T. Wignesan

PUBLISHED WORK

For a near complete list of books published, check the French National Library site by entering “Wignesan, T.” in the search box for a list of 40.

For a more or less but NOT complete list of books published:The Night Soil Man (a novel) & mere deaths and the mostly dead (a collection of six long and four short stories) pub. by Cyberwit.net - presented on 22-12-200. (These have disappeared from the French National Library without explanation), enter my name in the following National Library search page; and for another copyrighted list at the Library of Congress, click here.

Check for more details at

http://www.stateless.freehosting.net/menupage.htm

http://www.stateless.freehosting.net/statelesspage.htm

http://www.cyberwit.net/authors/twignesan

http://www.a1books.co.in/

MORE OF WIGNESH'S WORK:

1) Tracks of a Tramp (A first collection of poems). Singapore-Kuala Lumpur: Rayirath (Raybooks) Publications, 1961. (Hardcover)Cf. on-line at the Victoria Institution (Kuala Lumpur) here. (Doesn’t include all the poems in the book.)

2) Rama and Ravana at the Altar of Hanuman : On Tamils, Tamil Literature & Tamil Culture by T. Wignesan (Paperback - Aug. 24, 2008)

3) Poietics: Disquisitions on the Art of Creation by T. Wignesan (Paperback - Mar. 10, 2008)

4) Victorian (pen-in-cheek) Vignettes & Tales (not so tall) of Timmy (the not so very polite) Malaya Hall Cat in London by T. Wignesan (Paperback - Apr. 25, 2008)

5) Sporadic Striving amid Echoed Voices, Mirrored Images & Stereotypic Posturing in Malaysian-Singaporean Literatures by T. Wignesan (Paperback - Sept. 7, 2008)

6) mere deaths and the mostly dead (A collection of six long and four short stories) by T. Wignesan (Paperback - Nov. 17, 2008)

7) The Night Soil Man (A Novel) by T. Wignesan (Paperback - Oct. 20, 2008)

8) Asianists' Asia by T. Wignesan (Paperback - Mar. 22, 2009)

9) Fire Readings: A Collection of Contemporary Writing from the Shakespeare and Company Fire Benefit Readings by David Applefield, Richard Hallward, and T. Wignesan (Paperback - Sept. 1992)

10) Bunga Emas: An Anthology of Contemporary Malaysian Literature by T. Wignesan (Hardcover - 1964)

Doctoral dissertation

11 & 12) Etude comparee des litteratures nationales et/ou officielles de la Malaisie et de Singapour depuis 1940" 2 Vols., Atelier de Theses, University of Charles de Gaulle-Lille-III, 1988, 1152p.

EDITED/CO-EDITED WORKS

(Editor : Malaysia Section) Young Commonwealth Poets ’65. London: Heinemann in association with Cardiff Commonwealth Arts Festival, 1965, pp. 107-109.

[Co-editor] Fire Readings:A Collection of Contemporary Writing from the Shakespeare & Company Fire Benefit Readings. Boston-Paris: Frank Books, 1991

[Guest Editor] Journal of the Institute of Asian Studies (Millennium Number), Vol.XVII, N° 2, Chennai, India: Institute of Asian Studies, March 2000.

[Founding Editor] The Journal of Comparative Poïetics, Vol. I ,N° 1(Paris), 1989. Published journal.

The Journal of Comparative Poïetics, Vol. I, N° 2 & 3 (Paris), 1990-91. Published journal.

The Journal of Comparative Poïetics, Vol. II, N° 1 (Paris), 1992. Published journal.

[Founding Editor] The Asianists' Asia, Vol. I (Paris), 2000

The Asianists' Asia, Vol. II (Paris), 2001, on-line at

The Asianists' Asia, [Supplement] (Paris), 2002

The Asianists' Asia, Vol. III (Paris), 2004

The Asianists' Asia, Vol. IV (Paris), 2005

The Asianists' Asia Vol. V (Paris), 2008 -- Printed as book by Cyberwit.net.

