“Clack!”—my pen falls from the table of the lecture chair; I’ve dozed off with my hair— sometimes red, sometimes blue—on my face; here and there I find friends, laughter, footprints, knowledge greeting me from time to time; it is not rare to see people exposing their toes to feel the breeze and the freeze with the…
Author: t
“Mu Dan and Ambiguity” by Candy Wang
Mu Dan’s (1918-1977) poems, while incorporating elements and sentiments of classical Chinese poetry, also exhibit characteristics of Western modernist aesthetics and thoughts. For example, his poetry was influenced by William Empson (1906-1984), and this influence partially ushered Mu Dan’s shift towards Modernism. Perhaps the most significant impact of Empson on Mu Dan’s poetry was the…
“What are we?—A Journey in Search of Identity in Hong Kong Literature” by Englebert Tse
A speech given at the Opening Ceremony of the Academic Week on 31 October 2016 Professors and student representatives, good afternoon. On behalf of my cabinet, I am delighted to have you here to participate in this Academic Week hosted by the English Language and Literature Society. The theme of this year’s Academic Week focuses…
“The Ineffable” by Lian-Hee Wee
“Back to Basics” by Tim Kranz You know, it’s like …, but the blanks never get filled, even if the response were Yes, absolutely, I know it’s really, you know? When I was growing up, I didn’t know what was ineffable, nothing was. I said anything I damned pleased except when I can’t find…
“Father and Son” by Stuart Christie
Brian Kershisnik’s “Father and Son Dancing” I. Father Help me carry the aluminium siding, son. I lean a little too far this way. But for your careful arm, I might fall over. It wasn’t Mao’s fault I helped those tigers fly over the mountain. Brave, kind, and foolish Americans—they couldn’t even read a character! I…
Announcement: Members of the ENG Department will read at Hong Kong’s #WRITERSRESIST
Throughout the US and in other countries, writers are organizing their own Writers Resist events on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, January 15, 2017. Invited speakers will read from a curated selection of diverse writers’ voices that speak to the ideals of Democracy and free expression. The public is encouraged to attend. —WRITERS RESIST On…
Announcement: Jeff Chow won Most Creative Award
Jeff Chow, a final-year student in the Department of English, won the Most Creative Award in Hong Kong’s Top Story 2016 competition, co-organised by Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), EJ Insight and the Hong Kong Economic Journal Education. All winners received books from Pan Macmillan and dining vouchers from Lan Kwai Fong Group. The theme of the competition…
“A Letter from Essen to Hong Kong” by Gary Lam
Dear Tammy, Life here is full of love and wonder, as much as my life in Hong Kong. Thank you for your books, I just love them. My work here is rewarding. My organisation is called Franz Sales Haus, a community for people suffering from mental handicaps. Some of them live in the centre, while the…
“An Old Anecdote” by Isabella Dong
It is an old anecdote That the kitten and the Lady Cat Go to the southern hill. The prevailing song of the sea Fuses every ephemeral being. Up the hill there is a tree: Daylight swims in its vermillion flame— Other blossoms not yet awoken. But eucalypti hastily dip Fresh leaflets In new green quick…
“Con- or perhaps, Sub-juncts” by Lian-Hee Wee
And with conjunctions bookending this sentence it conjoins to anything but.* Nor yet for so, exhausting all the co-ordinations, that is why true freedom and democracy are faulted for being too difficult. Because subordinates are pliable, As long as, by the time, even if, in case, lest, once, provided that we do not realize how…
“Nostalgia, Sexuality and Existere in Black Mirror’s San Junipero” by Suzanne Lai
Editor’s note: This review contains spoilers. If you have not yet watched the episode (or the entire show), please go watch it already. ‘But tell me really’, he paused, ‘why are you still listening to vinyl records? It’s not even your era.’ Nostalgia is something hardwired into us homo sapiens. We are programmed to become…
“Cohesion” by Tammy Ho Lai-Ming
This was the speech I gave at the inauguration ceremony of Eminence on 19 February 2014. Thank you for allowing me to speak to you today. It is a great honour indeed. I am glad to see that so many of you managed to come tonight and gather together as one group. This is a…
“The Surrealist Art of Remedios Varo” by Anna Tham
Remedios Varo’s interest in nature draws on the idea that it inspires us to think of the world in relation to instinct and spirituality and that it also represents the part of the human mind which is not normally known—the unconscious, as represented in the universal emotions stimulated by the concept of nature. Adam Adamski…
“Thoughts from Edinburgh” by Grace Wong Hiu Yan
Looking out from where I am sitting at my desk, I count 46 other windows, a lone yellowing tree surrounded by dumpsters and an 11-sided slice of sky framed by sandstone walls and the occasional line of roosting pigeons on a slate roof. Clouds move quickly here. The weather is almost unbearably volatile. On a…
A Reading of C.P. Cavafy’s “Candles” by Nicola Chan Oi Ching
“The Penitent Magdalen” (detail) by Georges de la Tour C.P. Cavafy in “Candles” (1984), regarded by himself as ‘one of the best things [he] ever wrote’ (Cavafy qtd. in Liddell 139), transforms the abstract conception of daily birth of life into a metaphorical image of a row of candles, in which the first-person persona’s past and…
“Constellating World Literature” by Heidi Huang
Photograph by Mew Chu Editor’s note: Heidi Huang, Lecturer in the Department of English, has published a number of articles in journals including Modern Language Quarterly, Literature Compass, Critical Arts: South North Cultural and Media Studies and Neohelicon. Below is an excerpt from “Constellating World Literature”, first published in Neohelicon. An analogy can be drawn between astrological constellations and…
“Three Observations” by Cheng Tim Tim
Curtain breathes. It makes a silent mosquito on my skin. I can’t always tell the hour from the filtered sunbeam. I grasp a corner of the curtain and pull. A strip of morning sky is to be scrambled by more buildings and cranes. I must get up. My hand feels its way to the windowpane….
