Rex Shelley
Encyclopedia
Rex Anthony Shelley was a Eurasian
Singapore
an author
. A graduate of the University of Malaya
in Singapore and Cambridge
trained in engineering and economics, Shelley managed his own business and also worked as member of the Public Service Commission
(PSC) for over 30 years. For his service, he was conferred the Bintang Bakti Masyarakat
(Public Service Star) by the Government of Singapore
in 1978, and an additional Bar the next year.
Shelley started writing fiction
late in life, publishing his first novel
, The Shrimp People, in 1991 at the age of sixty one. The first substantial work by a Singaporean writer about the Eurasian community in Singapore, it won the 1992 National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS) Award. The books People of the Pear Tree (1993), Island in the Centre (1995) and A River of Roses (1998), on the same theme, followed within a decade; respectively, they won NBDCS Highly Commended Awards in 1994 and 1996, and the Dymocks Singapore Literature Prize
in 2000. In 2007 he was the Singaporean winner of the S.E.A. Write Award
. Critics have responded positively to his writing, noting its "passionate, humane" style, and observing how his breadth of life experience gave rise to a talent for characterization plus an ability to blend "a sharp sense of observed commentary with historical detail".
, and was of English, Portuguese, Malay and Buginese
ancestry. His father was a shipyard worker and his mother a teacher. Shelley was educated at St. Anthony's Catholic School, and at a Japanese language
school for a year during the Japanese occupation of Singapore
(1942–1945).
Shelley's first employment was as a carpenter's apprentice, in a shipyard. Following World War II
, he graduated from the University of Malaya
in Singapore in 1952 with an honours degree in chemistry, which he completed on a university scholarship. He later read engineering and economics at the University of Cambridge
, where he was involved in left-wing
student politics for a time.
in Negeri Sembilan
, Malaysia, until May 1965. He then returned to Singapore and began working for a company manufacturing pipes, subsequently starting his own machinery-importing business. He also served on the Public Service Commission
(PSC) for over three decades, from 1976 to 2007. The PSC is a body created by the Constitution of Singapore
that appoints, promotes, dismisses and exercises disciplinary control over public officers
in Singapore. It has additional responsibility for planning and administering scholarships provided by the Government of Singapore
. Shelley was involved in interviewing civil servants
as well as students seeking scholarships; he wrote a book entitled How to Interview Well and Get that Job! (2004). For service to the people of Singapore, the Government conferred the Bintang Bakti Masyarakat
(Public Service Star) on him in 1978, awarding an additional Bar the following year.
Shelley taught himself to speak Japanese, and edited Words mean Business: A Basic Japanese Business Glossary (1984), a new version of a book first published the year before. Subsequently, he wrote Japan (Cultures of the World series, 1990) and Culture Shock!: Japan (1993). He was also a self-taught painter and piano accordion
player.
late in life, publishing his first novel
The Shrimp People in 1991 at the age of sixty one. The first substantial novel by a Singaporean writer about the Eurasian community in Singapore, it was the best-selling local paperback at the Times bookshop for three consecutive weeks between 22 August and 5 September 1991, and remained in the top five until 11 December that year. The work won the National Book Development Council of Singapore Award for works in English the following year despite being up against books by established writers such as Gopal Baratham
and Suchen Christine Lim. He wrote three more books, People of the Pear Tree (1993), Island in the Centre (1995) and A River of Roses (1998), on the same theme within a decade. The first two of these won National Book Development Council Highly Commended Awards in 1994 and 1996 respectively, while the last won the Dymocks Singapore Literature Prize
(now known simply as the Singapore Literature Prize
) in 2000.
