In examining Malaysian literature in light of the global canon, one cannot miss the numerous parallelisms between literary works by Tunku Halim bin Tunku Abdullah and Edgar Allan Poe. Both writers are preoccupied with grotesque realities of mentally deranged individuals, and similarly visualize the darkness and animality of human consciousness. This article aims at conducting a comparative analysis of the dynamics of personality and of the psyche of fictional characters in selected short stories by the two writers. To this end, the study draws upon Jung’s notions of the Shadow and the Individuation to explore the key psychological motives behind the characters’ behaviour patterns, as well as to examine their level of subjectivity and agency in harnessing the same motives. Notwithstanding the seemingly different ways of presenting the narrative patterns of the characters’ journey towards Individuation, the selected stories are marked with similar examples of characters’ failures in the process of self-realization. While some characters remain trapped in the obscure and perplexing world of the Shadow, others achieve a minimal level of maturity as they begin to realize their own being. In the case of Halim’s stories, however, the characters are additionally held back by cultural and structural forces that constantly affect their realities. It is concluded that this particular difference accounts for Halim’s uniquely hybrid style of writing that merges Western horror genre with more local folklore.

• Akam, J. H., & Yahya, W. R. W. (2018). Overcoming the Shadow and achieving Individuation through a hero’s journey in Tunku Halim’s ‘A Sister’s Tale.’ Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 26(1), 345-358.

• Asl, M. P. (2018). Practices of counter-conduct as a mode of resistance in Middle East women’s life writings. 3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature®, 24(2), 195-205. https://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2018-2402-15

• Asl, M. P. (2019). Leisure as a space of political practice in Middle East women life writings. GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies, 19(3), 43-56. https://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2019-1903-03

• Asl, M. P. (2020). The politics of space: Vietnam as a communist heterotopia in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Refugees. 3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature®, 26(1), 156-170. https://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2020-2601-11

• Balkun, M. M. (2009). The American grotesque. Literature Compass, 6(4), 824-841. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-4113.2009.00644.x

• Bloom, H. (Ed.). (2009). The grotesque. Infobase Publishing.

• Bryant, C. M. (2017). An effect all together unexpected: The grotesque in Edgar Allan Poe›s fiction [Master’s thesis]. The University of Vermont.

• Burwick, F. L. (1998). Edgar Allan Poe: The sublime, the picturesque, the grotesque, and the arabesque. Amerikastudien/American Studies, 43(3), 423-436.

• Butchart, L. (2019). “What man am I?” The hero’s journey, the beginning of Individuation, and Taran Wanderer. Mythlore, 38(1), 199-218. http://doi.org/10.2307/26809400.

• Byron, G. (2008). Where meaning collapses: Tunku Halim’s Dark Demon Rising as global gothic. In A. H. S. Ng (Ed.), Asian gothic: Essays on literature, film and anime (pp. 32-45). McFarland & Company.

• Byron, G. (2012). Global gothic. In D. Punter (Ed.), A new companion to the gothic (pp. 369-378). Blackwell Publishing Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444354959.ch25

• Chiew, E. P. (2019, November 25). Tunku Halim talks horror with Elaine Chiew. Asian Books Blog. http://www.asianbooksblog.com/2019/11/tunku-halim-talks-horror-with-elaine.html

• Childs, P., & Fowler, R. (2006). The Routledge dictionary of literary terms. Routledge.

• Connelly, F. S. (2003). Modern art and the grotesque. Cambridge University Press.

• Conner, S. P. (2019). Horror more horrible from being vague, and terror more terrible from ambiguity. The Edgar Allan Poe Review, 20(1), 77-95. https://doi.org/10.5325/edgallpoerev.20.1.0077

• Cox, D. (1964). Analytical psychology. The English University Press.

• Eng, C. (2015). Tunku Halim, Last Breath. Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature, 9(1), 225-226.

• Fordham, F. (1960). The Shadow in Jungian psychology and race prejudice. Race, 2(2), 62-69. https://doi.org/10.1177/030639686000200207

• Hadi, N. F. A., & Asl, M. P. (2021). The objectifying gaze: A Lacanian reading of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Refugees. GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2021-2101-01-04

• Halim, T. (2014). Horror stories. Fixi Novo.

• Hayes, K. J. (Ed.). (2002). The Cambridge companion to Edgar Allan Poe. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521793262

• Jackson, R. (1981) Fantasy: The literature of subversion. Methuen.

• Jacobi, J. (1973). The psychology of C.G. Jung. Yale University Press.

