2004 Hong Kong, China

Conference Report

Report by Susan Tridgell

Australian National University

Hong Kong was the perfect setting for this life writing conference, with its focus on multiple worlds. The city provided both the inspiration for the theme and reminders of it, as conference speakers discussed autobiographies, biographies, letters, diaries, blogs and other life writing, all focused on moving between or inhabiting multiple worlds.

Maxine Hong Kingston’s keynote speech made a riveting opening to the conference. She spoke of her recent collective writing project (The Fifth Book of Peace) which had brought together soldiers who had fought on opposite sides, a male American soldier staring incredulously at the tiny girl who had been in the jungle he had tried to bomb. The tales of forgiveness and acceptance which came out of these encounters seemed extraordinary.

The other keynote speeches were equally memorable. John Eakin discussed the role of memory and narrative (and narratives of remembering) in making selves, a paper which led on to a fascinating discussion: on the merits of uncertainty, of “falling out of bed”, on the energy which might power narratives from the margins of empire, on the ways in which looking at examples from literary works might over-emphasise the role of narrative in our lives. Gillian Whitlock’s paper interrogated the ways in which the marketing of the life narratives of women “under the burkah” might be implicated in Orientalist attitudes, and be playing a role in the “war on terror”. She pointed to images from RAWA (the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan) as an alternative way of thinking about the issues involved.

Kay Schaffer’s plenary paper also interrogated the ways in which life narratives can be commodified, taking the case of the film, Follow the Rabbitproof Fence. While stressing the problematic nature of the cinematography involved (which encouraged non-Indigenous audiences to identify with the Indigenous children), Schaffer noted that the framing of the film and its multiple endings allowed the possibility of differing responses, so that some viewers might respond to the gross injustices perpetuated on this community, looking beyond Molly’s “triumphant” return to her home. Craig Howes used images to great effect in his speech, showing how images could be used by colonisers to depict a native Hawaiian monarch as grotesquely ugly; and then showing how differently she appeared in her own cultural context, flanked by her subjects. Jay Prosser used also used images, both to reveal and to evoke. In a lyrical, subtle paper, he discussed the “amphibious lives” of his forebears, and the cross-cultural alliances within his family.

A recent issue of Biography, “Online Lives”, was notable for the nuanced ways in which it discussed these new forms of life writing. Margaretta Jolly’s, Lena Karlsson’s and Julie Rak’s papers (on email communities, online diaries and queer blogging) pressed these issues further, looking at the connections between online and offline lives, and at the ethics of the practices involved.

As so often, the system of multiple panels meant that only some of the papers could be heard ???there were regrets, but there was also the excitement so characteristic of these IABA conferences, the sense of being part of a fast-moving field and of powerful synergies between papers (John Barbour and Gene Stelzig’s panel, travelling between East and West, and Maureen Perkins and Glenn D’Cruz, speaking on mixed race, were just two instances of this).

Lisa Wong’s paper on bilingual poetry from Hong Kong brought this literary form vividly to life for an international audience, while Jane Jackson’s paper gave insights into the transculturation which even a brief sojourn in another land can encourage. Katarzyna Bartoszynska concentrated on one of Eva Hoffman’s lesser known works, Shtetl, in a subtle and original analysis which brought out the nuances of the writing; Jill Golden gave a moving paper on inter-generational life writing and Mary Besemeres drew attention to the way in which the “Anglo” self, immersed in another language, can move to a more dialogic position.

For many of us, this conference was the last time we saw Gabriele Helms. My memory of her vivid, lively paper, and her kindness and warmth towards less experienced speakers, make it difficult to believe she is no longer with us.

Other memories are happier, less ambiguous. The kindness of the postgrad students who looked after us, guiding us around the mysteries of the campus, gently herding stray attendees towards sessions, and shepherding speakers through the intricacies of new equipment was especially notable. This kindness was reflected in the friendliness of the campus, something which put my own university to shame. If you pause, lost, on the Australian National University’s campus, you are sure to be assisted by one or two passers-by. But if you pause at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, you will be surrounded in a moment by ten or twelve students, all murmuring “Can I help you?” This remains for me one of the loveliest memories from the conference. For those who would like to relive some of the occasion, or who were not able to attend, several of the papers are preserved in the latest issue of Biography 28.1 (2005) and three more appear in Life Writing 2.1 (2005).

The conference was organised by David Parker, Professor of English at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, with the assistance of Tracy Liang, Danny Leung, Zoe Chan and other postgraduate students from the English Department. It was the fourth in the series of conferences associated with the International Auto/Biography Association (IABA). To join the IABA list serve, which is run by Craig Howes, contact craighow@hawaii.edu. The next conference will be held in Mainz, Germany in July 2006. Organised by Alfred Hornung, it will be entitled ‘Autobiography and Mediation’.

