South Korean - Novelist | July 29, 1965 -
I don't believe complete assimilation is possible, at least not for anyone who has an active, open mind. Every step, every entry into the flows of existence can be seen as a beginning, a commencement of a brand new way of seeing oneself in the world. This is the case for everyone.
Chang-Rae Lee
BeginningStepMindWorldBelieve
No place is perfect, but I admire Oahu for its offering of the tropical and the urban, and then its Asian-inflected culture and cuisines.
CulturePerfectPlaceAdmireUrban
Even though I went to Exeter and Yale, and I enjoyed all the trappings of those places, I think at the same time - and maybe it's because I'm an immigrant kid and not white - there was always this other consciousness; that is, I was conscious of everything that was going on.
TimeThinkWhitePlacesImmigrant
I'm interested in people who find themselves in places, either of their choosing or not, and who are forced to decide how best to live there. That feeling of both citizenship and exile, of always being an expatriate - with all the attendant problems and complications and delight.
LiveBestPeopleProblemsFind
A novel, even a social realist one, can't simply be a comprehensive rendering of what is. A novel requires a special angle or approach, whether in structure or language or theme, to justify itself.
LanguageSpecialStructureTheme
One of the ready advantages of writing a road or quest story is that it mirrors the experience of writing a novel.
ExperienceWritingRoadStoryReady
For me, that's always been one of the great charms of the first person: we gain access to a very personal, private kind of music.
MusicGreatMePersonKindPersonal
It's hard to write a war story without thinking about the 'Iliad.' Because the 'Iliad' knows everything about war.
WarStoryThinkingWriteHardKnows
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.
WritingYouLeapHappenLittle
I remember when I was in art classes, I hated following the assignments. And I would get in trouble for doing something totally different or taking it in a weird direction.
ArtDirectionWeirdDoingRemember
My parents - my mother, particularly - were very focused on our succeeding. I loved my parents, and was very grateful to them for everything, and I didn't want to disappoint them.
MotherGratefulParentsLovedWant
I think my parents recognised that I'd always wanted to be a writer, and so they didn't think that this was some idle, faddish wish on my part.
ParentsThinkWishIdleAlwaysSome
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