ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Enoch Ng Kwang Cheng's contribution to the Singapore literary scene as a process of social grouping that attempts to create a literary community in the island-city. Ng, as poet and cultural activist, goes beyond promoting the creation of a literary culture to reshaping Singapore's cultural climate. The chapter explores Ng's aesthetics and beliefs as foundational characteristics, which he incorporates into his philosophy of firstfruits, to promote local literary talent and facilitate the cross-fertilization of creative works by local artists of diverse background. Although the actual practices of exchange and collaboration only began with the founding of firstfruits, the artistic beliefs underpinning them already existed as part of the themes and overall aesthetic in The Epistle of Sufferings, where Ng creatively plays with the semantics of the Chinese and English language as part of an "Avant-garde" move. Ng was inspired to become a poet after reading the works of the late Singapore poet Arthur Yap.