Zhanzi report by Li

Guo Guan Xue Yuan, PR China

Fourth International Symposium biography English Department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong was held in March 2004 14-18 May, more than 70 scholars from around the world attended the meeting. Topic of the meeting was "living in a multidimensional world - (anti-) biographical literature era of globalization." Due to be held in Hong Kong in this multi-cultural region, topic of the meeting seems particularly appropriate, specific issues related to immigrant self, self diaspora, especially the Chinese diaspora; autobiographies and biographies as travel writing, including diaries and letters, etc.; globalization of electronic self-identity and online; globalization of media - film, video, television, Internet and identity building; and multi-language (multilingual) self, etc., can be described as colorful.

Many contemporary autobiography / biography of the writer's works relate to living in a multiple world, that living in a different culture, language, ideology, discourse, premises, areas or different experience. Their narratives often have multiple ownership, which can belong here and icy, past and present, real and imagined, traditional and modern, the center and edge, inherited and promised so on. What does this mean? It seems that in a pluralistic society, due to the rapid intercontinental travel, global media, education and communication, it is no longer just define their own identity in the context of national, premises, gender, race and ethnicity, but at the same time Some writers have chosen a certain identity for themselves, as resistance to unification of language, multiculturalism and economic transnationalism and the like. The so-called "global culture" is just the beginning, the end, or it has started? These issues form the background of the conference topics.

A keynote speech Overview

Perhaps because of the appeal of Hong Kong, meeting biggest names gathered for the For the forefront in this area provide a good learning opportunity. That "the relationship between the self", published "How to become a story of our lives" and many other books, good at the theory of the subject of Paul John Eagan new theme to speak very novel - "autobiographical life" (Living Autobiographically), He analyzed the "New Yorker" article on Andre Aciman "Arbitrage" some of the fragments, indicating that the relationship between memory and time, the body proposed autobiography written for the future point of view, although some participants were questioned, he analysis of the text in simple terms, for Proustian narrative of worship or to believe: the relationship between autobiography and memory, "the memory of the memory" and is still some fundamental theoretical biography crux.

Eagan dedication and different, editor of "biography" magazine's Craig Howes select a new perspective, the production tells the story of a group of Hawaii in the national character biography documentary, how he uses documentary biography prominent female figures female face, body and other close-range practice, and interviews about the human voice interspersed voiceover, make the film emergent historical role of character rather than appearance, such as appearance. In fact, this text explores the relationship between sound and image, it can be said in today's digital age, biography writing also entered the multi-mode (multimodal) stage.

Coincidentally, was the moderator introduced as "Australia's biggest names in writing biography" of Gillian Whitlock as "soft weapon" in the title, analyzed the relationship between several women in Afghanistan veil imagery on the cover of his autobiography and the situation of Afghan women and feminism, can also be seen as a multi-modal discourse analysis. How to analyze this is not limited to print media as well as the construction of identity on the film across the nation, as well as biographical narrative was made into a movie to further commercialization.

Two dimensional world, "more" heavy sound

Large part of the thesis is to analyze cross-cultural autobiography instance, which is the thrust of the General Assembly, the Assembly invited the Maxie · Tom Kingston (Maxine Hong Kingston) delivered the keynote speech "about peace fifth book," about Her life story and autobiographical writing. She was published in 1976 in "The Woman Warrior" for her in the United States attracted a wide reputation.

Meeting for several scholars from the mainland to set up a "Chinese autobiography" topic. Zhaobai Sheng's "intercultural me: ethnicity, education and Westernization" Yung Wing's analysis of "Western Learning in mind" (1909) and Menglin "West Tide" (1947), noting that it not only tells the story of two autobiographical self-education, And related to a nation's education, analysis of the proposed transmission main 'westernized' philosophy, and cross-cultural experience in the role of national identity formation. Xu Germany gold "form, genre and identity formation: I'm Kingston" The Woman Warrior "and Ao Derui · Rhodes" Charles Rice "in how to become otherness," and proposed that two authors have created a new form of biography writing "biography mythology," not only break the traditional strict classification autobiography / history / myth, and in the words of a patriarchal society in the formation of a new female discourse. LI Zhan-child "identity policy contradictions situation" that language learning and cultural identity of the conversion of the main line of cross-cultural autobiography is full of cultural values ​​and identity of the evaluation, and the use of the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics in evaluation theory, analyzes the strict Ann Georgia 's not speak Chinese, "a book on the" nature of the Chinese people, "the evaluation, the author of the book to reveal the identity of the Chinese diaspora and the ambiguous attitude of ambivalence. Liu Yan, such as analysis of the "Shanghai Baby" in the hero's quest for identity in a multicultural city, and also caused many attendees to ask questions.

Several influential Chinese-American writers received considerable attention, such as Kingston's father works in the image analysis, Amy Tan's The Hundred Secret Senses of analysis. In addition, Mike Ingham analyzed the biographies written in English in Hong Kong; Jane Jackson analysis diary of our students during visit to Britain, described the experience of cross-cultural communication. Koo analyzes the subjectivity Malaysian Chinese and multicultural; Tam concern is the South - a typical example of cultural strife in the era of globalization, Malaysia and Singapore through the confusion of the identity of the writer, confounding and loss of description, she describes the staged where East and West, traditional and modern, religious language and cultural disputes. And as Chinese descent Chiristina Wei did not stop her quest for the roots of her Chinese culture as a legacy to their own children. Stuyfbergen by Australian immigration autobiography analysis, we should no longer be seen as embarrassing immigration departure and arrival intervals between, but as a mode of existence. Zee investigate the proliferation of various forms of media globalization, how it affects our identity, especially in the context of semi-autobiographical Asian Asian Americans in the media how to rebuild the identity through globalization.

