Edwin Thumboo

He therefore worked in the civil service for about nine years before finally joining the university, which was then renamed the University of Singapore, in 1966 following Singapore's independence. He received a Ph.D. from the university in 1970. Thumboo rose to the position of full professor in the Department of English Language and Literature, heading the department between 1977 and 1993. After the merger of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University in 1980 to form the National University of Singapore (NUS), he was the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences from 1980 to 1991, NUS's longest-serving dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Thumboo was the first Chairman and Director of the university's Centre for the Arts from 1993 to 2005, and continues to be associated with the university as an emeritus professor, a position he has held since retiring from full-time teaching in September 1997. Thumboo's poetry is inspired by myth and history, and he is often dubbed Singapore's unofficial poet laureate because of his poems with nationalistic themes. A pioneer of local English literature, he compiled and edited some of the first anthologies of English poetry and fiction from Singapore and Malaysia. His own collections of poetry include Rib of Earth (1956), Ulysses by the Merlion (1979) and A Third Map (1993). His latest anthology Still Travelling, consisting of almost 50 poems, was published in 2008. Thumboo has won the National Book Development Council of Singapore Book Awards for Poetry three times, in 1978, 1980 and 1994. He has also received the inaugural S.E.A. Write Award (1979), the first Cultural Medallion for Literature (1979), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Cultural and Communication Award (Literature) (1987), and the Raja Rao Award (2002). He was conferred a Bintang Bakti Masyarakat (Public Service Star) in 1981 with an additional Bar in 1991, and the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Services Medal) in 2006. He conceived the first National Poetry Festival for Singapore in 2015.

• Name — Edwin Thumboo • Birth Name — Edwin Nadason Thumboo • Born — 22 November 1933 • Birthplace — Mandai, Singapore, Straits Settlements • Occupation — Emeritus professor, National University of Singapore • Period — 20th century to present • Genre — Poetry • Notableworks — Ulysses by the Merlion (1979) • Awards — National Book Development Council of Singapore Award for poetry (1978, 1980, 1994), S.E.A. Write Award (1979), Cultural Medallion for Literature (1979), ASEAN Cultural and Communication Award (Literature) (1987), Bintang Bakti Masyarakat (Bar) (Public Service Star, 1981, 1991), Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Services Medal, 2006)

Edwin Thumboo, born in colonial Singapore, Straits Settlements on 22 November 1933, was the eldest of eight children of a Tamil Indian schoolteacher and a Teochew-Peranakan Chinese housewife from a Singaporean merchant family. He and his siblings grew up speaking English and Teochew. The family was financially comfortable; their home in Mandai was the only one in the neighbourhood with electricity. Because of his mixed parentage, as a child he was sometimes called names and marginalized. This was said to have fostered determination and self-respect in him. He completed his primary education at Pasir Panjang Primary School in 1940. During the Japanese occupation of Singapore (1942–1945), he helped his family by selling cakes, tending goats, and working as a salesboy. Following the war, he studied at Monk's Hill Secondary School (finishing there in 1946) and Victoria School (1948). It was at the latter place that he began writing poetry at the age of 17 years, encouraged by the senior English master Shamus Frazer. Thumboo considers Frazer his spiritual father, and later dedicated Rib of Earth (1956), his first collection of poetry published while an undergraduate, to him. At this time, Thumboo was also a member of the Youth Poetry Circle, which counted among its members other early literary pioneers of Singapore such as Goh Sin Tub and Lim Thean Soo.

Thumboo was educated at Victoria School (1948). • Illustration — A view of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore (NUS) at Kent Ridge on 25 November 2006. Thumboo was Dean of the Faculty from 1980 to 1991, making him NUS's longest-serving dean. Thumboo majored in English literature and history at the University of Malaya. As a freshman, he was a member of the editorial board of Fajar (Dawn in Malay), a radical leftist journal published by the University Socialist Club. The seventh issue of Fajar, which appeared in May 1954 contained an editorial entitled "Aggression in Asia" which advocated independence from the United Kingdom. Three days later, the Chinese middle school students clashed with the police. As a result, after two weeks, Thumboo was arrested by the British colonial government together with seven other students and put on trial for sedition. Lee Kuan Yew, who was the Club's legal adviser and a Fajar subscriber, arranged for British Queen's Counsel D. N. Pritt to act in their defence, with Lee himself as junior counsel. The students were acquitted of the charge by District Judge F. A. Chua. Thumboo graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with honours (B.A. (Hons.)) in English from the University of Malaya in 1956.

Hoping to teach and pursue a further degree, Thumboo applied for a position at the university but was rejected as few locals held academic posts at that time. He therefore entered the civil service, working for the Income Tax Department (1957–1959), Central Provident Fund Board (1959–1964), and the Singapore Telephone Board (1964–1966) where he was an assistant secretary.

In 1966, the year following Singapore's independence, he joined the University of Singapore as an assistant lecturer. Conducting doctoral research into African poetry in English, he received his Ph.D. from the university in 1970. He became a full professor in the Department of English Language and Literature, heading the department between 1977 and 1993. The University of Singapore and Nanyang University merged in 1980 to form the National University of Singapore (NUS), and he was the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences from 1980 to 1991, NUS's longest-serving dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. As an academic, he taught Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, the Romantic poets, Malaysian and Singaporean literatures, and creative writing, among other subjects. His research interests included the modern novel (E. M. Forster, D. H. Lawrence and Joseph Conrad) and the novels of Empire (such as Rudyard Kipling), Commonwealth literature (including Botswana writer Bessie Head), and William Shakespeare's Roman plays. When he headed the English Department, it introduced the study of Commonwealth/New Literatures in English, and of English language as a major so that graduates would be better equipped to teach English in schools and junior colleges. Thumboo was appointed a Professorial Fellow by NUS in 1995 and continues to be associated with the university as an emeritus professor, a position he has held since he retired from full-time teaching in September 1997. He served as the first Chairman and Director of the university's Centre for the Arts from 1993 to 2005. Thumboo also held visiting professorships and fellowships at universities in Australia, the UK and the US. He was Fulbright-Hayes Visiting Professor at Pennsylvania State University (1979–1980); Chairman of the Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies, VII Triennium (1983–1986); Writer-in-Residence at the Institute of Culture and Communication, Hawaii (1985); Ida Beam Professor at the University of Iowa in 1986; a member of the International Advisory Panel at the East-West Centre, Hawaii (1987); Honorary Research Fellow at University College, University of London (1987); a member of the Committee of Jurors for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in Oklahoma, USA (1988); CAS–Miller Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1998), Visiting Professor and Writer-in-Residence at University of Wollongong in New South Wales (1989); and Visiting Fellow at the Department of English, Australian Defence Force Academy (1993). In 1991, Thumboo worked with the Ministry of Education to help establish the Creative Arts Programme for secondary school and junior college students in Singapore. He continues to mentor young poets under the programme.

Thumboo was born into a Protestant Christian family and baptized as an adult. Thumboo and his wife Yeo Swee Ching live in Bukit Panjang, a suburban area in the central northwestern part of Singapore. They have a son who was the head of research at the Singapore General Hospital; a daughter, who is a physician; and seven grandchildren.

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•. •. • Mohammad A. Quayum, "An Interview with Edwin Thumboo." Peninsular Muse: Interviews with Modern Malaysian and Singaporean Poets, Novelists and Dramatists. Oxford, UK: Peter Lang, 2007.

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