Rewriting Lovers and Strangers Revisited

                                                     

Every fewyears I get this urge to rewrite the 17 stories from Lovers and StrangersRevisit­ed.  No doubt that seemssilly and a waste of time for most writers since the book has already beenpublished, not once but three times!  Originally published in Singapore as Lovers and Strangers (Heinemann Asia,1993, Writ­ing in AsiaSeries), I revisited the stories in 2005 when a Malaysian lecturer requested touse the collec­tion for a course on Malaysia and Singapore literature.  The book—after consulting with an editor andgoing back to the original inspiration for each story, vis­it­­ing many of theori­gin­al settings and over­hauling the stories, adding new scenes,back-stories, and endings—was repub­lish­ed as Lovers and Strangers Revisited(Silver­fish Books).

                                                   

In 2008, a third revised ver­sion with twoadditional stories was published by MPH and won the 2009 Popular-The StarReader’s Choice Awards and was translated into French.  To complement the MPH edition, I wrote a blogseries, The Story Behind the Story, about the devel­op­ment and the sig­nif­i­­cant changes of each story that ledto their various mag­azine/lit­erary journal publica­tions—often used as writ­ing/teachingaids in schools, colleges, and uni­ver­sities.  Themain char­acter from the story “Neigh­bors”  was featured by an expat teacherin the New Straits Times, “Are You Mrs. Koh?” 

 

So why revise the stories again?  I’vealways felt that Lovers and Strangers Revisited, based on its publishing track record, deserves a wider audience bothinside and outside of Ma­lay­sia/Singapore. The collection is still available in French by GOPE Editions as Troisautres Malaisie and, in fact, the publisher will be exhibiting thecollection along with his other Malaysian titles at a French book fair in KualaLumpur on 24 March 2024.

                                                          

So far, the individual stories have beenpublished 82 times in 12 coun­tries (11 stories in USA and UK); taught in Malaysiansecondary school literature for six years (“Neigh­bors”), as well as in Cana­daand USA (Ohio University); and several stories have been taught for years in variousMa­lay­sian universities and private col­leges. Film stu­dents at Ohio Univer­sity found the original collection intheir library, came to Malay­sia, and filmed, “Home for Hari Raya.”  

Maybe because of this persistent beliefthat these stories (individually and as a col­lec­tion) are still relevant—theyare still being taught in Malaysia as of May 2023 and are still being publishedin the USA (“The Stare” appeared in Thema, Spring 2021).  As I began editing (clarifyingdetails, cutting need­less words or phrases, tightening the writing), I couldsee significant improvements in each story.

Also, it feels like it’s a trip down memorylane, both as a writer and as an expatriate living in Malay­sia.  “Mat Salleh,” for example, was my first publishedstory in January 1986, a non­fiction short story (New Straits Times) andmy first published story in the UK (My Weekly).  "Teh-O in K.L." was my first published short story is USA (Aim). The other stories, all published but one, are all loosely based on myearly ex­peri­ences or on my ob­­ser­va­tions of kam­pong and modern-day life inMalaysia.  Not all the memories are good—afailed mar­riage for me (“Dark Blue Threads”) and a neighbor com­mittingsuicide (“Neighbors”); nevertheless, these stories are my Malaysian roots,so to speak, having lived in Penang as an expatriate for twen­ty-one years andtaught creative writing at USM for ten years, before moving to Sarawak to grownew roots.

The real payoff, of course, is that theserevised stories now have a chance for future publica­tions in the US orUK or Australia or elsewhere—the main reason I do it.  Or the collection is republish­ed to a wideraudience.  Or the play that I added as abonus, “One Drink Too Many,” a comedy adapted from the short story, “Neigh­bors,”is produced in Malaysia or Singapore.  Preferably, all three!

What helps me to keep the faith in Loversand Strangers Revisited (and the individual stories) is rereading theMPH back-of-the-book reviews and other review snippets that I include whilemarketing the collection to agents and other publishers: 

MPH Publisher’s synopsisand reviews from the back of the book:

In this collection of 17 stories, Robert Raymer portraysthe traditional in modernity, the unexpected in relationships both familiar andstrange, the recurring theme of race even as contemporary Malaysia finds waysto understand its multicultural milieu.

In the title story, a selfish writer gets more than hebargained for when two former lovers haunt him in more ways than one. In anotherstory, a man's loneliness turns into obses­sion when he shares a taxi ride witha Malay woman. A Clark Gable lookalike is a bar­rister wannabe with a shockingsecret and gossipy neighbours reveal more about them­selves than the man whocommits suicide. Elsewhere, expats cross the border to Had Yai to experience agood bargain in the Thai flesh trade before going home to their wives inAmerica.

In this republished edition of Lovers and StrangersRevisited, Raymer's snapshots of scenes from various walks of life providean insider-outsider view on love, family and culture, and urges a second lookat ourselves in the mirror of self-awareness.

Praise for Lovers and Strangers Revisited

'Raymer not only writes from his own viewpoint as a foreignerand observer, but also delves into the minds of desperate Malay woman, a youngIndian girl, an adulterous Chinese couple, and an old Chinese man who survivedthe Japanese occupation... He has an uncanny ability to hold a mirror up to thepeople of his adopted country, not as a for­eigner but as one of us. Hisstories are full of personalities that you know, you work with them, or livenext door to them, or eavesdrop on them at the kopi tiam.' The BorneoPost

'This account ("On Fridays") of a crammed ridewith strangers in a taxi may well stand as a metaphor of Raymer's ownexperience of living among Malaysians... He imbues each of the characters inhis stories with a realistic, genuinely believable voice even as he tempers itwith the valuable perspective of an observer.' New Straits Times

'Raymer gives a lushly and rich and multi-layered renditionof the Malaysian way of life as colored and influenced by his own experiencesfrom his twenty years as an expat here... These stories are some of the fewauthentic portrayals of the inner workings and inner plays of the averageMalaysian's life in all of its robustness and unique cultural settings.' TheExpat

A little ego boost for sure, something all writers need nowand then.  Also, it’s good to touch base,like stretching before exercising.  Now that2023 is over (having rewritten six books in two years), I’m ready to embark on new writing projects for 2024 and beyond... 

—Borneo ExpatWriter

 

My interviews with other Malaysian writers:Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize. Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban JourneyPreeta Samarasan, author of Evening is the Whole Day, finalist for the Commonwealth Writers Prize 2009. 
Chuah Guat Eng, author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change.
Malachi Edwin Vethamani, author of Complicated Lives and Life Happens.