散文

Hailed as “the definitive Singaporean novel”, this new edition of Heartland is accompanied by a new preface by author Daren Shiau and a publisher’s foreword that contextualises the novel’s imprint on the Singapore literary landscape since its first publication in 1999.

An iconic work, Heartland explores the paradox of rootedness and rootlessness in fast-changing Singapore. Set in the early 1990s, the novel follows the years of Wing Seng as he leaves school and is conscripted into full-time National Service. As Wing tries to reconcile his past with his future amid transitions through different phases of life, he finds meaning in his intense attachment to his surrounding landscape. Yet, as relationships and the years slip by, Wing is forced to question his own certainties and the wisdom of the people he values.

Set in Singapore’s heartland at the turn of the century, Heartland’s capturing of the texture of everyday life provides the backdrop essential to the bildungsroman’s exploration of identity, belonging and connection in an increasingly urbanised Singapore.

Why did independent Singapore celebrate two hundred years of its founding as a British colony in 2019? What does Merdeka mean for Singaporeans? And what are the possibilities of doing decolonial history in Singapore? Raffles Renounced: Towards a Merdeka History presents essays by historians, literary scholars and artists which grapple with these questions. The volume also reproduces some of the source material used in the play Merdeka / 獨立 / சுதந்திரம் (Wild Rice, 2019). Taken together, the book shows how the contradictions of independent nationhood haunt Singaporeans' collective and personal stories about Merdeka. It points to the need for a Merdeka history: an open and fearless culture of historical reckoning that not only untangles us from colonial narratives, but proposes emancipatory possibilities.

Brown is Redacted: Reflecting on Race in Singapore responds to, expands on and questions what we think we know about the lived experiences of minority-raced people in Singapore. Inspired by Brown Is Haram, a performance-lecture on minority-race narratives staged at The Substation in 2021, this anthology reflects on how brownness is constructed, sidelined, but also celebrated in this nation-state. Through a combination of essays, academic works, poems, and stories by brown individuals, Brown is Redacted both attempts to and fails to create a singular brown experience. What this anthology does produce instead, is a moving and expressive work of solidarity and vulnerability.

"Brown is Redacted is an incredible and much-needed collection of work that challenges preconceived notions about state- and socially created categories. The works here interrogate the nature of identity, using the lenses of art, academia and personal experience and capturing the dreary pain of being othered as well as the powerful joy of being seen. The writers hold nothing back, offering their hurt, tenderly showcasing the beauty in the under-represented, and triumphantly celebrating individuality." —Akshita Nanda, co-winner of the Singapore Literature Prize in English Fiction

“Brown is Redacted, through its ambition and lyricism, liberates us from the multicultural straitjacket stitched in the 1960s. On every page is a voice that has risen from the interstices of overlapping traditions and generations. Together they lay bare the complexities of the brown experience: the rawness of the struggle, the absurdity of the ignorance, the radical agency of choice, the ecstasy of solidarity. We can transcend. To be brown in Singapore is to dance between anguish and joy.” —Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh, Editor-in-Chief, Jom

Making Kin: Ecofeminist Essays from Singapore contemplates and re-centres Singapore women in the overlapping discourses of family, home, ecology and nation. For the first time, this collection of ecofeminist essays focuses on the crafts, minds, bodies and subjectivities of a diverse group of women making kin with the human and non-human world as they navigate their lives.

From ruminations on caregiving, to surreal interspecies encounters, to indigenous ways of knowing, these women writers chart a new path on the map of Singapore’s literary scene, writing urgently about gender, nature, climate change, reciprocity and other critical environmental issues.

In a climate-changed world where vital connections are lost, Making Kin is an essential collection that blurs boundaries between the personal and the political. It is a revolutionary approach towards intersectional environmentalism.

In this era of climate crisis, in which our very futures are at stake, sustainability is a global imperative. Yet we tend to associate sustainability, nature, and the environment with distant places, science, and policy. The truth is that everything is environmental, from transportation to taxes, work to love, cities to cuisine.

This book is the first to examine contemporary Singapore from an ecocultural lens, looking at the ways that Singaporean life and culture is deeply entangled with the nonhuman lives that flourish all around us. The authors represent a new generation of cultural critics and environmental thinkers, who will inherit the future we are creating today. From chilli crab to Tiger Beer, Changi Airport to Pulau Semakau, O-levels to orang minyak films, these essays offer fresh perspectives on familiar subjects, prompting us to recognise the incredible urgency of climate change and the need to transform our ways of thinking, acting, learning, living, and governing so as to maintain a stable planet and a decent future.

