For Powells, Chang-rae Lee discusses his picaresque novel, My Year Abroad, with Rhianna Walton, and how he finds himself drawn to characters that are outside of the mainstream. “It’s so hard, especially with characters like Pong,” he says. “He’s not a mainstream character that people know about. This has always been my frustration and challenge. Actually, it’s shaped me as a writer, to try to give enough context for things I just assume people will not understand, or appreciate fully, without me giving extra context. But every book I write is, I think, in some ways an immigrant novel, because it’s always about being in places and situations where you find yourself unsettled or unmoored. At the most basic level, My Year Abroad is that.”
Chang-rae Lee on Writing and Re-writing the Immigrant Novel
Snopes to the Rescue!
The New York Times profiles our best tool in combating asinine email forwards: snopes.com. Use it liberally against all who forward you nonsense masquerading as “news.”
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Goon Squad to the Small Screen?
Well, this is interesting. HBO is looking at turning Jennifer Egan’s Pulitzer-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad into a TV series.
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Recommended Reading: “Seven Days After Father”
Essay Liu‘s essay “Seven Days After Father” has been translated by Kevin T. S. Tang for Blunderbuss Magazine and presents a daughter’s sincere grief confused by custom. “‘The funeral director forbids tears as we approach your coffin, but demands that we weep on our return. This is the movie script we’ve been handed, one we’ll be beholden to for days, and I know that many things are not mine to decide anymore. Even our tears have been planned for us.”
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On Sailing the Sea of Story
Recommended Listening: Ursula K. Le Guin talks with host David Naimon about her classic book Steering the Craft and argues that issues of class, race, gender, and morality cannot be separate from grammar. Pair with Paul Morton’s Millions interview with the author.
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The Quest to Write In Other Languages
A writer in both Italian and Arabic, Amara Lakhous writes on linguistic “polygamy” and her desire to become a trilingual writer. Pair with Hannah Gersen’s Millions piece on reading the English translation of Jhumpa Lahiri’s In Other Words.
Error 404: Identity Not Found
At Full-Stop this week, an interview with Joshua Cohen, whose new book, Four New Messages, spans “a wide geographic and narrative terrain.” Back in August, Johannes Lichtman gave his own take on the collection, as did Shannon Elderon at The Rumpus.
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