Book review: Isa Kamari's short stories will inspire readers to do some soul-searching

Isa Kamari wrote nearly all the stories in this collection in Malay and translated them to English himself. PHOTOS: MARSHALL CAVENDISH, ISA KAMARI

Maladies Of The Soul: Stories

By Isa Kamari
Fiction/Marshall Cavendish Editions/Paperback/111 pages/$17.12/Buy here
3 out of 5

Maladies Of The Soul, populated with Singaporean characters who lead lives of quiet desperation, contains 15 stories about various social and psychological ills.

Isa Kamari, a prominent figure in Singapore's Malay literary scene, received the Cultural Medallion in 2007.

His bilingual ability is impressive. He wrote nearly all the stories in this collection in Malay and translated them to English himself. Two were originally written in English.

An architect by training, Isa has an eye for perspective and composition that translates into his prose - not least in The Orchid, where a Singapore man, Helmy, travels to a foreign monastery in search of peace.

Many of the stories are thought-provoking and read like modern-day fables responding to issues such as self-alienation, narcissism and materialism.

In one story, a bullish stock trader becomes a literal bull. In another, a silkworm wishing to emigrate tells its friend: "If we really yearn for freedom, you must realise that our wings are broken the moment we accept the softness of silk."

The more arresting pieces are those which operate with a lighter touch, resting confidently in their own ambiguity.

Take, for instance, the psychologically astute Green Man Plus, which first appeared in English in the 2012 anthology Fish Eats Lion.

A senior citizen crosses and re-crosses the same road, using his purple concession card to keep the green man flashing for an extra few seconds each time.

In a liminal state of to-and-fro, he hopes for an "extended crossover" - an extension, perhaps, of his time on earth.

Then there is The Gardener, a twist on French philosopher Voltaire's injunction that one must tend to one's own garden.

The man in Isa's story spends years doing that, only to reap a dubious harvest when the petals of his jasmine plant are crushed by a car. This is no great tragedy in the big scheme of things, but there is an undeniable sense of the pathetic which is deftly captured here.

The translated pieces in this collection generally read well, although some lines - intentionally or otherwise - feel a bit unnatural.

"Let's go up. But don't use the lift," says an architect who climbs his skyscraper by foot.

"The hustle and bustle of life has drowned man in transience. I want to count these last moments with my own steps. I want to tread on eternity before I go."

Maladies Of The Soul speaks to the importance of having local works translated into other languages, official or otherwise, so that they can reach the audience they deserve.

The collection, at its best, will inspire readers to do some serious soul-searching. Many of the "maladies" seem fairly quotidian, but are no less unsettling for being so. Placed under the magnifying glass, they prompt us to question: Do we really have to live like this?

If you like this, read: The Throne by Isa Kamari (Kitaab, 2021, $19.26, buy here), a novel about a man suffering from schizophrenia in Singapore

This article contains affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.