Lee Ching Lim

Associate Professor Lim Lee Ching

Dean

S R Nathan School of Human Development

Tel: +65 6248 4438

Educational Qualifications

  • 2003 - 2008
    Doctor of Philosophy in English, National University of Singapore
    Dissertation: Modernism and Violence in the Poetry of W.B. Yeats, Wallace Stevens and W.H. Auden.

  • Jul 1997 - May 1999
    Bachelor of Arts in English 2nd Class Hon. (Upper Division), University of London

  • Jul 1995 - May 1997
    Diploma in English, University of London

Academic and Professional Experience

  • 2018 - Present
    Associate Professor & Vice Dean, S R Nathan School of Human Development Singapore University of Social Sciences

  • 2013 - 2016
    Senior lecturer, Singapore University of Social Sciences

  • 2010 - 2013
    Deputy Head, General Studies Programme and University Core Curriculum, Singapore University of Social Sciences

  • 2008 - 2010
    Teaching Fellow, Nanyang Technological University

  • 2005, 2007
    Tutor, Nanyang Technological University

  • 2003 - 2007
    Tutor, National Institute of Education

  • 2004 - 2006
    Teaching Assistant, National University of Singapore

  • 2000 - 2008
    Adjunct Lecturer, Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Books:

The Gleaming Man.
(with Ruben Pang and Jeremy Fernando) Singapore: Delere Press, 2018.

Pure and Faultless Elation Emerging from Hiding.
Singapore: Delere Press, 2017

The Works of Tomas Tranströmer: The Universality of Poetry.
New York: Cambria, 2017.

Contemporary Arts as Political Practice in Singapore.
New York: Palgrave, 2017. (co-edited with with Wernmei Yong Ade.)

Book Chapters:

"Snapshots: a foreword." For the Pleasure of the text...
Jeremy Fernando. Singapore: Delere Press, 2015. v-xi.

"Centrefold." Four Letter Words.
Michael Kearney. Singapore: Knuckles & Notch, 2015

"Violence and the Crisis of Language and Poetry in W. B. Yeats's 'Easter, 1916'."
The Study of Celtic Literature and Culture in Ireland. Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House, 2015.

"Punch in, tune out."
Requiem for the Factory. Singapore: Delere Press, 2012. 103-108.

"Transcending Intellectual Boundaries: The Lyrical Phenomena of Fang Wenshan."
Global Encounters: Taiwan Literature vis-a-vis World Literatures. Taipei: National Taiwan University Press, forthcoming.

"Reading in Practice."
On Reading; Form, Fictionality, Friendship. ed., Jeremy Fernando. New York: Atropos Press, 2012. 168-193.

"Wandering Lost Upon the Mountains of Our Choice: W.H. Auden 'In Time of War'."
American Modernist Poetry and the Chinese Encounter. eds., Zhang Yue Jun and Stuart Christie. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

"That Sweet Old Song - an Afterword."
in Scratch & Sniff. Peter van de Kamp. New York: Atropos Press, 2010.

"History and an Aesthetics of Violence in the Poetry of W.B. Yeats and W.H. Auden."
Pearl River Meandering Journal Articles:with Poetic Thought. Guangzhou, China: Sun Yet-sen University Press, 2010. 27-43.

Journal Articles:

"A Mightier Silence: The Garden and Natural Morality in the Poetry of Tomas Tranströmer."
Moving Worlds: A Journal of Transcultural Writings, 17:1, 2017, 55-66.

"Adaptive adaptabilities: Notes on Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera".
Journal of The International Association of Transdisciplinary Psychology. 4: 1 (Dec 2015).

"The Core Curriculum, Critical Thinking and Academic Writing Skills in an Adult-learning Environment."
Korean Journal of General Education. 9:1 (2015), 247-264.

"Bowling for Colombo: In Conversation with Shehan Karunatilaka."
Moving Worlds: A Journal of Transcultural Writing. 11: 2 (2011).

"Making Excuses: Criticism and the Psychology of Rationalisation in Cape No. 7."
Journal of the International Association of Transdisciplinary Psychology. 3: 1 (Sep 2011).

"Transcending Second Tongue Poetry with First World Poetics: the Examples of Alfian Sa'at and Cyril Wong as Southeast Asian Anglophone Writing."
Journal of English and American Studies. Vol 9 (Dec 2010), 61-88.

"Sounds in the Key of Light: Reticence as Soundscape in the Poetry of Arthur Yap."
Southeast Asian Review of English. Special Issue: Singapore Writing, 2010.

"Wallace Stevens and the War between Mind and Sky: Violence in the 'Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction.'"
Journal of the International Association of Transdisciplinary Psychology. Vol 2, No. 1: May 2010.