Singapore is small, a complex country full of contradictions, inconsistencies and idiosyncrasies. Often held up as a model nation, we sometimes forget that Singapore is seen differently by different people. With a decade of activism and journalism experience, Kirsten Han reveals various aspects of her home country that don’t follow what many of us know as the conventional ‘Singapore Story’. The Singapore I Recognise is Kirsten’s reckoning with civil society’s experiences of Singapore, perspectives that are often unheard, or fall through the cracks. Through researched interviews and heartfelt reflections, Kirsten tells us how parts of Singapore are already moving towards communal care, solidarity, empowerment and hope. This is a resonant portrayal of home in the island city-state.

“If you live in Singapore, you know it is a place with more layers and complexities than meets the eye. Yet, it is not always possible to grasp what lies beneath the glossy stories of economic success, social harmony, and political stability. Kirsten Han’s book—part reflexive memoir, part incisive reporting—is an informative, nuanced, and deeply humane series of essays that helps us better understand and appreciate the contradictions, tensions, and power plays that are integral to the Singapore story. Read it to learn new things, read it to feel big emotions, read it to expand your thinking on the realities and possibilities of home.”
—Teo You Yenn, sociologist and author of This is What Inequality Looks Like

“When Kirsten Han sees something, she says something, especially when that something is an injustice that afflicts the weak in Singapore’s extremely privileged society. This book encapsulates the values she has fearlessly espoused for years, and for which she continues to pay a personal price. Unable to counter her arguments on the merits, the establishment has subjected her to smears and harassment. One day, her conscientious contributions will be lauded. Until then, Kirsten Han is the eye that too few in Singapore recognise. The country is blinder for it.”
—Cherian George, Author of Air-Conditioned Nation Revisited

This book contains descriptions of physical violence, mentions of incarceration and themes related to the death penalty, as well as references to arrests and interrogation. We recognise that the ways in which readers might respond to and deal with these issues may vary, as our relationships to these topics are unique. If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, personally affected or unable to engage with this content at present, feel free to put this book down and talk to someone about how you feel, or consult the resources printed at the back.

Can a life weave along through the same notes and yet come to play forth different sounds?

The Sound of SCH (pronounced S-C-H) is the true story of a journey with mental illness, beautifully told by Danielle Lim from a time when she grew up witnessing her uncle's untold struggle with a crippling mental and social disease, and her mother's difficult role as caregiver. The story takes place between 1961 and 1994, backdropped by a fast-globalising Singapore where stigmatisation of persons afflicted with mental illness nevertheless remains deep-seated. Unflinchingly raw and honest in its portrayal of living with schizophrenia, The Sound of Sch is a moving account of human resiliency and sacrifice in the face of brokenness.

About the Author

Dina Zaman is a Kuala Lumpur-based writer and researcher. She is the co-founder of IMAN Research, a think tank focusing on socio-political and security matters, and a founding member of the Southeast Asian Women Peacebuilders. She has written extensively for the Malaysian media and is a contributor to The Jakarta Post. Her latest passion projects revolve around Terengganu Royal History. Dina is the author of three non-fiction titles – I am Muslim (Silverfish Publishing), Holy Men, Holy Women (SIRD) and Malayland(Ethos/Faction) – and King of the Sea (Clarity Publishing) her collection of short stories.

　　跟著但丁遊訪地獄、天堂、淨界！

 

　　怎樣才能學會對事不對人，把情緒和事實分開？
　　如果問題是自己造成的，該如何整理沮喪受挫的心？
　　如果被對方的行為或話語所傷，又該如何不受影響？
　　要甩開這種凡事太在意、想太多、自尋煩惱的情緒包袱，
　　日本人際關係專家告訴你是有訣竅的，
　　水島廣子一次公開「讓自己變得柔軟而強大」的思考模式，
　　找回自在、平靜的心！

　　★檢視一下，你是不是容易想太多的人？

　　‧經常在事後懊惱「為什麼當時要那麼做」，然後開始沮喪
　　‧只要工作進度不如預期，就會憂心忡忡，變得焦躁不安
　　‧很在意別人對自己的看法，忍不住愈想愈多
　　‧有時會覺得自己毫無存在感，懷疑自己一事無成
　　‧一旦陷入負面的情緒裡，便無法克制自己愈陷愈深

　　以上種種，你是否覺得似曾相識？愈是「認真努力」的人，愈會忍不住把許多事情都扛到肩上。或許，你給自己太多壓力了，又或者太過完美主義，總是用找碴放大鏡檢視自己。總之，所有令人焦慮的負面情緒，一旦進入內心的「不安加工廠」，只會讓人的心情更加低落。

　　★現實無法改變，能夠改變的是自己的「心」

　　每個人心中難免都有「小小的擔憂」，最惱人的是，擔憂的情緒如雪球一般愈滾愈大⋯⋯但是，請放心，只要能夠掌握自己的心，不安的情緒就能跟著消失。這本書是專為「不小心就會想太多」的讀者所設計的心理治療書，由日本「人際心理治療」領域的權威專家水島廣子和大家分享改變情緒的祕訣。作者在書中分享許多實用又貼近人心的小訣竅，希望盡快帶你脫離「太在意、想太多」的泥淖！