It can be said at this meeting, we can hear the sound from multiple multidimensional world, but unfortunately, these voices are English words to say, the group will be the venue's explanation is due to technical reasons, the use of the globalization of English more convenient. Does this also allows us to think of the so-called "multiple" things appearance after it?

Three cross-cultural and language autobiography

The author makes the most interesting is that some papers study the formation of cross-cultural identity autobiography from the perspective of language, such as editor of "biographical writing" magazine Mare Besemere "Englishman abroad: invasive memoirs in a foreign language in the" overview of some of the writers of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States in foreign infiltration memories, they both found the experience of leading contemporary language and culture representatives and bearers, but somehow resisted the English attitude to participate in an upward trend big trend, because they willingly crossed across the English border to explore other ways to survive in this world, although some work will inevitably have to stoop of the suspects, but overall still show the art of dialogue.

Manuela Constantino's paper explains, "For English-speaking readers autobiography of language and discourse strategies." Many immigrants biographer had moved to another country to explore how it will affect them rebuild their mixed identity, these authors can also be called 'language immigrants' performance and other languages ​​they use dialogue and discourse diverse means of self-reproduction in the works . She raised some questions: such as: the mother tongue in forming self is how to rebuild in English? Autobiography, "Self translate" what characteristics? The so-called 'self-translation' refers translated from the native language, or translated from self to him, and yet our translation more commonly understood language is translated into the mother tongue, so that their readers can come into contact with foreign cultures. She cites Paper Shadows (Wayson Choy) in the passage:

"The toughest one to write ... a killer ideogram, drawn with seven breathtaking strokes One upward-dash; two long, opposing-facing curves with hooks;.? And three criss-crosses - or was that two dashes and three criss-crosses" (221)

Obviously Chinese characters of "I" writing strokes after such a translation in English reader appears to be magical, and in our opinion it is a misinterpretation. It seems to say in a way, these immigrants reconstruction in English language readers with their identity is distorted native readers identity for the price.

Katarzyna Bartoszynska "Eva Hoffman's autobiography items: pain and exile exile gives the power to give" that Hoffman "Lost in Translation" is closer to anthropology rather than the traditional autobiography, she offers us a kinds of reading and writing a new way of self-exile, so that pain and power of this contradiction becomes more complex. She believes that Hoffman's writing has a unique sense of distance, from the perspective of anthropological analysis of the exile experience, but also has a strong consciousness, neither avoid describing the pain, but also the use of the exile gives people the power to achieve self, richer understanding of the history of the relationship between the self.

In my opinion, for the cross-cultural biography of language and language can reveal things that seem to be seeking to support linguistic theory, which launched a more systematic, in-depth analysis.

Four new trend: the autobiography as a research paradigm

The participants reached a consensus: when until the eleventh century, "immigrant" has become unusual, immigration is not only understood to emigrate, but broadly refers to people multicultural, multilingual experience has become extremely common, participants who is both theoretically ascending, and some people who own experiences multicultural experience, which undoubtedly has a rich English teaching and fresh inspiration.

Biography / autobiography became the paradigm of the study itself, just one example, as Annesley Carole "Quicksand: eclectic mix and autobiography" is part of her doctoral thesis, about the half-breed like her, in Australian society is marked as "Asians" and racial discrimination, the other person plus a hyphen (eg, Asian - Australian, European descent - Asians, Native - Australians, etc.) will have a similar experience, she is determined through their own writing for The Silence of the tribe sent a voice.

Five new hot spot: Biography Research Ethics

Travel Writing (travel writing) because of its retrospective first-person narrative, has become a topic of the meeting, in fact, the reason why a growing travel writing biographies of researchers attention, but also because of the increasing globalization of travel implies an ethical problem, and that is the traveler such as how to understand people from other cultures are.

John Barbour "Thomas Merton's pilgrimage and Orientalism" Merton's analysis of the "Asian Diary", the diary records the last journey of his life, namely two months traveling in India, he was in this pilgrimage expand the inter-religious dialogue in order to overcome the mentality of the Christian conquest, the author of Orientalism by Edward Said were criticized this analysis, that Merton and trying to understand their different cultural contacts, which can be regarded as the Orient A formalism, but he is also trying to overcome their prejudices Westerners, Asians questioned the extent that they can understand. Merton's example helps us to think about ethical issues in global travel.

There are quite a few papers discuss how to develop a network of so self stationed networks, such as personal home page, online travel diary; blog and network identity, the online magazine of biography writing (Poletti), also become a new focus, and this one are related to ethical issues. With the public's privacy Secret increasingly interested in such subjects, biographical research seems to echo the humanities ethics steering, began to explore how biographical writing is good, how could bring harm. Edited by Paul John Eakin's "biography Writing ethics" by Cornell University Press published in June this year.