I Remember Her Well

One of the crucial steps in my life was taking the PhD program in the School of English, the University of Hong Kong, where I first apprenticed English literature and realized the importance of thinking critically in reading. My experiences in HKU, instead of being a direct flight to destination, were like a slow roundabout trip, which I valued tremendously. As one of the few research students from mainland China before 1997, I thought that I had cultural advantages in doing research on Chinese-American writings like Maxine Hong Kingston’s work, which I chose as my research topic. However, the independent research work supervised by Dr. Slethaug took me to a different path, namely, the study of Henry Louis Gates’ signifying theory, Bakhtin’s works, Foucault’s writings and Kimberly Blaeser’s study of Indian American literature. Sitting in the lectures given by Dr. Kerr，Dr. Tong and Dr. Slethaug was like taking well-guided trips in the literature world. Going to the summer school in Yale University, a field trip partly sponsored by HKU, gave me the chance of taking a course given by John Agnew, a well-known scholar in place theories. It took me seven years to get my Ph. D. degree, but I got more than a degree from HKU; I also met my husband in the school. More importantly, all the years spent in HKU gradually built up the foundation for the research interests that I developed later in my career, when I work with Henry Louis Gates and Laurence Buell in Harvard University on African-American literature and American ecocriticism. My experiences in HKU have played an important part in shaping me into who I am today. I thank HKU and always remember her well. I miss the Main building where I used to share an office with Andy Barker and Jianping Wang. I miss the May Wing of Robert Black College where I lived for one year. And I miss Weilun Hall, Baiview Restaurant and Stanley Bay Sports Center, where I had spent great time with friends.

Fang Hong, Associate Professor
English Department, School of Foreign Studies,
Nanjing University

 

Published on: Feb 7, 2012 < Back >