| Sumario: | This article considers the literary representation of the government scholar in Singapore Anglophone writing, focusing on two recent novels in particular. I begin by tracing the main features of Singapore's form of meritocracy, especially the pivotal role that competitive government scholarships play in this system to generate a privileged ruling elite, before turning to The Inlet (2013) by Claire Tham and A Certain Exposure (2014) by Jolene Tan. In examining the way these two novels intervene in the ongoing debate about meritocracy and elitism in contemporary Singapore, I argue that their characterisation of the scholar as a morally compromised figure reflects deep-seated anxieties about stratification and inequality in Singapore society. Both novels foreground the criss-crossing and mutually reinforcing nature of class, racial, gender and sexual ideologies at work in the entrenchment of privilege among a select group. In delineating the path to privilege afforded by government scholarships, the texts ultimately express resistance and dissent against the Singapore postcolonial state, and the systemic as well as systematic way in which it fosters a national governing elite and a related culture of strict conformity.
|
|---|