''Scorpion Orchid'' is a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

n author

Lloyd Fernando Lloyd Fernando (31 May 1926 – 28 February 2008) was a Malaysian author and professor at the University of Malaya in the English Department. Life Lloyd Fernando was born to a Sinhalese family in Sri Lanka in 1926. In 1938, his family migrated ...

, first published by

Heinemann Heinemann may refer to: * Heinemann (surname) * Heinemann (publisher), a publishing company * Heinemann Park, a.k.a. Pelican Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States See also * Heineman * Jamie Hyneman James Franklin Hyneman (born Se ...

Educational Books (Asia) in 1976 under the

Writing in Asia Series Writing in Asia Series was a series of books of Asian writing published from 1966 to 1996 by Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd (often referred to as Heinemann Asia), a subsidiary of Heinemann, London. Initiated and mainly edited by Leon Comber ...

. The novel is set in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

in the 1950s. It was re-published by

Epigram Books Epigram Books is an independent publishing company in Singapore. It publishes works of Singapore-based writers, poets and playwrights. History Epigram was originally set up in 1991 by Edmund Wee as a design agency. Epigram began the publish ...

in September 2011 under the

Singapore Classics Series Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borderin ...

Plot summary

The plot entwines four young men of differing ethnic make-up: Santinathan is a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

, Guan Kheng a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

, Sabran a

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

and Peter D'Almeida a

Eurasian Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...

. The four of them were former schoolmates and now attends the Singapore university, all in their third year. The story follows them as they become embroiled with the racial riots in Singapore during the 1950s. A distinctive feature of ''Scorpion Orchid'' lies in fourteen italicized passages of varying length, drawn from traditional Malayan texts and interwoven into the narrative.

Themes

''Scorpion Orchid'' highlights the racial conflicts in Singapore which was cause for its lack of attention upon release. In a political sense, the novel can be read as a critique on state propagated multicultural pluralism reflected in the differences on race and culture that eventually separated four main characters. Akin to this is the exploration of identity that each of the young men challenge through, facing questions on their ethnicity and its place on their lives. Being a text charged with meaning, the use of English to narrate ''Scorpion Orchid'' is used to highlight the fallacy of its neutrality amongst the historical colonial conflict within the storyline. As a foreign language, its use allowed Fernando to put together and later complicate the relationships of his "in-between culture" characters.

References

{{reflist Singaporean novels 1976 novels Novels set in Singapore