by Ha Jin
First published 2008
Ha Jin transforms his personal journey from teenage soldier in China's Cultural Revolution to acclaimed American author into a broader meditation on literary exile. Through three connected essays, he places his own experience alongside other writers who crossed borders and languages. Jin examines Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Lin Yutang to explore how authors maintain ties to their birthplace. He studies Joseph Conrad and Vladimir Nabokov, fellow writers who adopted English, to understand how migrant authors choose their literary language. Drawing on V. S. Naipaul and Milan Kundera, he considers how constant global change reshapes the concept of home for displaced writers. Jin weaves in voices from W. G. Sebald, C. P. Cavafy, and Salman Rushdie to build a comprehensive view of migration literature. The book offers readers both personal insight into Jin's creative development and a framework for understanding how displacement shapes literary expression across cultures and generations.
Genres: essays, literary-criticism, literary-fiction, american, biography-memoir, 21st-century, academic, cultural-studies
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, personal-journey
Period: Cultural Revolution, 20th Century, 21st Century
112 pages · Hardcover · University of Chicago Press