Special Bilingual Poetry Reading

Special Bilingual Poetry Reading

Leung Ping-Kwan - Poet and Chair Professor of Comparative Literature, Lingnan University, Hong Kong

Friday, February 24, 2006 - 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Room 117, William L. Harkness Hall See map
100 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Please note the reading will be in both Chinese and English.

Leung Ping-kwan is a poet born and raised in Hong Kong. He received his Ph.D. degree in comparative literature at the University of California in San Diego. Leung taught comparative literature at the University of Hong Kong for 12 years. He is now Chair Professor of Comparative Literature and director of Centre for Humanities Research at Lingnan University. Leung has published numerous books in different disciplines, including volumes of poems such as East West Matters and Museum Pieces; volumes of fiction such as Postcards from Prague, Paper Cut-outs, and Cities of Memory, Cities of Fabrication; volumes of essays such as Sketches and Portraits and Moon Across Borders; critical writings such as Poetry and Cultural Studies and Ten Lectures on Hong Kong Culture.

Leung has collaborated with photographers, installation artists, dancers, composers and fashion designers in various mixed media art projects. Among them is the “Foodscape” series exploring the theme on food and culture with Lee Ka-sing. He holds his own poetry and photography solo exhibition “Food and the City” at F.C.C. in 2003, and another exhibition “East West Matters” at Frankfurt and Bern in 2004. Leung received the Hong Kong Urban Council’s Biennial Award for Literature in Poetry and Fiction categories in 1997 and 1991 respectively.

Following the tradition of classical Chinese poetry on objects, Leung’s poems are lyrical, sensitive and expressive. But while ancient poetry depicted flowers and bamboos as symbols of exalted virtues and ideal moral, Leung shows his delicate feeling towards ordinary objects such as bitter melon, pickles and balsam pears, and subtly meditates upon his encounters with various cultural and social contexts.

也斯,原名梁秉鈞,美國聖地牙哥加州大學比較文學博士。曾任香港大學比較文學系高級講師,現為香港嶺南大學中文系比較文學教授及人文學科研究所所長。梁氏 著作甚豐,詩集包括有《游詩》、《博物館》、《半途》及《東西》等;小說集有《島和大陸》、《剪紙》、《布拉格的明信片》及《記憶的城市‧虛構的城市》 等;散文有《街巷人物》及《越界的月亮》等;評論有《詩與文化研究》及《香港文化拾論》等。

梁氏1991及1997年分別以小說及詩獲市政局文學雙年獎。他多年來以個人詩作與藝術工作者合作,先後與攝影家、舞蹈家、音樂家、時裝設計師等共事跨媒 體創作,包括與李家昇合作以食物文化為題的「食事地域誌」展覽系列。他2003年在外國記者俱樂部舉行個人詩與攝影展「食物與城市」、2004年在法蘭克 福及布塞爾舉行個人詩與攝影展《東西》。

像古典的詠物詩,梁秉鈞的詩作也是藉物抒情。但古人歌竹詠梅,是藉以寄寓其超脫的品格及崇高的理想,而梁氏所歌詠的苦瓜、辣泡菜、蓮霧,表達對平凡熟悉諸物的微妙細膩感覺及藉它們反思置身其中的社會文化色彩。

Region: 
China, Hong Kong