Chang-Rae Lee
Chang-Rae Lee
Chang-rae Leeis a Korean American novelist and a professor of creative writing at Stanford University,. He was previously Professor of Creative Writing at Princeton and director of Princeton's Program in Creative Writing...
NationalitySouth Korean
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth29 July 1965
war writing needs
I wanted to write about the Korean War, but I had no entry into it that made the kind of sense it needs to make for a novelist.
yesterday eras commodity
In this difficult era the most valuable commodity is the unfailing turn of the hours and how they retrieve for us the known harbor of yesterday.
liberty littles stuff
I did feel a little afraid, as you say, the complete liberty and "elasticity" of it. But I found that I liked some of the things that it availed me of in terms of emotion and tonal stuff. I came to find it appealing.
writing cutting boys
Part of writing a novel is being willing to leap into the blackness. You have very little idea, really, of what's going to happen. You have a broad sense, maybe, but it's this rash leap. It's like spelunking. You kind of create the right path for yourself. But, boy, are there so many points at which you think, absolutely, I'm going down the wrong hole here. And I can't get back to the right hole. I'm not going to be able to get this section back to the right hole - so I'm just going to have to cut it.
teaching reading challenges
As for what's the most challenging aspect of teaching, it's convincing younger writers of the importance of reading widely and passionately.
The truth, finally, is who can tell it.
book littles firsts
So my first book I had no experience having written a book, but each book is a little snapshot of who you are at that moment, accrued all through time, so I accept that.
wall couple believe
For no matter the shadows of an age, the picture of a young couple in love, we are told, speaks most luminously of the future, as the span of that passion makes us believe we can overleap any walls, obliterate whatever obstacles.
believe differences should
It is 'where we are' that should make all the difference, whether we believe we belong there or not.
ruins helping sometimes
For sometimes you can't help but crave some ruin in what you love.
consider might people suppose willing
I suppose people might consider me a 'loose' reader, as I seem willing to read anything of quality thinking and prose.
articles entire morning quickly work
Before I start my work in the morning, I need to have quickly browsed the entire paper, noting articles that I want to read during lunch.
fascinated flawed
Like most people, I'm fascinated by characters who are completely flawed personalities, riven by anguish and doubt, and are psychologically suspect.
familiar novel skewed slightly
What's fun about a dystopian novel is that we can enjoy and be entertained. But that world is only slightly different, right? It's familiar enough to be recognizable, and skewed enough to give us pause.