If We Dream Too Long by Goh Poh Seng

Published in 1972 and widely regarded as the first Singapore novel, If We Dream Too Long explores the dilemmas and challenges faced by its hero, Kwang Meng, as he navigates the difficult transitional period between youthful aspirations and the external demands of society and family. Shy and sensitive, he feels detached from mainstream life and is unable to identify with the values that animate his friends. Kwang Meng takes refuge in dreams of exotic faraway places, and imagines merging himself with the sea, which he loves. Yet amid this uncertainty, the reader feels that all is not lost, that the young dreamer will eventually find his way. Kwang Meng’s experiences reflect Goh Poh Seng’s fascination with the question of self amid the dreariness and aimlessness of an increasingly urbanized and materialistic Asian society. The book also provides a fascinating portrait of Singapore as it was in the 1960s, a landscape and society that have since undergone many changes but remain faintly visible in modern Singapore. This new edition restores the author’s original typographic design and has an updated introduction by Koh Tai Ann.