　　☆摘掉「不安的濾鏡」
　　☆運用「不安探測器」
　　☆「下次一定會更好」的轉念
　　☆觀察「不太會感到壓力的人」怎麼做
　　☆訂立「今天我最重要」的日子
　　☆隨便一點也沒關係的「聰明切割法」
　　☆避免陷入「確認強迫症」
　
　　★獻給心思細膩的你，一帖溫柔的處方箋

　　全書條理清楚告訴你，如果因為過度在意工作、戀愛、人際關係，而把自己逼得喘不過氣來，甚至覺得受傷時，可以用「不過是內心受到一點『衝擊』而已」「有把心思放在『當下』嗎？」「就做自己吧！」這三種思考模式，讓自己的心稍微輕鬆些。

　　水島醫師同時也針對實際「情緒」與「情境」，具體說明面對這些情況時的因應方式。例如，先從產生「不安」的源頭談起，告訴讀者不需要刻意「消除」這些不安情緒，而是學會控制它。另外，亦探討如何擺脫負面思緒，找回自主判斷權，幫助做選擇時更加明確。

　　透過一次又一次的練習，每次進步都會幫助你對自己更有自信。也別忘了適當地安慰並鼓勵自己，學會緩解焦躁的心，平息腦中紛亂的小劇場，找回快樂平靜的生活。

名人推薦（依姓氏筆劃排序）

　　Depressy Trouble｜小鬱亂入
　　王雅涵／諮商心理師、作家  
　　艾彼／心理師
　　李郁琳／心理勵志作家
　　林靜如／律師娘
　　洪仲清／臨床心理師   
　　劉仲彬／臨床心理師、作家
　　蘇益賢／臨床心理師

好評推薦

　　本書用輕鬆簡單的話語，帶給讀者許多的反思，當我們過分在意他人和未來的不安時，運用書中的小方法，幫助自己取回更有餘力的心。──王雅涵／諮商心理師、作家

　　心理師的工作，需要謹慎思考、同理他人。想太多、太在意，是我的職業病。如果是一般的人際關係，還是會不斷想太多，未免太辛苦了。這本書教我們有意識地告訴自己，即使面對心靈衝擊也只要再次站穩、做自己、選擇與自己「合得來」就好。──艾彼／心理師  

　　遇到事情時，常會自動開啟「負面情緒濾鏡模式」者，衷心推薦閱讀此書。作者用最淺白易懂的方式，提醒我們活在當下並覺察自己情緒的重要性。透過情緒與認知的相互梳理，我們更能踏實的走過療癒內心之路，取得心靈的平靜。──李郁琳／心理勵志作家

　　水島廣子醫師關於人際關係的見解與應對方式，常在我的版面上，得到不少讀者的共鳴與回響。非常期待這本書上市，我們能再次向水島醫師學習。──洪仲清／臨床心理師  

　　你也是那位時常眉頭深鎖、困在大腦思考裡的人嗎？不妨跟著水島醫師溫暖的文字，一起來理解這「總是對他人善解人意，卻對自己不夠義氣」的行為背後，到底藏著哪些原因；同時，也學習一些方法，練習對自己更好一點。──蘇益賢／臨床心理師

作者簡介

水島廣子（水島 広子）

　　1968年生於東京，現職為心理健康診所院長，是日本「人際心理治療」領域的權威。畢業於慶應義塾大學醫學院，同校醫學博士課程修畢。曾任職慶應義塾大學醫學院精神神經科，2000年6月至2005年8月，並以眾議院議員身分積極修正兒童虐待防治法等眾多法案。現職為「人際心理治療」專業診所院長、慶應義塾大學醫學院精神神經科兼任講師、日本心態療癒學會（Attitudinal Healing Japan）代表。
 
　　著有《你不必和每個人都合拍》、《那些傷人的話都不是真的》、《找回自我肯定感，不再感到人生艱難》、《別讓「應該」框住你的人生》、《女子的人間關係》、《遠離！傷人傷己的情緒風暴》及《用對情緒，可以幫自己療傷》等書。
 
譯者簡介

楊詠婷

　　輔大大眾傳播系畢業，曾任出版社日文編輯，現為專職譯者。譯有《你不必和每個人都合拍》、《練習有風格》、《他是憂鬱，不是失智了》、《找回自我肯定感，不再感到人生艱難》、《百病起於寒》、《拋開過去，做你喜歡的自己》、《上司的條件》及《東京異聞》等。E-mail: norikoyang1973@yahoo.co.jp