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Another best-selling novel was ''The Bondmaid'', which sold 75,000 copies.
Another best-selling novel was ''The Bondmaid'', which sold 75,000 copies.


== Controversy<ref>{{cite web|last1=Fisher|first1=Adam|title=adult diaper for the politically active|url=http://genkaku-again.blogspot.sg/2014/06/adult-diaper-for-politically-active.html|website=GENKAKU-AGAIN (adam fisher)|accessdate=30 June 2014}}</ref> ==
== Controversy ==
Lim came into conflict with the [[People's Action Party]] (PAP) in 1994 when she wrote an article published in ''The Straits Times'' (''PAP and the People: A Great Affective Divide'').<ref name="Divide"/> From comments made by then Prime Minister [[Goh Chok Tong]] and other cabinet ministers, especially [[George Yeo]], this episode gave rise to the political "out of bounds" marker that came to be known as "boh tua boh suay" (literally, "no big, no small" in the Chinese dialect of Hokkien, to mean "no respect for rank and seniority").<ref>"Debate yes, but do not take on those in authority as equals", ''The Straits Times'' 20 February 1995</ref> [[Lee Kuan Yew]] dismissed Lim's views as "the popular theory that the Western press writes about". In his memoirs, Lee is quoted as saying:
Lim came into conflict with the [[People's Action Party]] (PAP) in 1994 when she wrote an article published in ''The Straits Times'' (''PAP and the People: A Great Affective Divide'').<ref name="Divide"/> From comments made by then Prime Minister [[Goh Chok Tong]] and other cabinet ministers, especially [[George Yeo]], this episode gave rise to the political "out of bounds" marker that came to be known as "boh tua boh suay" (literally, "no big, no small" in the Chinese dialect of Hokkien, to mean "no respect for rank and seniority").<ref>"Debate yes, but do not take on those in authority as equals", ''The Straits Times'' 20 February 1995</ref> [[Lee Kuan Yew]] dismissed Lim's views as "the popular theory that the Western press writes about". In his memoirs, Lee is quoted as saying:


<blockquote>Supposing Catherine Lim was writing about me and not the prime minister. She would not dare, right? Because my posture, my response has been such that nobody doubts that if you take me on, I will put on knuckle-dusters and catch you in a cul-de-sac. There is no other way you can govern in a Chinese society.<ref>[http://www.postcolonialweb.org/singapore/government/leekuanyew/lky4.html Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas] 1998, Singapore Times</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>Supposing Catherine Lim was writing about me and not the prime minister. She would not dare, right? Because my posture, my response has been such that nobody doubts that if you take me on, I will put on knuckle-dusters and catch you in a cul-de-sac. There is no other way you can govern in a Chinese society.<ref>[http://www.postcolonialweb.org/singapore/government/leekuanyew/lky4.html Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas] 1998, Singapore Times</ref></blockquote>

In early June 2014, Lim wrote an open letter to Prime Minister [[Lee Hsien Loong]] in which among other things she criticized his lawsuit against [[Roy Ngerng]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Singapore author Catherine Lim pens open letter to PM Lee |url=https://sg.news.yahoo.com/singapore-author-catherine-lim-pens-open-letter-to-pm-lee-043001872.html|publisher=Yahoo Singapore|accessdate=13 June 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Singaporeans ‘no longer trust their government’: Writer Catherine Lim criticises PM in open letter |url=http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1528124/writer-catherine-lims-open-letter-singaporean-pm-fuels-social-media-debate|publisher=South China Morning Post|accessdate=13 June 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=An Open Letter to the Prime Minister |url=http://catherinelim.sg/2014/06/07/an-open-letter-to-the-prime-minster/|author=Catherine Lim |accessdate=13 June 2014}}</ref>


== Works ==
== Works ==

Revision as of 02:32, 30 June 2014

Catherine Lim (林宝音)
Born21 March 1942
Penang, Malaysia
NationalitySingaporean
CitizenshipSingaporean
Occupation(s)Writer, teacher
Websitecatherinelim.sg

Catherine Lim Poh Imm (Chinese: 林宝音; pinyin: Lín Bǎoyīn, born 21 March 1942) is a Singaporean fiction author known for writing about Singapore society and of themes of traditional Chinese culture. Hailed as the "doyenne of Singapore writers",[2] Lim has published nine collections of short stories, five novels, two poetry collections, and numerous political commentaries to date.[3] Her social commentary in 1994, titled The PAP and the people - A Great Affective Divide[4][5] and published in The Straits Times criticised the ruling political party's agendas.

