Sair Tjerita Siti Akbari is an 1884 Malay-language syair (poem) by Lie Kim Hok. Adapted from the Sjair Abdoel Moeloek, it tells of a woman who passes as a man to free her husband from the Sultan of Hindustan, who had captured him in an assault on their kingdom. Written over a period of several years and influenced by European literature, the work differs from earlier syairs in its use of suspense and emphasis on prose rather than form. It also incorporates European realist views to expand upon the genre while maintaining several of the hallmarks of traditional syairs. Critical views have emphasised various aspects of its story, finding in the work an increased empathy for women's thoughts and feelings, a call for a unifying language in the Dutch East Indies, and a polemic regarding the relation between tradition and modernity. A commercial and critical success, Siti Akbari was twice reprinted; in 1940 it was adapted to film. When Sjair Abdoel Moeloek's influence became clear in the 1920s, Lie was criticised as unoriginal. However, Siti Akbari remains one of the better known syairs written by an ethnic Chinese author, and Lie was later styled the "father of Chinese Malay literature".

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sair_Tjerita_Siti_Akbari

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1290:

Edward I issued an edict expelling all Jews from England. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_Expulsion

1863:

American Civil War: Led by Union Army Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first formal African American military unit, spearheaded an assault on Fort Wagner near Charleston, South Carolina. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/54th_Regiment_Massachusetts_Volunteer_Infantry

1969:

After a party on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts, United States Senator Ted Kennedy drove his car off a wooden bridge into a tidal channel, killing his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne, a former campaign worker. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chappaquiddick_incident

1976:

At the Olympic Games in Montreal, Nadia Comăneci became the first person to score a perfect 10 in a modern Olympics gymnastics event. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Com%C4%83neci

2005:

In a joint statement, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President George W. Bush announced the U.S.–India Civil Nuclear Agreement, a bilateral treaty on civil nuclear cooperation between their two respective countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.%E2%80%93India_Civil_Nuclear_Agreement

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

disinter: 1. To take out of the grave or tomb; to unbury; to exhume; to dig up. 2. To bring out, as from a grave or hiding place; to bring from obscurity into view. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disinter

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for. But, my lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.   --Nelson Mandela https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela