The author of nine novels, four volumes of poetry, four short fiction collections, a biography of Chinese poet Li Bai and a book of essays, Ha Jin is a prolific Chinese American writer whose work places Chinese stories at the forefront of the Western literary sphere.
Ha Jin is a highly acclaimed author, having been awarded the National Book Award, the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the PEN/Hemingway Award, in addition to being a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Ha Jin’s upcoming novel, “The Woman Back from Moscow,” entails the life and career of Sun Weishi, a female Chinese stage director successful in the 1950s, and analyzes the history of the Chinese Communist Party through Sun’s story.
Ha Jin is the first of this year’s John and Renee Grisham Visiting Writers. During a panel discussion Sept. 13 in the Johnson Commons East Ballroom, Ha Jin read from a section of his novel detailing Sun’s adaptation of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and its subsequent effects on the perception of the U.S. within China.
Some attendees noted the reading was particularly sharp due to the excerpt’s content examining Chinese perceptions of racism in the U.S. and its straightforward prose sprinkled with occasional dry wit.
One audience member, English doctoral student Diego Fleitas, said he was struck by the sting of Ha Jin’s writing.
“Ha Jin’s material is very dense, and (the adaptation featured within the excerpt) confronted a lot of the specters of America’s past with racism and civil rights,” Fleitas said. “It was very poignant.”
The apparent bite of Ha Jin’s writing was partly owed to the contrast between the novel’s somber subject matter and wry prose and Ha Jin’s reserved demeanor, according to Assistant Professor of English and panel host Michael Wang.
“(Ha Jin) is soft spoken … but that just makes his sarcasm even sharper. And his reading itself, a historical fiction account of the translated play of ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ for Chinese Communist propaganda, was a shocking kind of reading in many parts,” Wang said. “I think his work and the way he reads, which is so soft and non-threatening, has somehow made the moment even sharper.”
Fleitas shared a similar opinion, noting how the writer’s demeanor made him more interested in his work.
“I wasn’t (familiar with Ha Jin’s work beforehand), but I was excited to hear him speak,” Fleitas said. “I honestly did have a fascination with (the reading and panel), and I think a lot of it is because I saw him speak. He is very presentable, soft spoken with a very clear conscience. Likewise, (he is) suffused with a very deep degree of humor.”
While taking questions from audience members after his reading and interview, Ha Jin also commented on the process of writing in general, remarking that it is hard to become a writer but even harder to continue to be a writer.
Wang shared his hopes that the commentary as well as the opportunity to hear Ha Jin speak at the panel would be beneficial to writers within the university’s community, particularly Asian- American students.
“We have several Asian students in the (MFA in creative writing) program,” Wang said. “And I think it’s really important for them to hear one of the most, if not the most, influential Chinese writers who is alive today.”
“The Woman Back from Moscow” by Ha Jin is set to be released on Nov. 14.
