The Bruneian Novel in English: Narrative Experiments in an ‘Outer Circle’ Country

The oil‐rich Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam boasts a small but growing English literary scene. Drawing on Kachru's insights into the ‘Outer Circle’ of World Englishes, this essay examines the Bruneian novel in English and its development in two phases: From 2009 to 2019, and from 2020 onwards. Authored by well‐educated Bruneians—also the group most competent in the use of English—in the Sultanate and abroad, the Bruneian novel in English reflects the creative process of acculturation through the authors’ experimentations with representational strategies and language choices to narrate Brunei and local identity in the postcolonial context. At the same time, these experimentations and strategies highlight a central paradox: There is an ongoing ambivalent relationship with the use of English among the anglophone Bruneian authors, even as they attempt to articulate what it means to be Bruneian in English.