Never-Neverland Revisited: Malay Adventure Stories

Abstract

This study presents a

re-evaluation of Malay adventure stories. These narratives were found in

a large part of Southeast Asia for at least three centuries until the

beginning of the twentieth century. By adopting a cross-disciplinary approach, it aims to show that Malay adventure stories were not the meaningless fairy tales that Western collectors and scholars have previously held them for. It is argued that instead, they were greatly connected, in various ways, to the socieyt they have sprung from. The second part of the study comprises an annotated edition and translation of the Malay adventure story, 'Story of Bahram Syah'