Career

Lim was born in Kulim (Malaya) and studied in the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus. Early childhood reading was mainly influenced by British fiction, including Enid Blyton, Richmal Crompton and comics.[6]

She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Malaya in 1963, moving to Singapore in 1967. In 1988, she received her Ph.D in applied linguistics from the National University of Singapore. Lim subsequently attended Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley as a Fulbright scholar (1990). She also worked as a teacher and later as project director with the Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore and as a specialist lecturer with the Regional English Language Centre, teaching sociolinguistics and literature. In 1992, she left her professional career to become a full-time writer. Lim was subsequently made a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (France) in 2003 and an ambassador of the Hans Christian Andersen Foundation (Copenhagen) in 2005. She received an honorary doctorate in literature from Murdoch University.[3]

Lim published her first short story collection called Little Ironies: Stories of Singapore in 1978. A succeeding collection, Or Else, the Lightning God and other Stories, was published in 1980. Another story collection that followed in this tradition was O Singapore!: Stories in Celebration from 1989, but two years earlier she published The Shadow of a Shadow of a Dream, which found Lim experimenting with new techniques and extending her subject range.[7]

Her first novel, The Serpent's Tooth, was published in 1982. Other books that have been published since then include The Bondmaid (1995) and Following the Wrong God Home (2001). The major theme in her stories is the role of women in traditional Chinese society and culture. In 1998 Lim was awarded the Montblanc-NUS Centre for the Arts Literary Award[8] and in 1999 she received the S.E.A. Write Award.[9]

In 2000, Lim worked with the now-defunct web portal Lycos Asia to write an e-novella called Leap of Love. It was sold online (at 19 cents a chapter) before it was published by Horizon Books in 2003. It served as basis for the film The Leap Years by Raintree Pictures in 2008.

Another best-selling novel was The Bondmaid, which sold 75,000 copies.

Controversy[10]

Lim came into conflict with the People's Action Party (PAP) in 1994 when she wrote an article published in The Straits Times (PAP and the People: A Great Affective Divide).[4] From comments made by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and other cabinet ministers, especially George Yeo, this episode gave rise to the political "out of bounds" marker that came to be known as "boh tua boh suay" (literally, "no big, no small" in the Chinese dialect of Hokkien, to mean "no respect for rank and seniority").[11] Lee Kuan Yew dismissed Lim's views as "the popular theory that the Western press writes about". In his memoirs, Lee is quoted as saying:

Supposing Catherine Lim was writing about me and not the prime minister. She would not dare, right? Because my posture, my response has been such that nobody doubts that if you take me on, I will put on knuckle-dusters and catch you in a cul-de-sac. There is no other way you can govern in a Chinese society.[12]

In early June 2014, Lim wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in which among other things she criticized his lawsuit against Roy Ngerng.[13][14][15]

Works

Novels

  • The Serpent's Tooth, Times Books International, Singapore, 1982
  • The Bondmaid, self-published, 1995 (Orion 1997; foreign edns 1997, 1998)
  • The Teardrop Story Woman, Orion, London, 1998
  • Following the Wrong God Home, Allen & Unwin, London, 2001
  • Leap of Love, Horizon Books, Singapore, 2003 (a novella)
  • The Song of Silver Frond, Orion, London, 2003
  • Miss Seetoh and the World, Marshall Cavendish, 2010

Short Story Collections

Poetry

  • Love's Lonely Impulses, Heinemann Asia, Singapore, 1992
  • Humoresque, Horizon Books, Singapore, 2006

Non-fiction

  • Unhurried Thoughts At My Funeral, Horizon Books, Singapore, 2005
  • A Watershed Election: Singapore’s GE 2011, Marshall Cavendish, Singapore, 2011

References

  1. ^ Quayum (2007), p. 111
  2. ^ LITERARY MEAL: EAT YOUR WORDS WITH CATHERINE LIM 3 November 2012 Old Parliament House, Singapore
  3. ^ a b Yap, Stephanie (3 August 2008). "Daily despair". Singapore: Straits Times Life. p. 23.
  4. ^ a b The PAP and the people – A Great Affective Divide 3 September 1994 The Straits Times
  5. ^ Colony, Nation, and Globalisation 2010, Hong Kong University Press
  6. ^ "'Book Talk' in School," LPC Reporter, Vol.8, No.2, 1987, p.5
  7. ^ "Taking the Pulse of Singapore," Asiaweek, 23 August 1987
  8. ^ Sleep & Get Rich! 2009, Armour Publishing
  9. ^ S.E.A Write Award Winners List 1999 S.E.A. Write Award
  10. ^ Fisher, Adam. "adult diaper for the politically active". GENKAKU-AGAIN (adam fisher). Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  11. ^ "Debate yes, but do not take on those in authority as equals", The Straits Times 20 February 1995
  12. ^ Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas 1998, Singapore Times
  13. ^ "Singapore author Catherine Lim pens open letter to PM Lee". Yahoo Singapore. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
  14. ^ "Singaporeans 'no longer trust their government': Writer Catherine Lim criticises PM in open letter". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
  15. ^ Catherine Lim. "An Open Letter to the Prime Minister". Retrieved 13 June 2014.

Further reading

  • Quayum, Mohammad A., Peninsular Muse: Interviews with modern Malaysian and Singaporean poets, novelists and dramatists, Peter Lang, 2007, ISBN 3-03911-061-6
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