When A Feminist Theory Is Decidedly Superfluous: A Case Study

Malay critics largely favour Western literary theories as analytical frameworks of choice to deconstruct Malay novels. Feminist theories are often a favourite particularly among Malay women literary critics, among whom Associate Prof. Dr Siti Hajar Che Man ranks as one of their more consistent users. In two working papers, Siti Hajar uses a feminist theory to analyse Azizi Haji Abdullah’s Harga sebuah maruah, a wining entry of the novel-writing competition to commemorate Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka’s golden jubilee celebration in 2007. According to Siti Hajar, Harga sebuah maruah sees Azizi dismantling the patriarchal cocoon to free his woman protagonist, Cah, then centre-stage and empower her, and in so doing effect a paradigm shift in Malay literature. This article uses as its analytical framework several main ideas of persuratan baru, which make a distinction between knowledge and story and emphasise discourse as the vehicle to body forth knowledge. It examines the two working papers to determine whether a feminist theory is called for, and whether the findings thus reached are academically sound. This article argues that the use of a feminist theory is decidedly superfluous, while the findings are academically untenable.