Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingstonis a Chinese American author and Professor Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated with a BA in English in 1962. Kingston has written three novels and several works of non-fiction about the experiences of Chinese immigrants living in the United States...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth27 October 1940
CountryUnited States of America
sex race definitions
When alone I am not aware of my race or my sex, both in need of social contexts for definition.
differences mad people
The difference between mad people and sane people... is that sane people have variety when they talk-story. Mad people have only one story that they talk over and over.
hard-work sweat grace
The sweat of hard work is not to be displayed. It is much more graceful to appear favored by the gods.
ideas ephemeral definitions
The images of peace are ephemeral. The language of peace is subtle. The reasons for peace, the definitions of peace, the very idea of peace have to be invented, and invented again
teacher target
I learned to shoot more accurately because my teachers held the targets.
training march humans
Humans are basically good. That's why it takes so much training to march march march kill kill kill kill.
looks doe sometimes
What does old look like? Sometimes I am wrinkled, sometimes not.
infidelity extravagance adultery
Adultery is extravagance.
eye two feet
...I've learned exactly who the enemy are. I easily recognize them-business-suited in their modern American executive guise, each boss two feet taller than I am and impossible to meet eye to eye.
husband adventure kids
No husband of mine will say, "I could have been a drummer, but I had to think about the wife and kids. You know how it is." Nobody supports me at the expense of his own adventure.
girl children stranger
When you raise girls, you're raising children for strangers.
writing culture feels
It seems that writing chose me. I feel that because I know history, and I know the history of so many cultures; I have lived a large life.
home learning dark
Be careful what you say. It comes true. It comes true. I had to leave home in order to see the world logically, logic the new way of seeing. I learned to think that mysteries are for explanation. I enjoy the simplicity. Concrete pours out of my mouth to cover the forests with freeways and sidewalks. Give me plastics, periodical tables, TV dinners with vegetables no more complex than peas mixed with diced carrots. Shine floodlights into dark corners: no ghosts.
feet dangerous bounds
Perhaps women were once so dangerous that they had to have their feet bound