According to poet Edwin Thumboo
, an emeritus professor
of the National University of Singapore
, Shelley "was a sensitive and acute observer of life. Because he started writing late, the material that generated his fiction was well digested. He brought to bear on it all the insights of an engineer, businessman, administrator, public servant and a person who loved life. His character analysis was therefore penetrating, and his range of characters are fully reflective of the society he wrote about." Associate Professor Kirpal Singh of the Singapore Management University
, himself a writer and literary editor
, has commented that although Shelley's impact on the Singapore literary scene had been "much less than it ought to be", his body of work was significant for both the Eurasian community and the wider Singapore society:
Shelley was the 2007 Singaporean winner of the S.E.A. Write Award
. In August 2009, Marshall Cavendish
, a subsidiary of the Times Publishing Group, reissued Shelley's books The Shrimp People and a non-fiction work first published in 1995, Sounds and Sins of Singlish.
at the Assisi Hospice in Thomson Road, Singapore
, on 21 August 2009. He was survived by his wife Cora, from whom he was separated; children Michael, Linda and Martine, sisters Joy and Ruth, and six grandchildren. His last book Dr. Paglar: Everyman's Hero, a biography of his uncle, the Eurasian gynaecologist
Charles Joseph Pemberton Paglar (1894–1954), was published posthumously in 2010 by The Straits Times Press
.
Eurasian (mixed ancestry)
The word Eurasian refers to people of mixed Asian and European ancestry. It was originally coined in 19th-century British India to refer to Anglo-Indians of mixed British and Indian descent....
Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
an author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. A graduate of the University of Malaya
University of Malaya
The University of Malaya is located on a campus near the centre of Kuala Lumpur, and is the oldest university in Malaysia. It was founded in 1905 as a public-funded tertiary institution...
in Singapore and Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
trained in engineering and economics, Shelley managed his own business and also worked as member of the Public Service Commission
Public Service Commission (Singapore)
The Public Service Commission , Singapore , is constituted under Part IX of the Constitution of Singapore and its constitutional role is to appoint, confirm, promote, transfer, dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over public officers in Singapore.The PSC also retains two key...
(PSC) for over 30 years. For his service, he was conferred the Bintang Bakti Masyarakat
Bintang Bakti Masyarakat
The Bintang Bakti Masyarakat , instituted in 1963, is awarded to any person who has rendered valuable public service to the people of Singapore, or who has distinguished themselves in the field of arts and letters, sports, the sciences, business, the professions and the labour movement.Bars may be...
(Public Service Star) by the Government of Singapore
Government of Singapore
The Government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore to mean the Executive branch of government, which is made up of the President and the Cabinet of Singapore. Although the President acts in his personal discretion in the exercise of certain functions as a check...
in 1978, and an additional Bar the next year.
Shelley started writing fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
late in life, publishing his first novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
, The Shrimp People, in 1991 at the age of sixty one. The first substantial work by a Singaporean writer about the Eurasian community in Singapore, it won the 1992 National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS) Award. The books People of the Pear Tree (1993), Island in the Centre (1995) and A River of Roses (1998), on the same theme, followed within a decade; respectively, they won NBDCS Highly Commended Awards in 1994 and 1996, and the Dymocks Singapore Literature Prize
Singapore Literature Prize
The Singapore Literature Prize is an award in Singapore to recognise outstanding published works by Singaporean authors in any of the four official languages: Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil....
in 2000. In 2007 he was the Singaporean winner of the S.E.A. Write Award
S.E.A. Write Award
The S.E.A. Write Award, or Southeast Asian Writers Award, is an award that has been presented annually since 1979 to poets and writers in Southeast Asia....
. Critics have responded positively to his writing, noting its "passionate, humane" style, and observing how his breadth of life experience gave rise to a talent for characterization plus an ability to blend "a sharp sense of observed commentary with historical detail".
Early life and education
Rex Shelley was born on 27 November 1930 in SingaporeSingapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, and was of English, Portuguese, Malay and Buginese
Bugis
The Bugis are the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi, the southwestern province of Sulawesi, Indonesia's third largest island. Although many Bugis live in the large port cities of Makassar and Parepare, the majority are farmers who grow wet rice on the...
ancestry. His father was a shipyard worker and his mother a teacher. Shelley was educated at St. Anthony's Catholic School, and at a Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
school for a year during the Japanese occupation of Singapore
Japanese Occupation of Singapore
The Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War II occurred between about 1942 and 1945 after the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942. Military forces of the Empire of Japan occupied Singapore after defeating the combined Australian, British, Indian and Malayan garrison in the Battle of Singapore...
