We are a student-run literary journal.
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Margins was launched in 2013 by a group of NUS students to celebrate the works of the NUS literature community and foster a stronger sense of pride among literature majors and minors. Those were the aspirations of our seniors.
After a brief hiatus during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, wherein the editorial team took time to review and reimagine Margins, the journal is back with a vengeance, creative writing, and a brand new look to boot.
issue 9
Yushan is a penultimate year English
Literature and Sociology double-major. Her brain is easily tickled by catnip stories: contemporary Asian literature, postmodernist literature, and any flavour of poetry. She loves trees, cats, frogs, words, music, admiring large bodies of water, being hopelessly cheesy, and the short story collection The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God by Israeli writer Etgar Keret. In her free time, Yushan can be found enjoying her favourite bingsu, dabbling in writing, or practicing the piano.
Yushan
Editor-in-Chief
studying English Literature and dabbling in French. He’s got a working knowledge of the terza rima, postmodernist literature and a left-handed hookshot from the mid-post. At the moment, he’s working on House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski and a six-pack. One is going way better than the other. He contends that Disco Elysium is the greatest novel published in 2019 and will fight anyone that wants to contend otherwise. He aspires to have the same amount of self-awareness as Don Quixote.
studying English Literature and dabbling in French. He’s got a working knowledge of the terza rima, postmodernist literature and a left-handed hookshot from the mid-post. At the moment, he’s working on House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski and a six-pack. One is going way better than the other. He contends that Disco Elysium is the greatest novel published in 2019 and will fight anyone that wants to contend otherwise. He aspires to have the same amount of self-awareness as Don Quixote.
studying English Literature and dabbling in French. He’s got a working knowledge of the terza rima, postmodernist literature and a left-handed hookshot from the mid-post. At the moment, he’s working on House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski and a six-pack. One is going way better than the other. He contends that Disco Elysium is the greatest novel published in 2019 and will fight anyone that wants to contend otherwise. He aspires to have the same amount of self-awareness as Don Quixote.
Benjamin is a final-year English Literature
major with a minor in Southeast Asian Studies. If he is not busying himself with questions of art, justice, and ethics, he can be found giving himself existential crises by reading Pessoa, Dostoyevsky and Osamu Dazai. All colours made him happy: even gray—the mystery which binds him still. He has measured out his life with coffee spoons. A sadder and (not) a wiser man, he must change his life.
Editor
Benjamin
See Chung is graduating NUS this year
with a major in English literature and a minor in film studies. She thinks that she is graduating too fast and is hurtling towards a future that is both terrifying and hopeful at the same time. Her very healthy and definitely sleep-schedule friendly research interests include East Asian films, video games as a literary medium, Satoshi Kon's conception of love, and parsing out whatever new media that has caught her temporary and obsessive fancy. Said media in question is currently episode five of Blue Eye Samurai. Aside from bringing a silly funny vibe to the function whenever appropriate, she spends her spare time reading manga and admiring the craft of one Jacob Geller, video essayist extraordinaire. She's currently promising herself to get a tattoo in a couple of years (she's also talking herself out of it).
See Chung
Managing Editor
Viola is a third-year student majoring in
English Literature and Philosophy. Other than being a fictional red flag connoisseur, she is in a codependent relationship with Early 20th Century Modernist Fiction and Postcritique. Her mental health for the week depends on how fast Car #63 drives round in funny-shaped circles and her favorite romantic comedy is NBC’s Hannibal.
Viola
Editor
Manus is a second-year English Literature
major with an Art History minor. His current literary interests include Singapore literature and twentieth-century modernist works—especially those by Virginia Woolf whom all of his friends would have had the (dis)pleasure of hearing him regularly talk about. Outside of his studies, he enjoys taking long pointless walks in nature with his earphones on, listening to no-longer-popular Mando and Canto music. He also writes poems for fun when he feels disillusioned after having abysmal ban mian for lunch.
Manus
Editor-in-Chief-in-training
Vivian is on the cusp of graduating with a
major in English Literature. An enthusiast of Rome-born rock band Måneskin, she demonstrates a concerning reliance on music and playlist-making for productivity. When she is not being accosted by the rigours of academic posturing, she devotes her time to the oeuvres of Donna Tartt, Tamsyn Muir, and Leigh Bardugo.
Vivian
Creative Editor
Jae is a second-year English Literature
major with a minor in Japanese Studies. She is currently interested in (too) many things – poetry, novels, essays, and any form and genre of writing honestly – and is slowly exploring these various worlds. When she is not learning, enjoying and making the most out of her studies, Jae can be spotted munching on desserts, on her computer watching shows or playing games, listening to or playing music, and/or taking a 12-hour nap. Fashion is also an integral part of her life – she just wishes she was less broke.
Jae
Editor
Yuan Hao is a third-year undergraduate
majoring in English Literature with a minor in Political Science. He enjoys reading contemporary literary fiction, particularly novels where the characters feel like the wrong thing, but also the only thing they know. He also loves watching sitcoms—or more accurately, rewatching sitcoms—for the sense of comfort they bring. His current research interests include ways of approaching literary criticism that extend beyond notions of critique: questions about how we read, what we read for, and what literature may offer us that theory cannot. Such concerns about what literary studies can do are probably not unrelated to the many queries he receives from his relatives about the point of his English degree.
Yuan Hao
Editor
Lance has just completed his fourth year of
university, studying English Literature and dabbling in French. He’s got a working knowledge of the terza rima, postmodernist literature and a left-handed hookshot from the mid-post. At the moment, he’s working on House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski and a six-pack. One is going way better than the other. He contends that Disco Elysium is the greatest novel published in 2019 and will fight anyone that wants to contend otherwise. He aspires to have the same amount of self-awareness as Don Quixote.
Lance
Managing Editor
Dylan is in his second year, majoring in
Literature. His interests lie in feminist critical theory, particularly within the tradition of psychoanalysis and questions of sexual difference. He’s written a piece for the previous issue of mar/gins obliquely along those concerns. Since then, he has taken up the role of an editor for issue 9.
Dylan
Website Editor
Timothy is finishing up the final year of
his B.A. for English Literature, and is eager to start pursuing his Masters (Research) with NUS in the coming year. He is keen to do research the short story, and how it intersects with notions of community and sociality. He’s particularly interested in the questions it raises on how well we can come to know and connect with others. This interest involves some level of praxis – a fancy way of saying that he enjoys getting to know people. He also enjoys Broadway musicals, games of chess, and visiting cafés.
Timothy
Editor
Tharun is an alumnus who majored in
English literature. He owns VHS horror films, can tell you everything there is to know about Czech cinema and loves a good, well-brewed cup of coffee. His favourite book is probably Coetzee’s The Life and Times of Michael K. He’s had the same three albums on rotation in Spotify since maybe forever: Pork Soda, L.A. Woman and O.K. Computer. Don’t ask to see his cat though, she’s fairly dangerous and is definitely trained in some variation of Krav Maga.