Representations of Precarity in Singaporean Historical Novels

This thesis analyses Singaporean historical novels for their capacity to engage the ‘Singapore Story’ in dialogue, and for their representation of precarity as part of the narrative of national economic development. By exploring the motifs of the ‘Garden City’, the ‘Island Nation’ and the ‘global city’, I examine the interrelation of the individual, family, community, national, regional, and global frames of reference in these texts. Precarity is analysed as a phenomenon with a long history and a wide geographical spread, and as a consequence, the ‘uniqueness’ of Singapore as an economic model is shown to be challenged by historical fiction’s tendency towards historical nuance and complexity. Questions of genre, form, and perspective are considered, and the redemptive possibilities raised by works of historical fiction are contextualised and appraised.