I am a Singaporean who studied English Literature at Harvard University (BA summa cum laude 1991; PhD 1998). My areas of interest include twentieth-century modernist and postmodernist literature, and contemporary writing. My present research focuses on J. M. Coetzee. I also have a strong interest in art cinema and follow contemporary art cinema trends fervently.
My core teaching area centers on twentieth-century literature, especially modernist and postmodernist literature. I also teach an assortment of modules that include a module on film that introduces students to film aesthetics (GEC1017) and a module that familiarizes students with the classical and Christian foundations of Western civilization (EN2201).
Specifically, the modules I teach are:
I will be supervising a few MA students in the near future.
Negativity in the Fiction of J. M. Coetzee (with a particular focus on Youth and Disgrace).
J. M. Coetzee
Literature and Ethics
Twentieth-Century Literature
ARTICLES IN JOURNALS
Conference Papers:
· “Blindly ‘Before the Law’: Guilt, Judgement and Grace in Disgrace.” European Association of Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (EACLALS) Triennial Conference 2005, Malta, 21-26 March 2005.
· “Sympathetic Identification and Polyphony in J. M. Coetzee.” Rhetoric, Politics, Ethics, Ghent, 21-23 April 2005.
· "Bricolage, the Odyssey and Post-Apartheid South Africa in J. M. Coetzee's Disgrace." International Conference on Language and Nationhood: Confronting New Realities, Kuala Lumpur, 16-18 December 2003.
· “Going On in the ‘New South Africa’: Samuel Beckett in J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace." Samuel Beckett Symposium, Sydney, 6-9 January 2003.
· “Charity and Amor Matris in J. M. Coetzee’s Age of Iron.” 12th Triennial Association of Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (ACLALS) Conference, Canberra, 14-19 July 2001.
· “A Post-Poststructuralist Humanism?: J. M. Coetzee’s Critique of Poststructuralist Epistemology in Waiting for the Barbarians.” Perspectives on Altruism from the Humanities and the Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, 29 October 1999.
Teaching-related
· “Teaching Film, Teaching Aesthetics.” FASS-CDTL Symposium: Grounded Experiences in University Teaching and Learning, National University of Singapore, 7-8 November 2003.