The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 22, 1999, Encore!, Page 8, Image 22
'Who's Irish?'asks Gish Jen in
her new short stow collection
by Erica Noonan
Associated Press
Cambridge, Mass. — Gish Jen’s cast of inter
nationally minded characters don’t slide into the
great American melting pot without some trial and
trouble.
And it’s the friction of assimilation that fuels
her latest short-story collection, “Who’s Irish?,”
which explores the idiosyncrasies of Chinese and
Irish culture.
In the collection’s title story, an elderly Chi
nese woman is comically bewildered by the atti
tudes of her Americanized daughter, Natalie, and
her chronically unemployed Irish-American son
in-law, John Shea.
Deaumui wiiu, ueauuiui uaugiuei, ueauuiui
house, oven can clean itself automatically.... If
John lived in China, he would be very happy. But
he is not happy. Even at the gym things go wrong.
One day, he pull a muscle. Another day, weight
room too crowded. Always something.”
Another story, “Duncan in China, ” follows an
aimless, 30-ish Chinese-American who moves to
China to escape the shadow of his BMW-driving,
import-export tycoon brother.
Duncan longs for the mythical China of “no
bility and restraint,” But he’s mortified to find his
Western sensibilities thoroughly ruffled by the
poverty and political oppression he finds in mod
pm-Hav ^hanHnncr
After spending time with a relative scarred by
the Cultural Revolution, Duncan comes to the icon
oclastic realization that “the China of the early
1980s had more to do with eating melon seeds
around a coal heater the size of a bread box than
about Sung dynasty porcelain.”
Jen, 43, is no stranger to cultural mix-and
match. The child of immigrant parents who came
to America to study but were prevented front re
turning by the Communist revolution, Jen was
raised in affluent Scarsdale, N.Y.
During an arty phase in her teen-age years, she
c/
changed her first name from Lillian to Gish, after
the silent-screen actress of the same name.
When she finished high school, Jen went to
Harvard University where she graduated with a de
gree in English. Although she loved to write, she
spent an aimless semester in business school at Stan
ford University before committing to a career as a
novelist.
A stint in 1985 at Radcliffe College’s Bunting
Institute helped create an “atmosphere of expec
tation” that allowed her to write professionally,
Jen said.
During a recent interview in the kitchen of her
Gunbridge home, about a mile from the Harvard
campus, Jen said her own life is a hodgepodge of
work, travel and time spent with family — her
third-generation Irish-American husband, their
young son and infant daughter.
She said a desire to stir up the cultural caul
dron and see what bubbled to the top helped dri
ve her 1996 breakthrough novel, “Mona in the
Promised Land.”
A comedic tale of a Chinese-American teen
ager’s quest to convert to Judaism, the book could
have rubbed the politically correct crowd—both
Jewish and Chinese — the wrong way, Jen ac
knowledged.
“I was kind of nervous,” she admitted. “But
it’s less a matter of political correctness than po
litical sensitivity. If you are slightly insensitive, you
will get nailed. You have to do your homework.”
As it turned out, “Mona” received raves from
reviewers, but more important, was embraced by
critics like Cynthia Ozick, who often writes about
Jewish culture.
That affirmation, Jen said, gave her the confi
dence to tackle more serious social issues, like do
mestic violence, in “Who’s Irish?”
Jen’s success has much to do with talent. But
she is also the beneficiary of happy timing—bring
ing her stories forth when audiences are ready and
willing to hear them.
Her first book, “Typ
ical American,” emerged
in 1991, just as Chinese
American novelists like
Amy Tan and Gus Lee
were writing best sellers
and readers of all ethnic
backgrounds were show
ing unprecedented inter
est in multicultural fic
tion.
Jen’s hard-luck story
of immigrants Ralph and
Helen Chang, and their
struggle to find security
and happiness in 1950s
America, struck a nerve.
It wasjustasChinese
Americans as a group
were coming into their
own as a minority popu
lation eager to explore
their ancient and modem
heritage, Jen said.
“There was an open
ness and receptivity on the
part of the audience,” she said.
The novel was meant to consider the evolu
tion of the American dream from the purely eco
nomic goals of the newly arrived immigrant to the
pursuit of life’s less tangible pots of gold: love, so
cial status, spiritual peace.
“It’s a long way from Horatio Alger,” she said.
“I wanted to made the reader reconsider what a
‘typical American’ really is. The second genera
tion [of immigrants] have a very different set of
problems.”
And “Who’s Irish?” arrived on bookshelves
this summer, just as the short story form enjoys a
popular revival. The book keeps company with
new collections by fiction powerhouses, such as
Alice Munro, Lorrie Moore, Annie Proulx and Al
ice Hoffman.
Jen said she admires other contemporary short
story writers, while also drawing inspiration from
enduring women authors like Grace Paley and Jane
Austen.
Ozick and Jamaica Kincaid also rate highly for
their daring, unconventional approaches to prose.
“They are fearlessly bad,” she chuckled. “I’m
fearfully bad.”
Jen said she’s still deciding whether to produce
another novel or more short stories.
There are potential projects “simmering,” she
said, politely declining to reveal more.
“I’m having a great time being a mom right
now,” she said. “I am very, very lucky.”
■R
Tabla
from page 5
Jersey. He began performing on televi
son, radio, and various stages from age
5. He was acknowledged as a child prodi
.jy by Kahn in 1981 at the age of 4. At
7, he won the “NY State Under 18
Service Award” for creating an original
string instrument.
Mayookh returned to India to
train under Panit Jnan Prakash Ghosh,
and is currently under the training of
Khan. He also studies with Kathak leg
end Padmadmabhushan Pandit Birju Ma
haraj.
Mayookh entered the music in
dustry very early and was a recording
studio musicians at age 12. He has played
with various artistes of global repute, in
cluding Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ustad Am
jadAli Khan, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Pan
dit Jasraj, Pandit V.G. Jog, Pandit Mani
Lai Nag, Usted Sajjid Hussain, Pandit
Ramesh Mishra, Tarun Bhattacharya, Ni
ladri Kumar, Michael Castaldo, Rahat
Ali Khan, Ustad Farukh Fateh Ali Khan,
Jean Michel Pile and Ustad Sabir Khan.
Currently managed as a recording
artist by Jon Woxman Associates, he’s a
nominated associate of the Grammy
Awards Committee (National Acade
my of Recording Arts and Sciences) the
youngest Asian on the board to date.
He is featured on more than 15 re
leased and internationally marketed al
bums, including his solo album “The Be
ginning,” on Gathani Records and also
with Pandit V. G. Jog, Smt.Purnima
Chaudhari, Ustad Sabir Kahn and Pan
dit Ramesh Mishra:
He has also worked on Aims and
ad music as a composer for both India
and the United States.
Tickets for the show are $15 for
adults and $ 10 for students with ID. For
more information on the concert call
749-0762 or e-mail Tusharjee@hot
mail.com