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Sharlene Teo relives the ghosts of adolescence past in ‘Ponti’
In her debut novel, Ponti, Sharlene Teo explores a different side of Singapore to tell a tale about a vampiric ghost and the joys and angst of adolescence that haunt people into adulthood.
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Sharlene Teo (JP/Erica Fransisca)
I
t was a cold winter night in Norwich, the United Kingdom, when Singaporean writer Sharlene Teo dreamed about a woman coming out of the leaves of a banana tree, blood dripping from her mouth.
Teo, who was studying creative writing at the University of East Anglia, had no doubt that it was a female vampiric ghost in Malay mythology called pontianak, or kuntilanak as Indonesians would better know it.
She felt the idea of pontianak was probably ingrained in her head because she grew up hearing stories about the ghost.
“But I wouldn’t have thought, if you asked me 10 years ago, would I write a novel [about that]? No!” she said, laughing. “Not at all. I haven’t always been obsessed with them.”
On the sidelines of the recent Jakarta International Literary Festival (JILF), Teo talked to The Jakarta Post about her debut novel, Ponti, which was not only inspired by the ghost but also her memories of Singapore.
The novel centers around three women: Szu and Circe, who develop an intense friendship during their teenage years, and Szu’s mother, Amisa, who once starred in a horror movie titled Ponti! and now spends her days conducting fake séances at home.
Leaping forward 17 years, Circe is a demotivated social media consultant. When she is asked to prepare a campaign for a remake of Ponti!, Circe is knocked off balance by memories of the two women she once knew.