(1942–1945).
Shelley's first employment was as a carpenter's apprentice, in a shipyard. Following World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he graduated from the University of Malaya
University of Malaya
The University of Malaya is located on a campus near the centre of Kuala Lumpur, and is the oldest university in Malaysia. It was founded in 1905 as a public-funded tertiary institution...
in Singapore in 1952 with an honours degree in chemistry, which he completed on a university scholarship. He later read engineering and economics at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, where he was involved in left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
student politics for a time.
Career
After graduating, Shelley worked in SerembanSeremban
Seremban is the capital of the Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan, located within the district of Seremban, one of the seven districts of Negeri Sembilan. The town's administration is run by the Seremban Municipal Council or Majlis Perbandaran Seremban...
in Negeri Sembilan
Negeri Sembilan
Negeri Sembilan, one of the 13 states that constitutes Malaysia, lies on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia, just south of Kuala Lumpur and borders Selangor on the north, Pahang in the east, and Malacca and Johor to the south....
, Malaysia, until May 1965. He then returned to Singapore and began working for a company manufacturing pipes, subsequently starting his own machinery-importing business. He also served on the Public Service Commission
Public Service Commission (Singapore)
The Public Service Commission , Singapore , is constituted under Part IX of the Constitution of Singapore and its constitutional role is to appoint, confirm, promote, transfer, dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over public officers in Singapore.The PSC also retains two key...
(PSC) for over three decades, from 1976 to 2007. The PSC is a body created by the Constitution of Singapore
Constitution of Singapore
The Constitution of Singapore is the supreme law of Singapore and it is a codified constitution.The constitution cannot be amended without the support of more than two-thirds of the members of parliament on the second and third readings . The president may seek opinion on constitutional issues...
that appoints, promotes, dismisses and exercises disciplinary control over public officers
Public services
Public services is a term usually used to mean services provided by government to its citizens, either directly or by financing private provision of services. The term is associated with a social consensus that certain services should be available to all, regardless of income...
in Singapore. It has additional responsibility for planning and administering scholarships provided by the Government of Singapore
Government of Singapore
The Government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore to mean the Executive branch of government, which is made up of the President and the Cabinet of Singapore. Although the President acts in his personal discretion in the exercise of certain functions as a check...
. Shelley was involved in interviewing civil servants
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
as well as students seeking scholarships; he wrote a book entitled How to Interview Well and Get that Job! (2004). For service to the people of Singapore, the Government conferred the Bintang Bakti Masyarakat
Bintang Bakti Masyarakat
The Bintang Bakti Masyarakat , instituted in 1963, is awarded to any person who has rendered valuable public service to the people of Singapore, or who has distinguished themselves in the field of arts and letters, sports, the sciences, business, the professions and the labour movement.Bars may be...
(Public Service Star) on him in 1978, awarding an additional Bar the following year.
Shelley taught himself to speak Japanese, and edited Words mean Business: A Basic Japanese Business Glossary (1984), a new version of a book first published the year before. Subsequently, he wrote Japan (Cultures of the World series, 1990) and Culture Shock!: Japan (1993). He was also a self-taught painter and piano accordion
Piano accordion
A piano accordion is an accordion equipped with a right-hand keyboard similar to a piano or organ. Its acoustic mechanism is more similar to that of an organ than a piano, as they are both wind instruments, but the term "piano accordion"—coined by Guido Deiro in 1910—has remained the popular...
player.
