I learned three things today.
First, do you know this year marks the 60th anniversary of Singapore’s independence? My earliest understanding of Singapore’s history came from Ang Chin Geok’s novel “Wind and Water” (1997), which tells the story of three generations of Chinese women in that country from pre-WW2 to post-independence. Then there was “The Australian Fiance” (2001) by Simone Lazaroo, “a novel about desire, flight and the aftermath of war”. At this stage I am quite interested in the 2019 historical fiction “How We Disappeared” by Singaporean author Jing-Jing Lee, which was long-listed for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Second, this year also marks the 70th anniversary of the creation of Miffy, the little white rabbit from the Netherlands. I love the fact that Miffy’s creator Dick Bruna “considers it important that his audience feels that his books are there for them, not for their parents”, according to Wikipedia. Even better, although the company representing Miffy launched a lawsuit against Japan’s Hello Kitty in 2010 for some sort of copyright infringement, both sides agreed to settle and donated their legal fees to help victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011. Good spirit!
And finally, this year further marks the 175th anniversary of the creation of the ballet “Swan Lake”. While I know very little about this form of art, I like the fact that the story is inspired by Russian and German folk tales. There are also many (re)interpretations of the story of Odette, Odile and Siegfried, in all forms of art, but mainly in the fantasy genre. My favourite is the 2010 psychological horror film “Black Swan”, based on the story “The Understudy” by Andres Heinz.
(Day 42 #WarmWinterRead #WWR25 via @librarieschangelives)
Voices under the Sun 陽光下的聲音 