Q&A with Novelist Min Jin Lee

* Believe it or not, I have not forgotten about Anovelista.com!  I will begin posting regularly here again soon and I will also begin a new column, Anovelista Q&A, a take-off of my 55 Q&A interview column at 55 Secret Street.  This is a re-post of an interview I did last year with the novelist Min Jin Lee to give you an idea. 

Min Jin Lee  is the author of the fantastic, critically-acclaimed novel Free Food for Millionaires.  You may remember it as one of my 55 Summer Favorites. Min went to Yale where she was awarded both the Henry Wright Prize for Nonfiction and the James Ashmun Veech Prize for Fiction.  She then attended law school at Georgetown and worked as a corporate lawyer for several years in New York before following the time-honored attorney tradition of leaving the profession to write full time.

I had the pleasure of meeting Min (and her two sisters) when she gave a reading at my home away from home - the Barnes & Noble at Lincoln Center in Manhattan.  She shared the spotlight with the Tony-winning playwright David Henry Hwang, author of the ever fabulous classic,  M. Butterfly. Min and David read from their works like actors in a play - and quite well!  You've definitely got to check out David's new play, Yellowface, when it comes to the Public Theater in New York this fall.

And you've definitely got to check out Free Food for Millionaires!   Min is very cool and I'm sure you'll love her as much as you will her book.

Nichelle: I wanted to ask you about the Korean concept of "han."  The New York Times review of your book opens with the explanation that han, "by general consensus, applies chiefly to women," and that a recently published Korean commonplace book defines it as "resentment, sorrow, sense of loss and hardship, stifled passion and love, or the frustration of the downtrodden." A woman who manages to overcome these obstacles is said to have "resolved her han." How did the concept of "han" figure into your work on FFFM?

Min Jin Lee:  I admired Liesl Schillinger’s opening remarks and definition of han—a critical aspect of identity in Korea. I have often thought about this idea of inexpressible anguish which comes from a country that has been divided and besieged throughout its 5,000 year-old history.  I wanted very much to have this sense of pain carried in my character without her being able to name it, yet live through it in all of her actions. I believe there are aspects of cultural trauma or familial trauma which we consciously or unconsciously possess, and to give Casey, this named anguish, as her surname was intentional.   I felt very fortunate that Schillinger got it and was willing to explicate it critically.

Nichelle:  You have mentioned in several interviews how you were influenced by 19th century novels like Middlemarch and it's quite evident in FFFM, which is a long novel (500+ pages) and has a lot of the key elements we know from 19th century novels. Why were these books such an influence on you?

Min:  I find comfort in the moral order of 19th century novels, in the clarity of an all-knowing narrator and in its specificity of cultural codes. I think the reason why these books are still read is because, they provide reliable truths of their time as well as ours. We read for many reasons, but I think we return to our reading when there is insight, pleasure, guidance and moral truth.

Nichelle: Are you partial to any particular literary heroines?

Min: I absolutely adore Jane Eyre. Jane is in many ways a difficult character, but profoundly true to herself and to her code of ethics. She is almost unpleasant, but fierce. I like her indignation. These heroines—Dorothea of Middlemarch, Emma of Madame Bovary, Anna of Anna Karenina, Catherine of Wuthering Heights, Lily of House of Mirth, Carrie of Sister Carrie, Becky of Vanity Fair—possess exceptional gifts and charms; they are a pleasure to watch, but none of them have the stubborn grace of Jane Eyre.

Nichelle:   I am struck by the many parallels to black American culture and black American women in the novel and Casey's story in particular. It's not that women of other cultures can't relate to "resolving her han" but I have found so many similarities and I'm only halfway through the book! One thing that stuck out for me was when Casey, in response to the cold treatment she gets from Ted, a Korean man who opposes her dating white men, thinks to herself (paraphrasing) "Well, it's not as if guys like you ever asked me out. I'm too tall and too talkative for your taste. What was I supposed to do, sit at home?" That reminded me so much of some black women when they are criticized for dating interracially. Have you gotten feedback from other women of color on the similarities of some of Casey's cultural challenges within the Korean American community?

Min:   To my great pleasure, African-American women, Latinas and Jewish women as well as Asian-American women have all made the same smart remarks you have made about interracial/intercultural romance. When I was younger, and even now as I approach 40, I have longed to see the dynamic between men and women within ethnic and racial minority communities in drama. I wanted to have the full discussion, and in fiction, especially, if each point of view is given space, you can see the intentions, the effects, the miscommunication. I would like to see desire and the politics of desire being addressed in art more often.

Nichelle:   And now for the obligatory writer questions. You have mentioned in interviews that you started - but could not finish - two novels before Free Food for Millionaires, which you started 5 years ago. It was your 4th novel attempt - the first was rejected, the next two you couldn't finish. How do you know when it's time to give up on one project and move on to the next one? Also, do you have any advice for yet unpublished writers?

Min:  My first novel was rejected, and I did not wish to rewrite it again, because I was not interested in that story any more. Also, formal written rejection is very painful.  I had difficulty recovering from these letters.   My second and third novels could not be completed because I needed to do more research (travel, interviews, etc.) and my day-to-day life as a wife and mother didn’t permit such freedom.   I started my fourth novel, FFFM, with vast private ambition, but little public ambition, frankly. I had grand intellectual and artistic wishes, but I really did not think that the world was waiting for my book or that it was even interested in such a thing.  It would have been delusional to believe that.   Even now, in the face of such kindness and warm reception, I have to say, from this side of the fence (post-publication), I recognize now just how difficult it is to sell books in bookstores. Americans are absolutely reading less literary fiction, and in many ways, I understand their reluctance and confusion at the offerings. There is an awful lot out there, and I don’t see how you are supposed to choose.   My advice is to persist if you feel the compulsion to write.   The alternative is not really acceptable, is it?  I think one should mine her story as fully as possible while studying literary technique through practice.  We don’t talk a lot about the practice of writing and rewriting, but I think that has to provide the great bulk of the joy in the endeavor.

