My Chinese teacher, Hongchen Wang, invited me to go to lunch with Ha Jin!!!! Hongchen is a member of the Asian American Writer's Group, which sponsored Ha Jin's reading Saturday afternoon at Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center.
I am a huge fan of Ha Jin's work (especially the novels War Trash and A Free Life), so I was delighted to go, although I felt a little nervous about meeting him. As it happened, I got to sit next to him at dim sum! He poured me tea!!!! He passed me dumplings!!! I told him I graduated from BU, where he teaches, and he said "small world" to me!!!! Alas, that was about the extent of our conversation, as I was far too overwhelmed to speak with him further. But I did get my picture taken with him. And I feel sure that, while few words were exchanged between us, he too feels the profound connection between us that will lead us to become soulmates and bff!!!
From dim sum we walked to the reading. Ha Jin talked about some of the American books that inspired him in writing A Free Life, including My Antonia, Call It Sleep, and Typical American by Gish Jen. My Antonia gave him a sense of the American attachment to the land, and Call it Sleep and Typical American showed him ways to convey the experience of trying to live American, while speaking limited English, and thinking deeply and lyrically in another language. Ha Jin also read some of the poems from the novel's epilogue, which is essentially the main character's poetry journal.
The Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center sponsors lots of interesting events and classes. Check out their "Sunshine Saturday" classes for adults and kids. Libby and Leilei took a lion dance class last winter, and loved it!
No comments:
Post a Comment