ARTICLES

Contributed over a hundred articles and/or fictional pieces to a wide variety of popular and learned journals, and books, such as, The Journal of Commonwealth Literature (Leeds University: 1966 to 1990), Asia: A Handbook (London: 1966), The Journal of the Institute of Asian Studies (1995 to 2006) : Special 2000 Number-March, Chennai-India, 2000 (IAS, Chennai, India), Buddhism in Tamil Nadu (Institute of Asian Studies, India, 2000), International Institute of Asian Studies Newsletter (Leiden University), Journal of Asian Studies (USA), Komparatistische Hefte (Bayreuth University), Yearbook of ASNLE (Essen University), Journal of Eelam Studies (London), Lanka: Studies in Lankan Culture (Uppsala University), Radical Poetics (London), Forum Academicum (Heidelberg University), Discus (Frankfurt University), Fire Readings: A Collection of Writings from the Shakespeare & Company Fire Benefit Readings (Paris-Boston), The Gombak Review (International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur), Writing a Nation: Essays on Malaysian Literature (IIUM University, Kuala Lumpur, 2009), Sharing Borders: Studies in Contemporary Singaporean-Malaysian Literature (National Library Board & Arts Council, Singapore, 2009), Malayan Times (Kuala Lumpur), Le Canard Laqué (Institute of Political Science, Paris), http://www.viweb.cjb.net/ (Victoria Institution literary archives), Editor of the on-line journal: The Asianists’ Asia, Http://stateless.freehosting.net/1titlecontents.htm and so forth. Journal of Comparative Poietics/Revue de Poïétique Comparée (Founder editor: Paris, 1989-).

ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS:

American Comparative Literature Association (1992>); (American) Association for Asian Studies (1991>); American Society for Aesthetics (2003>); [(Formerly) Royal Asiatic Society for Great Britain & Ireland (1964>); Koninklijk Instituut Voor Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde, Netherlands (1975>); European Association for Commonwealth Language and Literature Studies (1989>); Association for the Study of New Literatures in English, Germany (1991>); Center for Asian Studies-Asian Research Service, Hong Kong-Canada (1991>); Mid-West Political Science Association, U.S.A. (2005>)]

Founder-Director: Research Centre for Comparative Poietics, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France (1988-1994); Founder-Director: Research Centre for Asian Studies, Paris, France (2000>).

Languages: Tamil (mother tongue), Malay, English, Spanish, German, French, and some Chinese.

A Stateless Person since 1969 (his only passport was confiscated by the British Embassy in Madrid in November 1967). Cf. Marquis’ Who’s Who in the World; Who’s Who in EACLALS (European Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies) 1995; The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature, 1970, and CD ROM Best-Europe.

ON THE WEB:

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Victorian (pen-in-cheek) Vignettes: I to V & Tales (not-so tall)of Timmy (the not-so-very polite) Malaya Hall Cat in London: VI to X. Published on-line by "Victimes" and the Victoria Institution (Kuala Lumpur) Web Site (Does not include the long “Introduction” to the printed book version.)

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"Collection of Short Stories" (short stories): three published short stories online.

Cf. http://www.viweb.freehosting.net/vilit_Wignesan3.htm

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http://www.viweb.freehosting.net/vilit_Wignesan2.htm\

CRITIQUE

REVIEW of four books by Adam Donaldson Powell.

"My story is nothing more than an excruciatingly distended effort at trying to outwit authority of all sorts: I'm afraid not so triumphantly in the last few years. All governments, like all secret services/societies, are made up of - c’est l’évidence même - individuals. For some reason, a few individuals in the wrong places at the appropriate moments have managed to put the screws on me for nearly all my life, right from the day I broke off schooling at sixteen and began to fend for myself. The then Malaysian authorities illegally deprived me of my citizenship rights and sent me packing in 1962. The British authorities in cohorts with the independent colonial nation confiscated my (only) passport in November 1967 in Madrid. For two years, I survived without identity papers, until I was forced to declare myself a Stateless Person in 1969. On the other hand, the Spanish authorities refused to provide me with a Travel Document. Until then, everything conspired to keep me from getting a degree, and therefore a proper job, in order to be able to do what I always wanted to do, and that is, (to) write. At last, when I was lucky enough to find myself a proper job in France, all hell was let loose. [See news-stories: "Sans Patrie Ni Asile" (Neither Country Nor Asylum), in daily: LE MONDE, Paris: December 16, 1972, p. 2, (Abridged and translated by André Fontaine, the then Chief Editor), and "Non-assistance à personne en danger?" in weekly: Nouvel Observateur, no. 681, November 28, 1977, p. 63. (Written by Jean Lacouture, renowned biographer). A week later, in response to the latter article, a response from the President of the Bar Association of Paris [Barreau de Paris], Me Francis Mollet-Vieville, was published in the weekly's "Letters (Courrier)" columns, but Mr. Pierre Bénichou, the Deputy-editor of the Nouvel Observateur refused to publish my rejoinder to the response. N.B.: Getting in touch with those mentioned in the stories might only elicit either a well-oiled "conspiracy of silence" or a "barrage of misinformation".]

