Finding god in Dinsman’s it is not a suicide: an Islamic metaphysical approach

Dinsman, whose real name is Che‟ Shamsuddin Othman, was known for his experimentation on the absurd theatre techniques during the period of Experimental Theatre in Malaysia in the 1970‟s. His play It Is Not A Suicide reflects strong philosophical underpinnings that highlight the deep emotional setba...

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Main Author: Mas Rynna Wati Ahmad
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit UKM 2013
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6604/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6604/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6604/1/4231-9743-1-SM.pdf
id ukm-6604
recordtype eprints
spelling ukm-66042013-10-21T06:26:07Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6604/ Finding god in Dinsman’s it is not a suicide: an Islamic metaphysical approach Mas Rynna Wati Ahmad, Dinsman, whose real name is Che‟ Shamsuddin Othman, was known for his experimentation on the absurd theatre techniques during the period of Experimental Theatre in Malaysia in the 1970‟s. His play It Is Not A Suicide reflects strong philosophical underpinnings that highlight the deep emotional setbacks experienced by an individual who is caught in the tumult of finding the right path. Even though his experimentation seems to be vague to many scholars and theatre critics, his appropriation of absurd theatre techniques had successfully transformed a play that was once known to be atheistic in nature to be distinctively his own. Unfortunately, his experimentations on absurd theatre were not clearly understood by many. This is because most theatre critics and local audience remain sceptical towards the fundamental philosophy of the absurd. As a result, the concept of the Malay absurd in Modern Malay theatre is still not fully received. Although the intellectual and religious maturity of the audience and the theatre scholars has grown over the years, the view of absurd works being pessimistic remains. For the purpose of this paper, the author focuses on Dinsman‟s It Is Not A Suicide; reading it through the lens of Al-Ghazali‟s The Alchemy of Happiness. Through the Islamic metaphysical approach, this article offers a more optimistic perspective to his work. It argues that the play still functions within the Islamic parameters thus eliminating the atheistic label which clouded this work for more than three decades. Penerbit UKM 2013-09 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6604/1/4231-9743-1-SM.pdf Mas Rynna Wati Ahmad, (2013) Finding god in Dinsman’s it is not a suicide: an Islamic metaphysical approach. GEMA: Online Journal of Language Studies, 13 (3). pp. 223-235. ISSN 1675-8021 http://ejournal.ukm.my/gema
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
language English
description Dinsman, whose real name is Che‟ Shamsuddin Othman, was known for his experimentation on the absurd theatre techniques during the period of Experimental Theatre in Malaysia in the 1970‟s. His play It Is Not A Suicide reflects strong philosophical underpinnings that highlight the deep emotional setbacks experienced by an individual who is caught in the tumult of finding the right path. Even though his experimentation seems to be vague to many scholars and theatre critics, his appropriation of absurd theatre techniques had successfully transformed a play that was once known to be atheistic in nature to be distinctively his own. Unfortunately, his experimentations on absurd theatre were not clearly understood by many. This is because most theatre critics and local audience remain sceptical towards the fundamental philosophy of the absurd. As a result, the concept of the Malay absurd in Modern Malay theatre is still not fully received. Although the intellectual and religious maturity of the audience and the theatre scholars has grown over the years, the view of absurd works being pessimistic remains. For the purpose of this paper, the author focuses on Dinsman‟s It Is Not A Suicide; reading it through the lens of Al-Ghazali‟s The Alchemy of Happiness. Through the Islamic metaphysical approach, this article offers a more optimistic perspective to his work. It argues that the play still functions within the Islamic parameters thus eliminating the atheistic label which clouded this work for more than three decades.
format Article
author Mas Rynna Wati Ahmad,
spellingShingle Mas Rynna Wati Ahmad,
Finding god in Dinsman’s it is not a suicide: an Islamic metaphysical approach
author_facet Mas Rynna Wati Ahmad,
author_sort Mas Rynna Wati Ahmad,
title Finding god in Dinsman’s it is not a suicide: an Islamic metaphysical approach
title_short Finding god in Dinsman’s it is not a suicide: an Islamic metaphysical approach
title_full Finding god in Dinsman’s it is not a suicide: an Islamic metaphysical approach
title_fullStr Finding god in Dinsman’s it is not a suicide: an Islamic metaphysical approach
title_full_unstemmed Finding god in Dinsman’s it is not a suicide: an Islamic metaphysical approach
title_sort finding god in dinsman’s it is not a suicide: an islamic metaphysical approach
publisher Penerbit UKM
publishDate 2013
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6604/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6604/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/6604/1/4231-9743-1-SM.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T19:47:22Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T19:47:22Z
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