Entries:

"China."
The Venice Biennale Ideological: Guide 2013, 27 May 2013.

"Taiwan."
with Jeremy Fernando. The Venice Biennale: Ideological Guide 2013, 27 May 2013.

"Tuvalu."
with Jeremy Fernando. The Venice Biennale: Ideological Guide 2013, 2 June 2013.

"Yap Chioh Hiong, Arthur":
Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent: A Biographical Dictionary. ed. Leo Suryadinata. Singapore: ISEAS Publishing, 2012, 1315-1317.

"William Blake: A Poison Tree."
A Companion to Literary Romanticism. Ed. Andrew Maunder. New York: Facts on File, 2010.

Book Reviews:

"They Told Us to Move."
Singapore Review of Books, 17 August 2019. https://singaporereviewofbooks.org/2019/08/17/they-told-us-to-move/

"The craftsman and his apprentices."
Singapore Review of Books, 1 April 2019. https://singaporereviewofbooks.org/2019/04/01/the-craftsman-and-his-apprentices

"Jeffrey Wainwright: What Must Happen."
Moving Worlds: A Journal of Transcultural Writing. Vol 18: no. 1: 2018. 130-132.

"Building Histories."
Singapore Review of Books, 12 February 2018. https://singaporereviewofbooks.org/2018/02/12/building-histories/

"Why Only Art Can Save Us."
Singapore Review of Books, 17 January 2018. https://singaporereviewofbooks.org/2018/01/17/why-only-art-can-save-us/

"A river rears up."
Singapore Review of Books, 5 December 2017. https://singaporereviewofbooks.org/2017/12/05/a-river-rears-up/

"Giving Ground."
Singapore Review of Books, 15 November 2017. https://singaporereviewofbooks.org/2017/11/15/giving-ground/

"Dermot Healy: Fighting with Shadows; Collected Short Stories."
Singapore Review of Books, 2 June 2016. https://singaporereviewofbooks.org/2016/06/02/dermot-healy-fighting-with-shadows-collected-short-stories/

"Desde Hong Kong."
Singapore Review of Books, 20 August 2015. http://singaporereviewofbooks.org/2015/08/20/desde-hong-kong/

"Kepulauan."
Singapore Review of Books, 22 July 2015. http://singaporereviewofbooks.org/2015/07/22/kepulauan/

"The Miniaturist."
Singapore Review of Books, 5 May 2015. http://singaporereviewofbooks.org/2015/03/05/the-miniaturist/

"Jeffrey Wainwright: The Reasoner."
Moving Worlds: A Journal of Transcultural Writing. Vol 13: no. 1: 2013. 171-173.

"Different Under God."
Singapore Review of Books, 8 April 2013. http://singaporereviewofbooks.org/2013/04/08/different-under-god/

"Colonial Frames, Nationalist Histories"
Singapore Review of Books, 15 September 2012. http://singaporereviewofbooks.org/2012/09/15/colonial-frames-nationalist-histories/

"Vedic scapegoating."
Singapore Review of Books, 28 July 2012. http://singaporereviewofbooks.org/2012/07/28/vedic-scapegoating/

"Don't Forget to Remember Me: Memory, Mourning, and Jeremy Fernando's Writing Death."
continent. 1.4: November 2011.

"Writing Singapore: An Historical Anthology of Singapore Literature." and "Singapore Literature in English: An Annotated Bibliography."
Moving Worlds: A Journal of Transcultural Writing. Vol 10: no. 1: 2010. 199-200.

"Irish Fiction and Postmodern Doubt: An analysis of the Epistemological Crisis in Modern Fiction."
Studies – Dublin. Vol 93, no. 372: 2004. 502-503.

Creative Work:

"吳淞岸視賈宏聲"
One Imperative. 20: 04 January 2019.

"Benediction."
Flower Flights. Art Porters, Singapore, 7 November 2018-4 January 2019.

"Poor Sky."
Flower Flights. Art Porters, Singapore, 7 November 2018-4 January 2019

"Mornings of Never Return."
Flower Flights. Art Porters, Singapore, 7 November 2018-4 January 2019.

"Desert Pete and the Little Dragon."
One Imperative. 19: 29 January 2017.

"Unbound (a ghazal)."
One Imperative. 18: 16 June 2017.

"Preparations."
One Imperative. 17: 24 July 2016.

"And Iowa is One Syllable."
One Imperative. 16: 13 December 2015.

"and then there was light."
One Imperative. 15: March 2015.

"Maybe, baby (For Warren Beatty)."
One Imperative. 12: April 2014.

