Malaysian Chinese Literature: Global Visions from the Margins

We're delighted to welcome Dr Chan Cheow Thia, assistant professor of Chinese studies at the National University of Singapore, to Leeds to talk about his book Malaysian Crossings: Place and Language in the Worlding of Modern Chinese Literature.

Dr Chan will give a 30-minute talk, after which there'll be time for a Q&A.

Tea/coffee available from 4.15 pm. All welcome!

Abstract: No scholar of modern Chinese literary studies in its globalizing mode will miss the recent spotlight on Malaysian Chinese (Mahua) literature. Previously untapped, works from or about the Southeast Asian country are now read for bracing ideas on language, ethnicity, and diaspora. In Malaysian Crossings, Chan shows how the minor literary formation’s grasp of its own marginality in the world-Chinese literary space constitutes the threshold—instead of a hurdle—to creating signature aesthetic imprints that foster global outlooks.