Book Description
Salleh Ben Joned: Truth, Beauty, Amok and Belonging shines a spotlight, for the first time, via his poems, prose and relationships, on the world view of one of the beloved Malaysian poets and public intellectual, written by his daughter Anna Salleh. Salleh has been described in many ways—maverick poet, bad boy of Malaysian literature, innovator of language, and by some detractors, even anti-Malaysian. He always had a strong sense of the absurd as he playfully challenged taboos on race, religion, language and identity—with brutal honesty. In both English and Malay, he celebrated the mystical, the sensual, the earthy beauty—and terror—of life itself. From Hobart to Kuala Lumpur, he pushed beyond conformist boundaries and paid the price. While he was most active from the 1970s to the 90s, his work continues to ignite creativity and curiosity among generations of people today in Malaysia and beyond.
