Localising The Tempest in Malaya, via the Lambs: Cultural Resistance and Negotiation in Za’ba’s Cherita-Cherita Suka Shakespeare (1930)

This article re-evaluates the notion that the colonial transmission of Shakespeare is suppressive and hegemonic by investigating the understudied reception of Shakespeare in early-twentieth-century Malaya. It focuses on the work of the prominent Malayan writer and linguist Zainal Abidin bin Ahmad (Za’ba), who translated selections from Charles and Mary Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare (1807) into Malay using Jawi script and published them in Cherita-Cherita Duka Shakespeare (1929) and Cherita-Cherita Suka Shakespeare (1930). While the Tales aimed to introduce young and female readers to Shakespeare’s plays in prose, Za’ba’s endeavour in colonial Malaya was shaped by different rationales. This article uses the Lambs’ and Za’ba’s respective adaptations of The Tempest as a case study to illuminate the motivations and reception of Za’ba’s translation project within Malayan society. Through a comparative study, it explores Za’ba’s appropriation of the English text, revealing how he localised discourses of religion and gender and employed Malay poetic techniques to appeal to Malay cultural and aesthetic sensibilities and preserve the local literary heritage. Ultimately, this analysis demonstrates how engagements with Shakespeare in the hitherto understudied colonial space of Malaya employed early localisation strategies as a form of cultural assertion against colonial influence.

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