Newsletter No. 310

第 310 期 2008 年 1 月 4 日 No. 310 4 January 2008 Sauntering Between Text and Image Lok Fung – Prof. Natalia Chan – Poet Author of Flying Coffin , winner of 9th Biennial Awards for Chinese Literature (Poetry) in 2007 She likes text, hence poetry She likes image, hence film She is sentimental She is curious She conjures up image from text Image and text weave the tapestry Of this assistant professor in the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies you must keep an open mind and be curious about the world. If not, you would not be able to internalize novel things even if you came across them.’ From poetry, Lok Fung gradually moved into cultural studies which exposed her to film, popular culture, media, gender and culture. Last September, she taught a Year 1 course ‘Text and Image: A Critical Analysis’ at the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies. She taught her students to read poetry and showed them how words can conjure up images. She also taught them filmic language such as montage, introducing them to texts of different genres and media. It was Flying Coffin , that award-winning collection of poems penned between 1992 and 2005, which first won her recognition in poetry. The 52 poems talk about the opacity of life, perceptions of death, the twists and turns of love and life, and the rhythms of the city. Lok Fung shared the prize with veteran poet Kun Nan, a fact which makes her very happy. She says that poetry is richer when it strikes a chord in readers. 洛楓 陳少紅教授 詩人 第九屆香港中文文學雙年獎新詩組得獎作品 《飛天棺材》的作者 喜歡文字 詩 鍾愛影像 電影 多愁善感 對世界充滿好奇 擅將文字築成影像 光影與詩的世界 交織成這位文化及宗教研究系助理教授生命的一部分 香港中文文學雙年獎簡介 The Biennial Awards for Chinese Literature 由康樂及文化事務署和香港藝術發展局合辦的 「香港中文文學雙年獎」，於1991年起隔年舉 辦，旨在表揚香港文學作家的傑出成就，分為新 詩、散文、小說、文學評論及兒童文學五個組別。 今年（第九屆）共收到二百多個提名，為歷屆之 冠。新詩組雙年獎作品為洛楓的《飛天棺材》及 崑南的《詩大調》。 The biennial competition is co-organized by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council to reward the achievements of local literary writers. The five categories, namely, poetry, prose, fiction, literary criticism and children’s literature, attracted a record-breaking 200 entries in 2007. Lok Fung and Kun Nan shared the award in the poetry category. 在光影與詩中游走 筆名源起 Origin of the Pseudonym 從中四開始投稿起，陳少紅教授便用上了「洛楓」 這筆名。「楓」乃「紅」的暗示；至於「洛」字， 她說：「小時候喜歡電視劇『家變』內的洛琳， 羈魂老師又喜歡台灣詩人洛夫，所以便選了這個 字。」陳少紅教授很喜歡這個較中性的筆名，過 往不少人以為「洛楓」是男性。現時的學生，更 稱呼她為洛楓老師多於陳教授。 Prof. Chan Sui-hung, Natalia, has used the pseudonym Lok Fung since she began submitting her works for publication as a F.4 student. The first character ‘Lok’ came from the names of the female protagonist in a popular TV drama that premiered in 1977, and her teacher’s favourite Taiwanese poet. The second character ‘Fung’, meaning ‘maple’, denotes the colour of the character ‘Hung’ in her real name, meaning ‘red’. She likes this androgynous name and says she is often mistaken for a male writer. Her students prefer to address her as Teacher Lok Fung rather than Prof. Chan. 洛 楓在求學階段，遇上不少愛詩的老師，啟發 她踏上詩之旅，「小時候背很多不同的詩， 聽得多便會寫。」她謂小學已常讀徐志摩及胡適的作 品，課外活動的老師又會教唐詩宋詞、文學作品；及 後，因參加朗誦節，也背誦了不少新詩。升中後，詩 人羈魂剛巧是她的中學老師，讓她有更多機會接觸不 同的詩歌。她寫詩給羈魂批改，他不但有回應， 還鼓勵她投稿往文學雜誌《大拇指》，結果多次 獲刊登。這是一個循環，「寫了，有人回應、 刊登，又鼓勵我再寫。」到了大學時代，她遇 上的老師包括鍾玲、也斯等，教她台灣詩、西 方現代詩，詩的世界更見海闊天空，她就是這 樣一路踏著詩的腳步走來。 情感固然是創作的元素，惟洛楓認為寫詩不 單需要細膩的情感，更要感受到與人不同的 層次，寫出來的東西才會不一樣；而敏銳度 是可以訓練的，「最重要是看書，且要持開放態度接 收不同事物，對世界充滿好奇，否則固步自封，即使 有新的東西也不能內化。」 由詩開始，她逐步轉向研究文化，涉獵電影、流行文 化、各類媒體、性別文化等。去年九月，她教授文化 及宗教研究系的「文本與影像的批判分析」一科，便 發揮所長，教學生讀詩，學習文字上的影像，又讓學 生分析電影的蒙太奇，融會貫通，讓他們可跨媒體詮 讀不同的文本。 《飛天棺材》獲獎，肯定了她寫詩 的成就。這本集子收錄了她1992至 2005年的詩選，寫生命的不透明感、 死亡的觸覺、愛情與生活的輾轉反 側、城市的步伐。她很高興能與前輩 詩人崑南共享殊榮，並說：「得獎是 一種認同，有評審委員、讀者覺得這 些詩有價值，這是最初下筆時沒有想 過的。當詩對人產生意義時，便加厚 了它的存在價值。」 A s a student, Lok Fung had many teachers who loved poetry and this set her on the path of poetry writing. She recalls, ‘When I was young, I recited different poems. I heard poems often and soon I could write them.’ Lok Fung was initiated into awide repertoire of classical andmodern Chinese poetry when she was only a primary school student. She also recited modern poems at speech festivals. In secondary school, poet Ji Hun happened to be her teacher. Through him, she came into contact with different types of poetry. She would show him poems she hadwritten and Ji Hunwould give her feedback. He even urged her to send her works to a literary magazine. Her poems were published many times and this encouraged her to write more. At university, her world as a poet was broadened even further by teachers like Chung Ling and Ye Si (P.K. Leung) who taught her Taiwanese and Western poetry. Feelings are her creative raw materials. Lok Fung is of the view that poets not only need to be sensitive, their sensitivity should also be unusual if they are to produce writing that is out of the ordinary. She believes that sensitivity can be trained. ‘Reading is essential. Also,