Author Biographies
Jin Yun Chow is a senior at Princeton University majoring in Comparative Literature. Her interests lie in the intersection between European—mainly French and German—and Chinese literature, culture, and philosophy. Her senior thesis explores mechanisms of cultural contact through a 19th century French translation of a group of classical Chinese poems, collected in an anthology titled Le Livre de Jade. She will be entering a PhD program in Comparative Literature in fall 2017.
Sian Bayley is a final year student at the University of Oxford, reading English Language and Literature. She is interested in the intersection of literature and politics, both in politically focused literary criticism and literary propaganda. Her dissertation explores the ways in which British Edwardian working-class writers incorporated socialist and feminist discourse into their works, and the extent to which this was effective as propaganda. Sian writes for Oxford’s many student newspapers, and hopes to become a journalist.
Holly Gibbens graduated with honors from Spring Hill College, with a BA in English and History. She also holds minors in Spanish, Philosophy, and Latin American studies. Her research interests include postcolonial history and literature in Africa and the Americas, and she is particularly interested in the way historiography tries to illustrate cultural inheritance as a dynamic—and often contested—process. As an aspiring teacher, Holly is invested in exploring the link between education and democratic social projects, especially in the civil struggles of colonial and postcolonial Latin America. She is spending the next year teaching English in Spain, and hopes to return to the U.S. to pursue a PhD in Latin American history.
Alastair Wong studies English at the University of Oxford. He likes WG Sebald, JM Coetzee and TS Eliot. He prefers the indoors and is slightly afraid of water and of the sun. His favourite things are black – clothes, records and coffee. Like Walter Pater, he is into books but prefers music. When he graduates he plans to avoid positions of responsibility and to stay as far away from offices as possible. He isn’t sure about the future but he is sure that he would have liked to have lived in Paris in the 20s.
The Comparative Literature Undergraduate Journal 