J[our]ney - 4 Short Stories by Joel Tan

Dave gets on the train at Raffles Place. He’s never liked this part of town, which is full of office-shirted people in various stages of unhappiness. In the past, he’s spent a couple of sleepless nights imagining himself in the CBD, pouring off the train at 7.30am with the rest of the office rats, later in the day streaming to Amoy Street Food Centre to do battle over lunch with packets of tissue paper. These possible futures flicker in his head now, and he holds the letter in his hand a little tighter as a talisman against them. It’s his letter from the UK Visa Office which has finally, with only weeks left before his flight, given him the green light to go.

This story is read by Brendon Fernandez.

Show Notes

Dave gets on the train at Raffles Place. He’s never liked this part of town, which is full of office-shirted people in various stages of unhappiness. In the past, he’s spent a couple of sleepless nights imagining himself in the CBD, pouring off the train at 7.30am with the rest of the office rats, later in the day streaming to Amoy Street Food Centre to do battle over lunch with packets of tissue paper. These possible futures flicker in his head now, and he holds the letter in his hand a little tighter as a talisman against them. It’s his letter from the UK Visa Office which has finally, with only weeks left before his flight, given him the green light to go.

This story is read by Brendon Fernandez.

What is J[our]ney - 4 Short Stories by Joel Tan?

J[our]ney is an original all-Singaporean digitally presented production exploring an essential component of every Singaporean’s life - the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) commute. We will be presenting 4 newly commissioned short stories by Singaporean writer Joel Tan paired with newly commissioned pieces by 4 Singaporean composers. The music will be performed by K口U and stories told by Brendon Fernandez.

In this collection of four short stories, we follow different rides along the East West line across 1987, 2015, 2025, and 2087. Introspective and ruminating, the stories track the changing urban and social landscape of Singapore, and plot a speculative roadmap for the near and distant future.