"'Song from the cave': Jiwa Singapura. [pp13]"
Semoga Bahagia. Geraldine Song. Sydney: Horizon, 2013. 63.

"Ode to (Jason) Everman."
One Imperative. 10: September 2013.

"Quick Guide."
One Imperative. 9: November 2012.

"Shallowbreath."
One Imperative. 8: July 2012.

"Full of Care."
One Imperative. 7: November 2011.

"Meal on the Hill."
One Imperative. 6: June 2011.

"Hand Eye Breath."
in To Thee Do We Cry, Poor Banished Children: 3 Plays by Geraldine Song. Geraldine Song. Singapore: Horizon Books, 2010. 13.

"Humanity's Footsteps."
in To Thee Do We Cry, Poor Banished Children: 3 Plays by Geraldine Song. Geraldine Song. Singapore: Horizon Books, 2010. 14.

"Palimpsests."
in To Thee Do We Cry, Poor Banished Children: 3 Plays by Geraldine Song. Geraldine Song. Singapore: Horizon Books, 2010. 15.

"Song."
One Imperative. 5: October 2010.

"The Taking of How Many."
One Imperative. 4: Apr 2010.

"Bookmarks."
One Imperative. 3: Nov 2009.

"The Ballad of Ryan White."
One Imperative. 3: Nov 2009.

"Road Rises."
One Imperative. 2: Jun 2009.

"Cull."
One Imperative. 1: Jan 2009.

Other Publications:

(as Editor). Anything You Can Get Away with: Creative Practices.
(by Eddie Tay) Singapore: Delere, 2018.

"'What it takes': Jiwa Singapura editorial. [pp3-5]"
Semoga Bahagia. Geraldine Song. Sydney: Horizon, 2013. 53-55.

"EDITORIAL: The end of innocence."
Singapore Review of Books, 11 July 2013. http://singaporereviewofbooks.org/2014/07/11/editorial-the-end-of-innocence/

Conference Papers:

"The Loco in Locomotive: The Altering Self in 'John Duffy's Brother'."
Palimpsests: The V International Flann O'Brien Conference. University College Dublin, Ireland, 16-19 July 2019.

"Rapturous Emergence: John Moriarty and the Nostos Project."
truth, fiction, illusion: worlds & experience: Association for Philosophy and Literature Conference 2019. Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Austria, 29 May-2 June 2019.

"The Future of Skills in Industry 4.0."
Open Society Conference 2018. Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia, 15 November 2018. (keynote)

"The University Core Curriculum."
Indonesian Sociological Association Conference. Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia, 14 November 2018. (keynote)

"Road to the Gleaming Man."
Kogakuin English Lecture/Workshop Series (KELS). Kogakuin University, 15-16 October 2018.

"Celtic Tiger Hidden Dragon: John Moriarty and the Myth of Progress."
International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures Japan 35th International Conference: Exits and Entrances. Toyo University, Japan, 13-14 October 2018.

"Critical Conversations: Dreams Are Always Already Too Long."
(with Jeremy Fernando, Mark Brantner, Chen Yanyun and Sara Chong) NUS Arts Festival. Singapore, 18 Sep 2018

"Where in the World is the Singapore Review Of Books?: The Space and Place of Literary Journalism in the Digital Postcolony."
International Conference on Literature: "Contemporary Perspectives on/in Postcolonial and Diasporic Literature and Theory." Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia, 25-26 July 2018.

"The Plot Thickens: Writing Conservation."
(with Jeremy Fernando and Theophilus Kwek) Conversations in Eden. Singapore, 9 June 2018.

"Meet the Bookstagrammers: Writing Book Reviews for Smaller Screens."
All In Young Writers Festival 2018. Singapore, 16-18 March 2018.

"What it means to read poetry."
Kogakuin English Lecture/Workshop Series (KELS) 2017. Kogakuin University, Japan, December 18-20 2017. (keynote)

"Eternal effulgence: John Moriarty and the Re-centering of the Human."
2017 ELLAK International Conference on "Narrating Rights." Seoul National University, South Korea, 13-15 December 2017.

"Stupendous vocation: John Moriarty and the Triduum project."
IASIL 2017 (International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures). Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 27 April-31 May 2017.

"Keeping it Clean: Biopolitics and the Singaporean Experience."
Poetry, Philosophy, Politics: on art & education. National University of Singapore, 24-26 April 2017.

the didactic will be the discussion: a conversation of poems.
The Arts House, Singapore, 21 April 2017. (keynote)

Guest Lecture: "Fang Wenshan's Elemental Rhyming Poetry."
Chinese Studies Department, National University of Singapore, 20 March 2017.

