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today in hk lit discourse: i tried to ask a podcast on HK anglophone lit to consider expanding their readings to non-white hk writers and they shut their podcast down over it. (1/?)
I started this convo after listening to their podcast and noticing that only white, expat writers were featured. The podcaster noted this when he mentioned that the project of hk writing in English was “super colonialist, I know, but hashtag colonisers gotta colonise”. (2/)
my intentions were to open up the convo: to point out exciting work in hk lit and to work against the easy characterisation of a white-centred hk anglophone literature. (3/)
I’m upset by this act of white fragility: that the suggestion of including non-expat lit was an insult, and that this man chose to self-destruct his podcast instead of confronting the politics of representation at play in his work. (4/)
also: why did this white man think it was okay to deliberately misunderstand, guilt-trip and personally attack me? what was so threatening about my request for some non-expat writers that made him lash out in this way? (5/)
mostly i’m upset that the suggestion for more attention for hk writers has been met so poorly. there r so many hk anglophone writers (that are very!!! reachable!!) and it is disappointing that he refused to do any of the work to expand the hk literary canon in hk (6/)
on a broader level: it is true that expatriate voices and white voices have been (and remain) elevated in hk anglophone literary production, and is something we keep v/ quiet about (7/)
and yes canto is our predominant language but english is part of our cultural fabric... both languages are important when we think of common languages between the sino majority and the ethnic minorities of hk. so there is much work!! needed!! (8/)
anyways here are some great hk anglophone writers you might like: @myetcetera, @maryjean_chan, @rachelkayinn, louise ho, nicholas wong, xu xi.... Literally So Many I will link to a thread with more
The List In Question, With A Great Variety Of Anglophone Writers in Hong Kong https://twitter.com/OndiLing/status/1319778303616503809
as @OndiLing pointed out this is actually a thread of lit in translation so here r some eng recs :
- Nicholas Wong, “Cervasse”
- Louise Ho, “Incense Tree”
- Mary Jean Chan, “Flèche” “A Hurry of English”
- Eddie Tay, “Dreaming Cities”
- Rachel Ka Yin Leung, “Chenyu: Chinoiserie”
- Nicholas Wong, “Cervasse”
- Louise Ho, “Incense Tree”
- Mary Jean Chan, “Flèche” “A Hurry of English”
- Eddie Tay, “Dreaming Cities”
- Rachel Ka Yin Leung, “Chenyu: Chinoiserie”
online and diy sources are also a really important place for contemp. anglophone lit in hk; there’s @asiancha (both main and http://hkprotesting.com ) voice and verse... instagram’s @zinecoop and @queer_reads_library will take u into the frequently anglophone zone tradition too!
another thing is that works in translation are often done by and with the original authors: translations of Leung ping-Kwan’s “City at the End of Time” and Dong Kai Chung’s “Atlas” had both authors involved through a lot of the process... which complicates that situation more
this list is poetics heavy bc I don’t know much about English novels in hk- if anyone has any recs i would love to read them!
(more things that haunt me at night: hk anglophone lit which is out of print... the huge amount of hk diasporic lit... hk radical lit which has been erased even from the catalogues... this all even before i start mooning over hk lit in written chinese)