Fiction writing
Shelley began writing fictionFiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
late in life, publishing his first novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
The Shrimp People in 1991 at the age of sixty one. The first substantial novel by a Singaporean writer about the Eurasian community in Singapore, it was the best-selling local paperback at the Times bookshop for three consecutive weeks between 22 August and 5 September 1991, and remained in the top five until 11 December that year. The work won the National Book Development Council of Singapore Award for works in English the following year despite being up against books by established writers such as Gopal Baratham
Gopal Baratham
Gopal Baratham was a Singaporean author and neurosurgeon. He was known for his frank style and his ability to write about topics that were often considered controversial in the conservative city-state.-Life:...
and Suchen Christine Lim. He wrote three more books, People of the Pear Tree (1993), Island in the Centre (1995) and A River of Roses (1998), on the same theme within a decade. The first two of these won National Book Development Council Highly Commended Awards in 1994 and 1996 respectively, while the last won the Dymocks Singapore Literature Prize
Dymocks Booksellers
Dymocks booksellers is a bookstore chain found in Australia. It currently has 73 stores in Australia, 7 in New Zealand and 13 in Hong Kong.- History :...
(now known simply as the Singapore Literature Prize
Singapore Literature Prize
The Singapore Literature Prize is an award in Singapore to recognise outstanding published works by Singaporean authors in any of the four official languages: Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil....
) in 2000.
According to poet Edwin Thumboo
Edwin Thumboo
Edwin Nadason Thumboo is an award-winning Singaporean poet and academic who is regarded as one of the pioneers of English literature in Singapore....
, an emeritus professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of the National University of Singapore
National University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore is Singapore's oldest university. It is the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered....
, Shelley "was a sensitive and acute observer of life. Because he started writing late, the material that generated his fiction was well digested. He brought to bear on it all the insights of an engineer, businessman, administrator, public servant and a person who loved life. His character analysis was therefore penetrating, and his range of characters are fully reflective of the society he wrote about." Associate Professor Kirpal Singh of the Singapore Management University
Singapore Management University
The Singapore Management University was officially incorporated on January 12, 2000, and was Singapore's first private university funded by the government...
, himself a writer and literary editor
Literary editor
A literary editor is an editor in a newspaper, magazine or similar publication who deals with aspects concerning literature and books, especially reviews. A literary editor may also help with editing books themselves, by providing services such as proof reading, copy-editing, and literary...
, has commented that although Shelley's impact on the Singapore literary scene had been "much less than it ought to be", his body of work was significant for both the Eurasian community and the wider Singapore society:
Shelley was the 2007 Singaporean winner of the S.E.A. Write Award
S.E.A. Write Award
The S.E.A. Write Award, or Southeast Asian Writers Award, is an award that has been presented annually since 1979 to poets and writers in Southeast Asia....
. In August 2009, Marshall Cavendish
Marshall Cavendish
Marshall Cavendish is a subsidiary company of Times Publishing Group, the printing and publishing subsidiary of Singapore-based conglomerate Fraser and Neave and at present is a publisher of books, directories and magazines. Marshall Cavendish was established in the United Kingdom in 1968 by Norman...
, a subsidiary of the Times Publishing Group, reissued Shelley's books The Shrimp People and a non-fiction work first published in 1995, Sounds and Sins of Singlish.
Later life
Shelley died of lung cancerLung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
at the Assisi Hospice in Thomson Road, Singapore
Thomson Road, Singapore
Thomson Road is a major trunk road linking Singapore's central business district with the northern suburban areas. Taking its name from John Turnbull Thomson, a Scotsman who was the Government Surveyor and Chief Engineer of the Straits Settlements from 1841 to 1853 and who helped build many roads...
, on 21 August 2009. He was survived by his wife Cora, from whom he was separated; children Michael, Linda and Martine, sisters Joy and Ruth, and six grandchildren. His last book Dr. Paglar: Everyman's Hero, a biography of his uncle, the Eurasian gynaecologist
Gynaecology
Gynaecology or gynecology is the medical practice dealing with the health of the female reproductive system . Literally, outside medicine, it means "the science of women"...
Charles Joseph Pemberton Paglar (1894–1954), was published posthumously in 2010 by The Straits Times Press
The Straits Times
The Straits Times is an English language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore currently owned by Singapore Press Holdings . It is the country's highest-selling paper, with a current daily circulation of nearly 400,000...
.