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Ha Jin on "Pnin," as immigrant novel
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----- Original Message -----
From: Sandy P. Klein
http://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1075467413315520.xml
At home in English
Ha Jin found his voice in a new land and a new country
02/01/04
JEFF BAKER
Vladimir Nabokov was born in Russia but learned to read and speak English as a child. Joseph Conrad was born to Polish parents in a part of the Ukraine that was then controlled by Russia. His father translated English novels into Polish, and Conrad spent 16 years in the British merchant navy before retiring from the sea and choosing to write in English, his third language.
Xuefei Jin had never been out of China before when he came to the United States in 1985 to get a doctoral degree at Brandeis University in Boston. He had studied English and could read it well enough but had no intention of becoming a writer. Three years later, he made his first attempts at writing poetry and fiction in English. Eleven years after that, he won the National Book Award for his novel "Waiting."
Jin, who uses the pen name Ha Jin, has written two other novels, "In the Pond" and his latest, "The Crazed" (Vintage, $13.95 paperback, 323 pages), three books of poetry and three collections of short stories. His honors include the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Asian American Literary Award, the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction and the PEN/Hemingway Award. He spoke from his home in Foxboro, Mass. His comments have been edited for brevity and clarity.
You're teaching at Boston University?
Yes, I started last fall. I'm teaching two kinds of classes, fiction writing and the literature of the immigrant experience.
Teaching and writing complement each other in some ways, don't they?
Sure, you use the same kind of energy, but when I'm working on a book, teaching can take so much time. It can be frustrating when I'm working to get a book into shape, but to be objective about it, teaching can help a lot. You get to read a lot of good books, and I learn a lot in the discussion.
What books do you like to teach?
"Pnin," by Vladimir Nabokov. "A Bend in the River" by (V.S.) Naipaul. A Japanese novel called "Silence" by Shusaku Endo. Sometimes I teach "Call It Sleep" by Henry Roth. The students love that one.
Would you ever teach one of your own books?
No, not unless I wrote a really good book (laughs).
What are you working on now?
I have a book coming out called "War Trash" that's set in Korea. My next book will be set in the United States. I'm making the transition (from writing about China), but I have to be very cautious.
Would you ever attempt to write in Chinese?
No, since I haven't been writing it for all these years. All of my energy and time has been spent writing in English. I am involved in the translations of books.
They're published in Taiwan?
Yes. "Waiting" was published in China. They cut sentences in two different places. I heard Hillary Clinton had 10 percent of her book cut, so that's not bad (laughs).
You haven't been back to China in almost 20 years. Could you return if you wanted to?
I think so, because I'm an American citizen now. I don't know if I want to. For a long time, I wanted to very eagerly, but I couldn't get a visa. Now that I can go, I'm not that eager. The desire is not there like it was.
Do you think you had to get away from China to write about it?
Sure, I think it's obvious. It becomes a condition, almost. You have to get away from a place sometimes to be objective about it. It's a necessary part of the creative process.
Could you have written the books you did if you had remained?
No. With the censorship, it would have been impossible.
Even though you've lived in the United States for many years, do you still find yourself comparing it to China?
Of course. You can't stop comparing. You're always putting things in the context of the world you knew previously. It's like you can't stop translating new dollars into old dollars.
That's true whether you leave a country or not. Boston is very different from Atlanta, where you lived before.
Yes, Boston is very European, much more so than Atlanta. I like it, but not for that reason. It has so many good libraries.
"The Crazed" is a much different novel than "Waiting."
Yes, it's very different. Much more literary. It's the first novel I wrote. I started it in 1988, but I didn't have the skill to write it (then). When (the 1989 student uprising at Tiananmen Square) happened, I was determined to use it but I was not sure how.
And now you're writing a book set in the United States?
Yes. A good writer should not repeat himself. I have my own agenda.
Jin reads from "The Crazed" at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Powell's City of Books, 1005 W. Burnside St.
Jeff Baker: 503-221-8165; jbaker@news.oregonian.com
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