"Whistling from the greenery: transition and displacement in the poetry of Tomas Tranströmer."
Spontaneous Beauties: World Gardens and Gardens in the World: An International Conference. Nanyang technological University, Singapore, 10-12 June 2016

"Thinking about Writing and Writing about Thinking: Developing Coherent Compositional Strategies in the Undergraduate Programme"
1st International Conference on Achievements and Challenges in Writing Research and Theory: Global Perspectives and Local Issues. Yonsei University, Seoul, 19 March 2016. (keynote)

"Family Values, the AWARE Saga and Religious Conservatism in Singapore."
Product, Production and Productivity: A Women's Studies Symposium. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. 10-11 December 2015.

"The Core Curriculum, Critical Thinking and Academic Writing Skills in an Adult-learning Environment."
2014 International Conference Of General Education. Chonnam National University, Gwangju, 14-15 November 2014. (keynote)

"Whirling out new right and wrong: W.B. Yeats in 'Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen'."
International Conference on Celtic Literature and Culture in Ireland. Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Shanghai, June 13-15, 2014.

"World War I, W.B. Yeats, and the Easter Rising of 1916."
The British Empire and the Great War: Colonial Societies / Cultural Responses. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, February 19-22, 2014.

"Ball's Gone Right over the Wall: Tomas Tranströmer's Transcultural Achievements."
Transcultural Imaginaries Making New, Making Strange. Nanyang Technological University, June 14-17, 2013.

"'Scarlet billows start to spread': The Threepenny Opera, violence and globalisation."
Citizens of the World: Adapting (in) the Eighteenth Century. Nanyang Technological University, June 22-24, 2012.

"The Rise of Christian Dominionism and its Threats to Singaporean Multiculturalism."
5th Global Conference – Multiculturalism, Conflict and Belonging. Mansfield College, Oxford University, September 22-25, 2011.

"Going Postal: Mailing Excuses and Delivering History in Cape No. 7."
The Contemporary: An International Conference of Literature and the Arts. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, June 24-26, 2011.

"Chinese Popular Music: Nostalgia, Developments and Globalisation."
Guangzhou University Guest Seminar Series 12. School of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou University, China. 18 April 2011.

"Bordering on Silence: Violence in J.M. Coetzee's Foe."
Crossing Borders: Traveling, Teaching, and Learning in a Global Age. New York Institute of Technology, Nanjing, April 15-17, 2011.

"The Case for the Globalisation of Culture in Chinese Popular Music."
Transcultural Identity Formation. NTU Centre for Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Singapore, November 29, 2010.

"Globalising Nostalgia in Zhong Guo Feng Music."
Kogakuin English Lecture Series. Kogakuin University, Tokyo. 11 June 2010.

"Second Tongue Poetry, First World Poetics: the Examples of 21st century Singaporean Writing as Southeast Asian Anglophone Literature."
International Workshop on Colonial Modernity and Beyond: The East Asian Context. Singapore, March 12-13, 2010.

"Auditory Audacity in the poetry of Arthur Yap."
The Knowledge & Inquiry in Singapore Studies (KISS) Talks: Contested Paradigms: Noise Silence & Rhetoric. Singapore, March 11, 2010.

"Reading the War Between Mind and Sky: Instrumentality of Modernism and Violence in Wallace Stevens."
Literature and Violence, The Eighth Annual Wenshan International Conference. National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan, 9-10 May 2009.

"The Freedom of Silence: J. M. Coetzee's Foe."
Symposium on Sound, Silence, and Literature. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 28 February 2009.

"Voices of Inauthenticity: Singaporean-ness and English in the Poetry of Alfian Sa'at and Cyril Wong."
Revisioning English Studies in Asia, The English Language and Literature Association of Korea International Conference. ELLAK, Onyang, Korea, November 20-22, 2008.

"The Aesthetics of Violence in Auden's 'In Time of War'."
2nd Pearl River International Poetry Conference. Guangzhou, China, June 14-15, 2008.

Professional Activities:

  • Editor, Singapore Review of Books
  • Co-Editor, One Imperative
  • Series Editor, Delere Press
  • Reviewer, SARE

Community Activities:

  • Member, Executive Committee, Singapore After-Care Association.
  • Member, Executive Committee, Singapore Children’s Society. (ex officio, Remuneration Committee)
  • Member, Executive Committee, Loving Heart Multi Service Centre.
  • Chairman, Information and Corporate Relations Sub-committee, Singapore Children’s Society.
  • Appropriate Adult for Young Suspects, Ministry of Social and Family Development.
  • Judge, Singapore After-Care Association/Singapore Prison School Essay Writing Competition (2010 - Present).
  • Mentor, Ministry of Education, The Humanities And Social Sciences Research Programme (2015 - ongoing).
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