stage

The curtain has fallen 

And the audience have all gone

But I am still acting

uttering my favourite lines

“God, thank you god

O, thank you god

For giving me everything

Except the one I desired most”

I see this poem as a statement of a lonely young woman facing a loveless life- a topic that is shied away from in Malaysia, and discussed done so only very indirectly. Zurinah includes no self  pity or sentiments for effects. On the contrary it is stated in the staccato sounds of the brutal absurdity of her existence, she allows herself to judge objectively. This she does by comparing herself to a mad actress who acts out a life on an empty stage without an audience. In a very intense moments of absurdity. Absurdity in this form is very novel to Malaysia and in its freshness strikes hard at  the old world-views.

Like Latiff Mohidin and Baha Zain, Zurinah Hassan too illustrated these aspects of this new individualism that perhaps come from a university education, a changed environment, new personal and moral values.  Zurinah as a contemporary woman finds that she must hear her own inner voice and a poet must record it as truthfully as possible. Even though times have changed, to be this truthful is to be a courageous woman, both intellectually and morally. She needs freedom in order to be this courageous.

While the air is for one moment light

 at another moment heavy

Space is for one moment laden

And another moment empty

A bird in the mud lifts its trapped wings

Trying to be free.

The poem is called “Dalam Mencari kebebasan (To Be Free). It parallels the predicament of a woman to be herself in a society that is not ready for her.

Sasterawan Negara, Literature Laureate Usman Awang talked about significant contribution of Zurinah Hassan, In an Interview With The Star, The Star, Thursday Jun 30, 1988.

Zurinah Hassan has made a significant contribution to Malay literary development. She brings meaning to the Malay language, breathes life into her words. Her use of language is captivating, poetic and harmonious. Some of her poems  I’ve  noticed are  cynical, satires about men based on her experience.

One of her poems in particular had large impact on Usman . He remembers that it was a message to children which read, “Do not forget there is always god. For you will need him one day particularly when you are born a woman. I will always remember  that poignant line. It reveals the problem and sufferings of a woman trying to survive   in a man’s world”