How did the Komodo dragon influence Hollywood? What do Wanted posters reveal about the Wild Wild East? Was the hapless explorer a martyr to science or a gaseous windbag? Why were colonial officials secret pill poppers? Did bicycles really promoter Women's Lib? Who went looking for love in all the wrong places? What do you do at the Get-Rich-Quick-Tree? The answers to these and many other questions are found in the witty, useful, informative, amusing and sometimes amazing stories that make up this collection.Inspired by the wry yet deeply scholarly perspective of Australian philologist Ian Proudfoot, the editors of Lost Times and Untold Tales from the Malay World bring together a distinguished group of international scholars who look at calendars and time, royal myths, colonial expeditions, printing, propaganda, theater, art, Islamic manuscripts, erotic literature, and many other topics from wholly unexpected angles. The book demonstrates the spectacular diversity of scholarship on the Malay World, and shows that offbeat texts can produce fascinating new insights into the past.
Also, Silverfish Books is giving away free copies of George Town, World Heritage Site Map produced by UNESCO and World Heritage to anyone interested (while stocks last). Please come early to claim your copy from the bookshop in Bangsar Baru.
