Amy Tan
Amy Tan
Amy Tanis an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships and the Chinese-American experience. Her best-known work is The Joy Luck Club, which has been translated into 25 languages. In 1993, the book was adapted into a commercially successful film...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth19 February 1952
CityOakland, CA
CountryUnited States of America
chinese level means
I am an American, steeped in American values. But I know on an emotional level what it means to be of the Chinese culture.
based beginning career chinese confusion culture emotional family felt hers hesitant history knew related talking
At the beginning of my career as a writer, I felt I knew nothing of Chinese culture. I was writing about emotional confusion with my mother related to our different beliefs. Hers was based in family history, which I didn't know anything about. I always felt hesitant in talking about Chinese culture and American culture.
art artists chinese far government might subversive taking thousands
Chinese artists have been subversive over thousands of years, taking what they think of the government and embedding it in their art. There might be censorship of not going as far as they might.
children character chinese
I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these things do not mix?
mother chinese lessons
My mother didn't teach me lessons about being Chinese as strongly as she did the notion of who I was as a female.
mother chinese world
Yet some of my friends tell me they understand 50 percent of what my mother says. Some say they understand 80 to 90 percent. Some say they understand none of it, as if she were speaking pure Chinese. But to me, my mother's English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It's my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, full of observation and imagery. That was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed things, made sense of the world
daughter two chinese
Only two kinds of daughters, she shouted in Chinese. Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind!
blood chinese my-family
And now I also see what part of me is Chinese. It is so obvious. It is my family. It is in our blood.
chords hard nervous obsess paralyzed people practiced shot time vocal
We are the kind of people who obsess over one word, ... but we have only one shot to get it right in concert. It was hard the first time I practiced with them. I was so nervous that my vocal chords were paralyzed for about a half-hour.
exist journals
When I go back and read my journals or fiction, I am always surprised. I may not remember having those thoughts, but they still exist and I know they are mine, and it's all part of making sense of who I am.
careful deliberate emotions experience thus wild
I write because I know that one day I will die, and thus I should experience as many deliberate observations, careful thoughts, wild ideas, and deep emotions as I can before that day occurs.
anyone books choose require required seems shudder
I would never require anyone to read any book. That seems antithetical to why we read - which is to choose a book for our personal reasons. I always shudder when I'm told my books are on required reading lists.
conscious observe people talk understand whereas
People talk about this 'bucket list': 'I need to go to this country, I need to skydive.' Whereas I need to think as much as I can, to feel as much as I can, to be conscious and observe and understand me and the people around me as much as I can.
dementia
Dementia was like a truth serum.