GE2024-17

Required Reading:

• Metamorphosis by Kafka
• The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Have you ever felt the oppression that life has doled out for you, that makes it hard for you to breathe, and which you feel you cannot escape with a “transformative” change? Then, one day, you find yourself really transformed into something unrecognizable, something that your closest finds objectionable.

In the case of Kafka’s Metamorphosis, it is indeed something which you yourself find detestable, even abhorrent, for it is against your wish. In the case of (2024 Nobel Laureate) Han Kang’s The Vegetarian – you may find that the transformation is something you can live comfortably with.

How are you going to cope with such absurdities of life, and the people on whom the transformation impacts? Will it all end in a tragedy, or will there be hope? Is the world we live in the culprit, or are we an outlier that can’t fit in?

Host: Mr. Peter Lai 黎慶寧先生 (Honorary Professor at the Department of Politics and Public Administration, HKU)
Dates: 15/02, 22/02, 01/03, 08/03/2025 (Sat)
Time: 15:00 – 17:30
Venue: GE Gatherland 240 (MB240, 2/F, Main Building, HKU)
Language: English 
Fee: $200 (Enrolled students will receive the paperback edition of both books. A deposit of $100 will be refunded upon full attendance.)
Quota: 10

Registration starts at 10:00 on 24 Jan (Fri).

Date	Time	Venue
15 Feb 2025	15:00 - 17:30	GE Gatherland 240 (MB240, 2/F, Main Building, HKU)
22 Feb 2025	15:00 - 17:30	GE Gatherland 240 (MB240, 2/F, Main Building, HKU)
01 Mar 2025	15:00 - 17:30	GE Gatherland 240 (MB240, 2/F, Main Building, HKU)
08 Mar 2025	15:00 - 17:30	GE Gatherland 240 (MB240, 2/F, Main Building, HKU)

Bio of Instructor(s) 導師簡介:

 

Mr. Peter Lai　黎慶寧先生 After graduating with first-class honours at HKU in 1973, Mr. Lai joined the Hong Kong Government as an Administrative Officer. From 1985 Mr. Lai was almost continuously engaged in Sino-British negotiations on the future arrangements for Hong Kong and was appointed a Member of the Sino-British Land Commission (1991 – 1994). In late 1994 he was appointed the first 'local' Secretary for Security of the Hong Kong Government. He left the civil service on 1 August 1998. Mr. Lai is an Honorary Professor at the Department of Politics and Public Administration, HKU.