日批在线视频_内射毛片内射国产夫妻_亚洲三级小视频_在线观看亚洲大片短视频_女性向h片资源在线观看_亚洲最大网

US EUROPE AFRICA ASIA 中文
Culture

A 'typical American' who wants to provoke conversation

By Yang Yang ( China Daily ) Updated: 2015-09-16 07:52:22

A 'typical American' who wants to provoke conversation

American writer Gish Jen. [Photo/China Daily]

In Shandong, for the first time she heard expressions such as xiangbanfa (find a solution) coming from people other than her father, she says. She then began to think about what it was to be American, about how to understand the US and China, and the need to explain to Americans that people like her, even with a Chinese face, are just as American as anyone growing up on a farm eating apple pie.

"All these things, since I started studying writing, influenced Typical American."

That novel, published in 1992, was also inspired by misunderstandings about her identity, she says.

She married a Caucasian, and they had a daughter with a fair complexion. She also employed a German au pair who was more than 1.8 meters tall.

"So when we went out, people would think I was the nanny. They asked me, 'Do you have free hours?' I said, 'Eh? I am the mother'."

"That was the amiable irritant. That kind of experience made me think it's something I can write about."

Jen says she was often driven by the desire to make the world right.

"I thought, 'When my daughter grows up I want this problem to be over. I don't want her to grow up in a world where people will ask her similar questions. So it's my job to write a novel to provoke conversation, perhaps to bring about change."

As a second-generation Chinese-American she was well placed to reflect on questions of American identity and what the American dream is in the country's great melting pot.

At the start of Typical American, the three characters, first-generation Chinese-Americans, mock American whites, but after years living in the US their identities gradually change and they turn into "typical Americans".

"The reason that I emphasized American identity in my book is that I wanted to redefine the word American. If you started asking questions like what is Italian-American, Korean-American, Brazilian-American, then, I dare say, you are American."

Jen, who has also written about Jewish-Americans and Cambodian-Americans, says her job as a writer is not only to raise questions, but also to supply words for people to understand questions.

"Perhaps when you read about someone who has conflicts similar to yours, you'll realize that you're not alone. It enables you to grasp it. It's not my job to solve the problems. You have to solve them yourself. Whether you can solve them or not, at least you will have a better understanding of them.

"I also think about what is missing from the conversation. If I can most usefully add something I will try."

She is now working on a work of nonfiction, trying to explain Chinese culture to Americans.

"If they read my book and feel they understand a little more, then I've done my job."

Previous Page 1 2 Next Page

 
Editor's Picks
Hot words

Most Popular
 
...
主站蜘蛛池模板: 国产视频入口 | 超碰520| 国产伊人网 | 四虎精品视频 | 日本精品成人 | 午夜视频网站 | 夜夜欢天天干 | 成人免费网站在线观看 | 精品久久久久久一区二区里番 | 国产婷婷精品 | 日韩一区二区在线观看视频 | 91传媒理伦片在线观看 | 操操操综合网 | 性久久久久久久久 | 色婷婷久久久亚洲一区二区三区 | 日本a级片视频 | 成人免费视频观看视频 | 亚洲欧美小视频 | 在线免费 | 国产微拍一区 | 成人中文字幕在线观看 | 国产视频一区在线观看 | 亚洲性视频网站 | 91av手机在线| 97爱爱爱| 九九热精品视频在线播放 | 中文字幕高清在线观看 | 手机在线播放av | 成人免费视频播放 | 亚洲三级视频在线观看 | xxxx久久| 成人久久久久久久 | 一区二区不卡视频在线观看 | 最近2019中文字幕大全第二页 | 18av在线视频| 激情丁香婷婷 | 超碰最新在线 | 91免费国产在线 | 图片一区二区 | 伊人加勒比 | 神马久久精品综合 |