Twenty-five years later through hanging on by the skin of my teeth, I’m (now) retired with a pension. So, in the end, what really matters is to keep that flame flickering in quiet within you. That is something no authority can snuff out. And even a page of what you can reveal in the end should be more rewarding than all the armchair bookmaker leaves spewed in the comfort of one’s borrowed or unlived/unendured imagination!

The question is, Would I have wanted it any other way?

Writing therefore becomes the victim's only shield, [J.P.Sartre's "know your enslaver by your chains"], a form of in-caving, inept, and awkward tool of passive-resistance. The only raison d'être: to make for a better world!"

T. Wignesan

Currently seeking literary agent and/or publisher.

Résumé

Born in Kuala Krai, Malaysia. Up to his twenty-first year grew up in Singapore, Port Swettenham, Klang, Sungei Rengam, Kuala Lumpur, Madras and Seremban; then in London, Heidelberg, West Berlin, Madrid and Paris. Taught in primary and secondary schools in Malaysia and Spain. Taught “English & American Literature” at the European Division of the University of Maryland at Heidelberg (1960-1961). Lectured for the Commonwealth Institute in London on “South and Southeast Asia” (1965). Served as Research Fellow with the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), while being attached to the Sorbonne-Nouvelle University, the oriental languages & civilisations institute: INALCO, the Pantheon-Sorbonne University, and the School for Higher Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS), from 1973 to 1998. He also founded and ran the research centre: Centre de Recherches sur la Poïétique Comparée, SDI-CNRS (1988-1994). Taught “Commonwealth Literature” in the master’s and doctoral progamme at the Sorbonne-Nouvelle (1981-83). Taught “South Asian Area Studies” at the American Graduate School of International Relations & Diplomacy, Arcadia University in Paris, France (2003-2004).

Journalism

Was a journalist with the Malay Mail & Malayan Times (Kuala Lumpur: 1954 & 1962), and the Straits Times Press Group of Singapore (London Correspondent: 1964-65). Editorial writer for the American weekly, Guidepost (Madrid: 1967). Served on the editorial committees of Le Canard Laqué (Paris, Institut de Sciences Politiques: 1988-1991); Asian Politics & Policy (Washington & Peking: 2009); and the Journal of the Institute of Asian Studies (Chennai: 2000 >).Founder editor of the bi-lingual Journal of Comparative Poietics (Paris: 1989-1992), and The Asianists’ Asia (Paris: 2000 >)

Manual labourer and office worker/clerk in Sungei Rengam, Malaysia (1943-45); England (1955-56 & 1959); Germany (1957). Private tutor in Seremban & Kuala Lumpur (1951-53); Germany (1960-61); Spain (1967-1972).

Education

After four years of schooling at Batu Road School and the Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur (1946 -1949), dropped out in 1950. Then, mainly as external student at the Inns of Court School of Law, London (1953-1956: Certificate of Academic Standing); Universities of Heidelberg and West Berlin (1957-58: philosophy); Hispanic Studies in Madrid: Universidad Complutense, and Instituto de la Cultura Hispanica (1970-72), and at the University de Paris-VIII (Maîtrise d’Enseignement d’Espagnol & Equivalence for the Licence degree,1972); obtained his higher doctoral degree in aesthetics from the Université de Paris-I-Panthéon-Sorbonne (Doctorat d’Etat ès lettres et sciences humaines), 1987. Distinctions in both the master’s and doctoral degrees. Won the Extraordinary Prize in Hispanic Studies at Madrid University.