Alumni News: The Release of Ordinary People (2015)
Ordinary People (2015) is Chantaiman‘s debut album which draws influences from nineties Britpop and post-punk. In Chantaiman’s words, the album is ‘a celebration of reality and dreams, of lust and love, of fear and courage, of defeat and victory. This album is our gift to all the ordinary people.’ Ordinary People was recorded, mixed, and produced entirely…
“An Overdue Sentiment” by Helen Hao
“Coffee Thing” by Ricky Garni It was a delightful March day spent on Lamma Island this year. Whenever stress threatens to do me in and I come close to buckling under, my mind invariably endeavours a course back to that lovely day when the wind stood fair and the ray of the sunshine was perfect….
“In and Out of Cambodia” by Zabrina Lo
15 February 2016 What is the point of going to the Louvre to look at the Mona Lisa when you can simply Google it? Thus two years ago a friend of mine challenged my high hopes for my travels. All I insisted was that I needed to see it with my own eyes. ‘It’s about…
“The Song of Green Snake” by Isabella Dong
I seek you everywhere On the land once torn by war, The city overwhelmed By the flood you summoned People’s grief cried aloud When you threatened The wicked, bald hypocrite To let go of your husband. On the Broken Bridge You and I tempted fate. I sneaked into town by moonlight, Consumed by agony. The…
Headspace: William Ng
Headspace: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department write about a place or space they go to write, read, study or create. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] The arrival of my double-decker bus affords its own simple pleasure on my daily commute. I scan…
Announcement: Ivan Delazari wins Best Graduate Student Essay competition held by the International Society for the Study of Narrative
Returning to Hong Kong after his June tour of two public lectures in St. Petersburg and international conference appearances in Helsinki and Amsterdam, Ivan Delazari submitted his essay, “Diegetic Music: Who Is Listening, and What Is Heard?”, to the Best Graduate Student Essay competition held by the International Society for the Study of Narrative (ISSN) as…
Announcement: Robert Fuchs awarded the Richard M. Hogg Prize
Robert Fuchs, new Research Assistant Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature, will be awarded the prestigious Richard M. Hogg Prize of the International Society for the Linguistics of English (ISLE) for his paper entitled “Near-Mergers in Postcolonial Varieties of English – The /v/-/w/ Contrast in Educated Indian English”. Robert will receive the prize at the annual…
Announcement: Stuart Christie appointed Editor-in-Chief of Literature Compass
Stuart Christie, Head and Professor of the Department of English Language and Literature, was recently appointed by international publisher John Wiley & Sons as Editor-in-Chief for its international academic journal Literature Compass. Stuart is pleased with the appointment, he said: “I’m very grateful for the opportunity a reputable publisher like Wiley has given me to help…
Headspace: Ivan Delazari and Holden Liang Qichao
Headspace: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department write about a place or space they go to write, read, study or create. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] Click the image to enlarge. The Dungeon Headcase To the memory of William S. Burroughs Fresh eyes….
Headspace: Minnie Chung
Headspace: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department write about a place or space they go to write, read, study or create. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] ‘I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast…
Headspace: Suzanne Lai
Headspace: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department write about a place or space they go to write, read, study or create. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] You heard the train before You saw it. “Mind the gap.” She warned You. Staring straight ahead…
Headspace: Pamela Wong
Headspace: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department write about a place or space they go to write, read, study or create. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] How to Turn the Dining Table into the Ground of Ideas This is not even your dining…
Headspace: Tammy Ho Lai-Ming
Headspace: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department write about a place or space they go to write, read, study or create. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] A room with graffitied walls. Inside this room the dogs bark. A room cluttered with porcelain figurines….
Department of English, Hong Kong Baptist University 