• Jafni, N. F. S. A., & Yahya, W. R. W. (2015). The manifestation of grotesque romance through deviant sexuality in Tunku Halim’s Dark Demon Rising. International Journal of Comparative Literature and Translation Studies, 3(3), 20-26. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijclts.v.3n.3p.20

• Jafni, N. F. S. A., Yahya, W. R. W., & Kaur, H. (2016). Dissecting nature and grotesque elements in Tunku Halim›s Juriah›s Song. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 24(1), 297-310.

• Jung, C. G. (1958). Psychology and religion. (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In H. Read, M. Fordham & G. Adler (Eds.), CW 11: Psychology and religion: West and East (pp. 3-106). Routledge. (Original work published 1940)

• Jung, C. G. (1969). Collected works of C.G. Jung, volume 9 (Part 1): Archetypes and the collective unconscious (Adler G. & Hull R., Trans. & Eds.). Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400850969 (Original work published 1936)

• Jung, C. G. (1991). The archetypes and the collective unconscious (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.; H. Read, M. Fordham, & G. Adler, Eds.). Routledge. (Original work published 1943)

• Jung, Y. (2010). Poe›s Berenice. The Explicator, 68(4), 227-230.

• Kayser, W. (1963). The grotesque in art and literature (U. Weisstein Trans.). McGraw-Hill. (Original work published 1957)

• Ladkin, D., Spiller, C., & Craze, G. (2016). The journey of individuation: A Jungian alternative to the theory and practice of leading authentically. Leadership, 14(4), 415-434. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715016681942

• Lawson, L. A. (1966). Poe›s conception of the grotesque. The Mississippi Quarterly, 19(4), 200-205.

• Lee, D. (2007, July 9). My Star interview: You’ve got to start somewhere. The Star. https://tunkuhalim.wordpress.com/2007/05/01/publicity-in-the-media-my-interview/

• Lippit, N. M. (1977). Tanizaki and Poe: The grotesque and the quest for supernal beauty. Comparative Literature, 29(3), 221-240.

• Moores, D. (2006). «Oh, Gigantic Paradox»: Poe›s «William Wilson» and the Jungian self. The Edgar Allan Poe Review, 7(1), 31-48.

• Poe, E. A. (2013). Edgar Allan Poe: Complete tales and poems. Maplewood Books.

• Pridgen, L. P. (2001). The «Jaded Traveller»: John Jasper›s failed psychic quest in Charles Dickens›s The Mystery of Edwin Drood [Master’s thesis]. East Tennessee State University.

• Ravvin, N. (1992). An irruption of the archaic: Poe and the grotesque. Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, 25(4), 1-15.

• Renzi, K. (2013). Hysteric vocalizations of the female body in Edgar Allan Poe’s “Berenice”. ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance, 58(4), 601-640. https://doi.org/10.1353/esq.2013.0019

• Rico, P. S. J. (2011). Terror and parody: The mock gothic in Poe›s comic short stories. Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.

• Roas, D. (2009). Poe and the modern grotesque. 452ºF. Electronic Journal of Theory of Literature and Comparative Literature, 1, 13-27.

• Sumali, N. A., & Asl, M. P. (2019). Creating spaces of fear and anxiety: Analysis of factors affecting male character’s conduct in Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 10(2), 32-43.

• Toh, T. (2020, January 25). Malaysian author Tunku Halim looks back on a colourful writing career. The Star. https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/culture/2020/01/26/author-tunku-halim-looks-back-on-a-colourful-writing-career

• Tricarico, G. (2016). The Individuation process in post-modernity. Psychological Perspectives, 59(4), 461-472. https://doi.org/10.1080/00332925.2016.1240529

• Turnbull, A. (2018). The Psychological grotesque in modern American literature [Master’s thesis]. Rollins College.

• Wagner, T. S. (2006). Singapore’s new thrillers: Boldly going beyond the ethnographic map. ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, 37(2-3), 69-89.

• Wakeman, P. (2012). Spirit of the psyche: Carl Jung›s and Victor White›s influence on Flannery O›Connor›s fiction [Doctoral dissertations]. Marquette University.

• Ying, S. Y., Keikhosrokiani, P., & Asl, M. P. (2021). Comparison of data analytic techniques for a spatial opinion mining in literary works: A review paper. In F. Saeed, F. Mohammed & A. Al-Nahari (Eds.), Innovative systems for intelligent health informatics (pp. 523-535). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70713-2_49

• Young-Eisendrath, P., & Dawson, T. (2008). The Cambridge companion to Jung. Cambridge University Press.