Pet Sounds: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a piece of music or song. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] It was yesterday, if my memory did not fail me, yes, it was yesterday that I first heard…
Pet Sounds: Victoria Ip
Pet Sounds: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a piece of music or song. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] The first time I listened to Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You” was in 1995, when Madonna did a…
Announcement: Jessica Yeung Wins Postgraduate Bursary of the British Comparative Literature Association
In May this year, Jessica Yeung submitted an application to the British Comparative Literature Association Postgraduate Bursary scheme for attending the conference “World Literature and Global Core Texts”, to be held on 26-27 June 2017 in the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). She applied for this scheme because she was encouraged by another…
Pet Sounds: Lian-Hee Wee
Pet Sounds: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a piece of music or song. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] I know there is Impressionist music like Debussy etc which I enjoy, but there’s something else too, more…
“Philippe Parreno’s Films” by Tammy Ho Lai-Ming
The exhibit by the French-Algerian artist Philippe Parreno I went to see is made up of four video installations. While most video works presented in a gallery are continuously played on a loop, these four videos are projected in order and the viewers are led from room to room by lights turning on and off…
“The Dark Room” by Leo Lau
. *’Ethnic Minority’ refers to a group within a community with different national and cultural traditions from the main population. In Hong Kong, the term ‘Ethnic Minority members’ refers to citizens whose origins are in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and other subcontinental Asian countries. The phrase ‘dark room’, linguistically speaking, is polysemous—a literal ‘dark room’…
“Routine Application” by William Ng
The printer, sheet after sheet, roars off another batch of applicants in the Pre-Interview Processing zone. For the first time a full-screen dialogue box pops up on the screen of his laptop – COLLECT FORMS. He floats down the grey-carpeted corridor past the cubicles of others, retrieves his ream of ivory-coloured forms, and retreats to…
“(Post-)Diaspora Home-searching in Shelter (2016)” by Jeff Chow
Published in 2016, Jung Yun’s debut novel Shelter presents a gripping tale of suffocation and immobility within the illusion of familial comfort. The book starts off with Kyung, a thirty-six-year-old professor and his wife, Gillian, in the middle of a house deal. The meeting with the agent is cut short, however, when Kyung’s mother, Mae,…
Announcement: The Seventeenth Workshop on Cantonese
日期: 2017 年 4 月 22 日 (星期六) 地點: 香港浸會大學, 思齊樓, 719 主題: 粵難粵學 Date: April 22, 2017 (Saturday) Venue: David C. Lam Building (DLB) 719, Hong Kong Baptist University Theme: The Teaching and Learning of Cantonese as an Additional Language “The Seventeenth Workshop on Cantonese” will take place on April 22, 2017 (Saturday) at…
“More of How You See, Less of Where You Be” by Nicola Chan Oi Ching
Dear “Insert Your Name”, Once you have left home, nothing will ever be the same. You will experience many of your first times. You might be wide-eyed or excited, homesick or disappointed, but you will probably taste them all. It was three years ago when I first left home for Turku, Finland, for an exchange…
“The Broken One” by Naterlie Ip, by Christy Leung, Leo Lau and Charis Yeung
Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a longer adaptation of Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie (1944). . (Laura stands at the centre of the stage. Tom and Amanda enter the stage and stand at either sides of Laura. All three solemnly face the audience. Amanda is spotlit.) Amanda: It was the first and last time…
Announcement: Tammy Lai-Ming Ho will be co-editing Twin Cities, a collection of poetry from Hong Kong and Singapore
Perhaps Hong Kong is a city of cinema. From the neo-noir neon stylings of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, to the stylised longing of early Wong Kar Wai, through the boom years of Cinema City and larger-than-life film stars, she has played host to countless cinematic moments with her cosmopolitan beauty. And perhaps Singapore is a…
“Comics and Graphic Narratives; or, The Art of the Matter” by Jason S Polley
The fourth-year English course “Comics and Graphic Narratives”, a title as ambiguous as, say, “Short Stories and Novels”, and even the more equivocal “Prose Fiction”, is organised into several unstable thematic groupings: underground comics (or comix), revisionist narratives within the mainstream, memoirs & confessionals, new journalism, and auteur comics. The texts most recently selected for…
“Red Butterfly” by Victoria Ip
. Son of the tailor to old Hollywood heartthrobs Every performance of yours was The most precisely made suit Like the rouge lipstick Fleur meticulously put on Starched collars protected your suggestive voice All buttons fastened like your best-kept secrets The bow-tie was your red butterfly Unashamed of her beauty She gently landed on…
“The Sun and The Moon On October 25” by Jeff Chow
On 25 October my grandma passed away and I remember the sun felt peculiar. Sitting at a computer finishing up my essay, I received a call from an unknown number. It was my father calling on my cousin’s mobile. “Your grandma passed away just now. She left in peace,” he said with his usual calmness….
“A Secret About a Secret About a Secret” by Tammy Ho Lai-Ming
Jo Shapcott’s poem “Myself Photographed” begins with an affirmative statement: “So this is me.” This line draws our attention to the subject of the photograph, although it does so with a slightly wry, or perhaps uncertain, tone provided by the word “So.” The next line, “In the field after we got lost,” continues this tone,…
“Circles” by Katie Wong
::::: Katie Wong is a final-year student studying in the Department of English Language and Literature (Class of 2017). She is currently researching on the semiotics of book covers.
“Red Leaves for Diane” by Victoria Ip
For every single memory Has become a part of me —George Michael, “Jesus to a Child” The online poetry collection Red Leaves is dedicated to the memory of my dear friend Diane—the reason why I started writing when I was 19 and haven’t stopped since. There are 14 poems in total, one for each year since I became…
“The Edge of Vast Shores” by Jason Eng Hun Lee
But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world. —Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach” Standing at the edge of vast shores I hear ancestor spirits invoke their unbidden siren call so the sea bursts as they command…
“Re/discovering the Lost Voices” by Suzanne Lai
. History is a record of transit. You have always been trying to describe the condition of being in-between. Syrian refugees battle the ocean and risk their lives to flee from their homes. They seek shelter in lands of abundance, while people sitting in their own castles of casual luxuries watch from high and above….
“Stress Caused by Unrealistic Expectations” by Lam Man Tsun
The news reports of three young secondary school students committing suicide after the Lunar New Year holidays is alarming. There have been a number of these tragedies over the past few years. Some people put the blame on the education system in Hong Kong. As a teacher, I completely agree that students face too much…
“It’s a Dog’s Life” by Magdalen Ki
Please allow me to introduce myself: my name is Golden, a dog by chance and a student by profession. Neither is my choice though, the first has much to do with fate, the second has something to do with the world I happen to live in. Given the number of certified professionals and the enthusiasm…
“All Those Moments” by Mignon Chiu
“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…
“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…
Department of English, Hong Kong Baptist University 