Book excerpt: This is the first book to present in English a history of post-colonial and diasporic Chinese literatures in Singapore and Malaysia. The 12 essays collected in it provide an in-depth study of the emergence of the new Chinese literatures by looking at the origins, the themes, the major authors and their works, and how the creativity is closely connected with the experience of immigration and colonialization and the challenge of the post-colonial world. In examining a wide range of post-colonial texts and their relation to the cultures of diasporic Chinese and post-colonial society, the author shows that each of the new literatures has its own traditions which reflect local social, political and cultural history. The essays also show that the literature of Singapore or Malaysia has a tradition of its own, and writers of world class. Besides the Chinese literary tradition, a native literary tradition has been created successfully.