The Return
By K.S. Maniam
1981
First Published
3.78
Average Rating
208
Number of Pages
It is the time for both apprehension and hope. The youthful narrator Ravi witnesses the change in a way of life and the end of a way of thinking. The story depicts the experiences of an immigrant community in Peninsular Malaysia before and after Independence in 1957. It documents the bewilderment and loss of bearings felt within a once secure world coming to an end in political change and cultural fragmentation. Ravi attempts to come to terms with himself by sustaining the classical Hindu virtues of spiritual proportion, harmony and grace, and avoiding the decay of ethnic civilisation through his pursuit of social mobility.
Avg Rating
3.78
Number of Ratings
99
5 STARS
25%
4 STARS
39%
3 STARS
25%
2 STARS
8%
1 STARS
2%
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Author
K.S. Maniam
Author · 2 books
K.S. Maniam, born 1942, has been writing from his early teens. His stories have appeared in numerous journals around the world. His first novel, The Return, was published in 1981 and the second, In a Far Country, in 1993. He won the first prize for The Loved Flaw: Stories from Malaysia in The New Straits Times–McDonald short-story contest (1987) and for Haunting the Tiger: Contemporary Stories from Malaysia in The New Straits Times–Shell contest (1990). He is the inaugural recipient of the Raja Rao Award (New Delhi, September 2000), for his outstanding contribution to the literature of the South Asian diaspora. He has been lecturer (1980–85) and associate professor (1986–97) in the English Department, University of Malaya, in Kuala Lumpur. He lives with his wife, son and daughter in Subang Jaya, Malaysia, and devotes his time fully to writing.
