Shirley Lim, What the Fortune Teller Didn't Say

Eddie Tay (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Ed. by David Huddart, Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.4.2: Hong Kong, Singaporean, Malaysian and Myanmar Writing and Culture.

Dates

First circulation or publication 1998

Places

Malaysia (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poem collection

Resources

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Shirley Geok-lin Lim’s poetry collection

What the Fortune Teller Didn’t Say

, like her memoir

Among the White Moonfaces

published two years earlier, testifies to the uneasy position of an immigrant subject within American culture. I have argued elsewhere that her poetry engages with various cultures (Tay 305), and the present volume continues this project of transcultural mediation.

The collection is divided into three sections. The section entitled “What the Fortune Teller Didn’t Say” presents a Malaysian and Singaporean landscape associated with paternal and maternal figures. In these poems, the drama of Asian patriarchy is being played out. In “Hands”, the persona is taught by her mother “to serve tea, / thumbs behind, fingers curled, / in a ring of obedience” (Fortune

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739 words

Citation: Tay, Eddie. "What the Fortune Teller Didn't Say". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 September 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12455, accessed 25 November 2024.]

Shirley Lim, What the Fortune Teller Didn't Say

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