Nichelle:  What are you reading right now? Are you one of those writers that does not feel comfortable reading fiction while you write it?

Min:  I am reading Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure. Hardy is fantastic. I read little bits of fiction all the time. I am a very slow reader, but I can’t imagine not reading while working on writing projects, because I am often writing.   I love reading.  I loved it before I learned to love writing.   It would be hard for me to give that up.

Nichelle:  I read one interview where you listed your musical playlist for FFFM. The list included songs for each character like Les Artistes by Santogold, which you described as Casey's theme song. How did you come up with this list? Was it just organic, or did you actively seek some songs to give some life to your characters?

Min:  I had help with friends who had read the book.  The majority of the list came from me, but my friends Dionne Bennett, Lauren Cerand, Jay Cosgrove, Andrew Getman and Tony Ritchie (aka “the music brain trust”) pulled through.  I thought about and studied the lyrics—even after certain songs came to mind or were suggested to me—to be absolutely sure that the lyrics and the intentions of the lyricists matched my intentions for my characters. I know that sounds nutty. Oh well, too late. It’s just that I have such respect for songwriters. For me, a song is a poem and a poem is a song, and there are very few arts I respect as much as poetry.  I always read and study my favorite lyrics.  I think a song can also be an articulated cry, and I think about how does a person verbalize a cry, and that is interesting, too.

Nichelle:  You wrote an interesting essay for ABC News on Biblical Illiteracy - in today's society and how it relates (in some ways) to writing. You said, "I hate being told what to do. When I hear people talking about books I should read, the things I should know, behaviors I should adopt, places I should visit, I immediately and not so privately either, curl my lip and furrow my brow." We all hate that - but then again, we all feel the pressure of doing it anyway because if you haven't been to certain places or read certain things, people make judgments. Sometimes knowing certain things can serve different purposes - genuine interest and survival ( i.e., getting along in certain circles) especially for minorities. Your thoughts?

Min:   Lists are very helpful. Following lists is something else.  I agree with you:  Knowledge of other worlds is helpful for outsiders. In my research for FFFM, I interviewed people from profoundly different backgrounds, and I always learned new words in the process.  I have always studied codes, because the world has millions of codes, and it serves us to be multilingual. I think this is what you are talking about, too.

Nichelle:  The opening description of Casey is as follows:

Casey was unusually tall for a Korean, nearly five feet eight, slender, and self-conscious about what she wore.  She kept her black hair shoulder length, fastidiously powdered her nose, and wore wine-colored lipstick without variation. To save money, she wore her eyeglasses at home, but outside she wore contact lenses to correct her nearsightedness.  She did not believe she was pretty but felt she had something— some sort of workable sex appeal. She admired feminine modesty and looked down at women who tried to appear too sexy.  For a girl of only twenty-two, Casey had numerous theories of beauty and sexuality, but the essence of her philosophy was that allure trumped flagrant display.  She'd read that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis advised a woman to dress like a column, and Casey never failed to follow that instruction.

Shallow me, I immediately guessed that you would appreciate fashion. Are you a beauty or fashion junkie at all? If so, how would you describe your style? Do you have a "uniform" for book signings or speeches? There is that fine line of being fashionable and being taken seriously for some.

Min:   I love fashion, but I am not the consumer that Casey is for many reasons.  But I’d like to be clear here that I do not disrespect consumers or beauty/fashion junkies at all. I never dismiss anyone’s intense, obsessive desires. In fact, I am interested, very interested, in how women live their lives in relation to objects and adornment. I despise the contempt many intellectuals have for women who are interested in beauty, fashion, retail, etc. I think their lack of interest or contempt is often false, and I find the discomfort certain critics have with the body or sexuality or capitalism to be worthy of study, too. Beauty, fashion, retail—all of it relate to desire. I am interested in the nature of desire. What we desire is different for all, but desire (even the lack of) is the root of pretty much everything.

As for a uniform: I love white dress shirts. I wear a lot of charcoal gray in the winter, and mostly white in the summer. I love black tights. How’s that? I like how women look, how women age, how women change, and I like it best when women like themselves. It makes me feel stronger to be in the presence of a woman who feels strong, too. I love it when women adorn themselves and look beautiful. This is one of the points I am making about hats—a hat is the metaphor for a crown. You need not literally wear a crown (or a hat) to be regal, but I love the notion that you can know your ontological (forgive me for the ten dollar word) self, and celebrate her. If that comes in the form of some exceptional garb, hair-do, accessory what have you— that’s fine by me. As for being taken seriously, I always ask who is the judge? And when did I lose my vote?

Nichelle:  What are some of your "summer favorites" i.e., music, makeup, fashion, food & drink? Do you like to shop online?

Min:  Music: I’ve been listening to this beautful song called “Begin” by the Wailin’ Jennys. The lyricist is Nicky Mehta.  Makeup: Eyebrow pencil by Anastasia.  Fashion: Bracelets are good.  Food: Vietnamese summer rolls.  Drink:  Iced Coffee.   I don’t shop much on-line.

Nichelle:   You write a blog on your website. Are you a big blog reader?

Min:   I absolutely read blogs. They are changing the world.

Nichelle:  What are you working on now? Do you have a playlist for it?

Min: I am working on my second novel called Pachinko. I do not yet have a playlist for it, but thank you for asking.

Nichelle:   Do you see a film version of FFFM in the future?

Min: I don’t know of anything as of yet, but why not.