Transforming Place through Spatial Setting in Shih- Li Kow’s The Sum of Our Follies

Abstract

This research tries to explore the role spatial setting in Shih-Li Kow’s The Sum of Our Follies. It primarily concentrates on the way through which Kow uses her regional places to provide the reader with Malaysian local color attributes. It will identify the novel’s spatial setting as a manifestation of Kow’s profound concern with radical transformation of the original places into new ones due to the social and cultural changes in Malaysia. As for research gap, it lies in the discovery of the place as the symbolic transformation of the Malaysian society into new burgeoning social, cultural, and intellectual prosperity. Therefore, the research tackles the unprecedented transformation of the traditional place which is scarcely tackled in previous studies. It explores the layers of meaning that the symbols of place communicate and highlights how these symbols embody the Malaysian regional openness to other cultures and traditions. In this respect, it follows a qualitative approach to analyze the novel’s characters and setting. On the one hand, the characters will be interpreted as examples of Malaysian people who co-exist with new cultures. On the other hand, the novel’s setting will be discussed as the fictional replicas of Malaysian places that had undergone drastic socio-cultural changes in most recent decades.