ABSTRACT
Though the British presence in the Malayan peninsula dates back to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, indigenous writing in English began much later, and its first appearance in the late nineteenth century was confined to a specific minority. Major developments in creative writing in English had to wait until after the end of the Second World War. While the British prepared for decolonization and independence for the region in the 1950s, Malayan writers set about the task of defining or inventing a Malayan consciousness in English. Much of the early writing turned to the genre of poetry, which continues to be the elite genre preferred among writers. Fictional writing followed, much of it in the form of the short story, while drama remained the slowest genre to take root in the region, indicating the difficulty experienced by playwrights in reconciling the needs of plausible theatrical representation with local English speech rhythms and intonation.
