Author Talk with Hong Kong writer Yee-wa Lau and translator Jennifer Feeley
October 23
5:00pm - 7:00pm
Sturm Hall, Room 451, Lecture Hall
Audience: Alumni, Current Student, Faculty, Neighbor or Friend, Prospective Student, Staff
The Committee for Comparative Literature (CCL) invites you to join us in celebrating and introducing the English translation of "Tongueless," a gripping psychological thriller steeped in the linguistic and political tensions in Hong Kong by author Yee-wa Lau and translated by Jennifer Feeley.
"Tongueless" follows two rival teachers at a secondary school in Hong Kong who are instructed to switch from teaching in Cantonese to Mandarin—or lose their jobs. Apolitical and focusing on surviving and thriving in their professional environment, Wai and Ling each approach the challenge differently. Wai, awkward and unpopular, becomes obsessed with Mandarin learning; Ling, knowing how to please her superiors and colleagues, thinks she can tactfully dodge the Mandarin challenge by deploying her social savviness. Wai eventually crumples under the pressure and dies by suicide, leaving her colleague Ling to face seismic political and cultural change alone as she considers how far she will go to survive such a ruthlessly competitive work environment.
Sharp, darkly humorous, and politically pointed, "Tongueless" presciently engages with important issues facing Hong Kong today during which so much of the city’s uniqueness—especially its language—is at risk of being erased.
The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Wayne Yeung (Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures), and copies of the book will be available for free on a first-come-first-serve basis. The event is sponsored by the DU Committee for Comparative Literature, Hong Kong Arts Development Council and Pennsylvania State University.