“Here’s to the grass we step on!”: Complicating the spatial dynamics of the Garden City in Singaporean historical fiction

Abstract

The Singapore Story is Singapore’s hegemonic national narrative, which celebrates the early embrace of neo-liberal-developmental economics for the putative benefit of all ordinary Singaporeans. Like all historical narratives, it has been ordered selectively and presents certain outcomes as natural or inevitable. The Garden City programme, in operation from 1967 to 2013, has reshaped the city in the image of a multinational capital, re-ordering space to complement the national narrative. Historical fictions such as Simon Tay’s City of Small Blessings (2009) and Suchen Christine Lim’s The River’s Song (2013) offer new, plural perspectives on recognizable historical narratives as they are embedded in Garden City spaces, potentially undoing the erasures of dominant versions of history.

Keywords:

• Garden City
• Singapore
• historical fiction
• memory
• resettlement
• Suchen Christine Lim
• Simon Tay

Acknowledgements

This article is based on material researched during a project funded by University of Leeds 110 Anniversary Scholarship.