The Writer as Migrant

Jin, Ha. The Writer as Migrant. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.

R. Stuhr

In three essays, Ha Jin explores the fate and blessings of the immigrant writer. In "The Spokesman and the Tribe," Ha Jin recounts his early conviction, that through his poetry, he could speak for the people he left behind in China. Because he has left behind his compatriots he can not truly represent them. Perhaps, through the work that is the result of his talent and creativity, he may find his way back to his country. Ha Jin looks at the experiences and creative work of Solzhenitsyn and Lin Yutang to make his point. Solzhenitsyn and Lin Yutang left their countries as respected and honored writers, and attempted to represent their countries abroad. But, Ha Jin writes, [e]ven the most socially conscious writers like Solzhenitsyn and Lin Yutang could be accepted by their peoples only on the grounds that they had written lasting literary works. Their social function in their lifetimes have been largely forgotten...a writer's first responsibility is to write well" (28). Ha Jin emphasizes that writers should chronicle and shape history, should take a moral stand and speak out against injustice, but only through their art. The "battlefield" is on the page.

In hise second essay, "The Language of Betrayal," Ha Jin looks at the writings of Polish writer in exile, Joseph Conrad, and multilingual, Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov. Although Nabokov first wrote in Russian, much of what he wrote is in English. Conrad wrote only in English. Ha Jin considers the necessity of writing in the language of exile and what the writer gains and loses through this necessity. Conrad was first rejected and then much later embraced by the writers in his native country. He was repeatedly asked to justify his choice of language. Ha Jin finds that though Conrad suffered because of his choice to write in English, he opened the doors for many exiled and immigrant writers to choose to write in the language of their adopted countries. Ha Jin also finds that writers such as Conrad and Nabokov bring something new to the language though their lack of familiarity with idiom and conversational style may also hamper them. Ha Jin admires Conrad's intensely poetic prose and Nabokov's use of humor in his prose. Although some of have said that it is impossible to write humorously in an adopted language, Nabokov, writes Ha Jin, seemed "as if he . . . squinted at the words he inscribed on paper to see what extra pleasure he could extract from them. He seized every opportunity to turn self-consciousness into delightful art" (51). Ha Jin urges writers in exile to find their place in their adopted language even if what they write cannot be translated into their native language. Writers may choose loyalty to their art over loyalty to their native language.

Finally, in his third essay, Ha Jin considers whether the expatriot can ever return home again; whether a writer, once exiled, can in fact ever have a true home. Looking at the works of authors such as Kundera, Cafavy, Naipaul, Rølvaag, and Sebald, Ha Jin again emphasizes the importance of language, the loss of fluency, the changes that make the once familiar unrecognizable. While one must maintain, and possibly cannot avoid maintaining the past as part of one's identity as an individual and as a writer and artist, "homeland" may not be the writer's country of origin, but instead be where the writers makes a home.

Burling Library 1st Floor, Smith Memorial PS 3560.I6 Z46 2008.

Other works by novelist, poet, and short story writer, Ha Jin including Between Silences: A Voice from China, Waiting, and A Free Life.

Ring out the new year? or greet it respectfully with the first rays of light

Simon Winchester writes about his regret over the slow spread of Celtic New Year's madness across the globe in his Wall Street Journal article, "The Case Against the New Year."

He blames this spread on clocks, Scots, and poets, namely, Burns and Tennyson. Whether we have Burns and Tennyson to blame for drinking too much and eating the wrong kinds of food on New Year's Eve, these poems are still worth reading today. Being a sentimental person living far away from family, I like to sing "Auld Lang Syne" (and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" for that matter) and shed some tears as I tak a cup o' kindness.

Tennyson mourns the death of his friends and imagines a new year that can do away with "ancient forms of party strife" and bring in "sweeter manners, and purer laws," "false pride in place and blood," and "narrowing lust of gold," and that may bring "a thousand years of peace." I don't think that there are many of us who wouldn't wish these same things.

I never thought that a Wall Street Journal article would lead me to poetry, so, maybe we can imagine some of these seeming impossibilities.

Burns's "Auld Lang Syne"

And for auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne,

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp!
And surely I'll be mine!
And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

We twa hae run about the braes
And pu'd the gowans fine;
But we've wander'd mony a weary foot
Sin auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl'd i' the burn,
Frae mornin' sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin auld lang syne.

And there's a hand, my trusty fiere!
And gie's a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak a right guid willy waught,
For auld lang syne.

And Tennyson's "Ring Out, Wild Bells" from his In Memoriam

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night--
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new--,
Ring happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land--
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

submitted by Rebecca Stuhr

Find Robert Burns and Alfred Lord Tennyson at Burling Library

The e-book, the e-reader, and the future of reading

The Christian Science Monitor presents a few perspectives on reading with e-readers.

The e-book, the e-reader, and the future of reading by Matthew Shaer

Do we really want to curl up with an e-book? by CSM editor, John Yemma

The second link is to an editorial, a circumspect, the first explores some of the pros and cons, but concludes with:

"Even the most dedicated futurists agree that the adoption of e-reading will follow a slow curve, expanding outward from a cadre of early adopters to the public at large.

“I think we’re in the very early stages of assembling a tool kit that will enable a tremendous amount of experimentation,” says Mike Shatzkin, CEO of The Idea Logical Company, a consulting firm. “It will be many years before we figure out what the new book forms will be and what impact they’ll have on the way people think and behave.”

In the meantime, readers may inhabit a happy middle ground"

Shoveling Snow With Buddha - A poem by Billy Collins - American Poems

Shoveling Snow With Buddha - A poem by Billy Collins - American Poems

click on the link and enjoy this poem from Billy Collins' book of poetry:

Collins, Billy. Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems. New York: Random House, 2001.

Burling 3rd Floor PS3553.O47478 S25 2001

To enjoy more poetry by Collins: http://cat.lib.grinnell.edu/search/a?SEARCH=collins+billy&sortdropdown=-

The Artemis Fowl Series

Eoin Colfer. The Artemis Fowl Series

Beth Bohstedt, Access Services Manager at Grinnell College Libraries is reading and recommends the Artemis Fowl Series.

The Seventh Dwarf (book 0 in the series, published for World Book Day) 2004
Artemis Fowl 2001
The Arctic Incident 2002
The Eternity Code 2003
Opal Deception 2005
The Lost Colony 2006
The Time Paradox 2008
The Atlantis Complex 2010

For more about Eoin Colfer and his books, go to Fantastic Fiction or Literature Resource Center

The Outlander Series

Gabaldon, Diana. Drums of Autumn. Book 4 in the "Outlander Series." NY: Delacorte Press, 1997.

Amy Roberson, reference and instruction librarian at Grinnell College Libraries is reading the Outlander series and wants more people to know about Diana Gabaldon. Slate.com describes this series as "the smartest historical sci-fi adventure-romance ever written by a science Ph.D. with a background in scripting Scrooge McDuck comic books."

The series includes, so far:

Cross Stitch (Outlander) (1991)
Dragonfly in Amber (1992)
Voyager (1994)
Drums of Autumn (1997)
The Fiery Cross (2001)
Breath of Snow and Ashes (2005)
An Echo in the Bone (2009)

For more about Diana Gabaldon go to Fantastic Fiction or Literature Resource Center/Contemporary Authors

Thomas Hardy .... a biography

Tomalin, Claire. Thomas Hardy. New York: Penguin Press, 2007.

Phil Jones, reference and instruction librarian at Grinnell College Libraries, is reading this biography about the 19th century British poet and novelist.

Burling Library, 3rd floor. PR 4753 .T58 2007

Click on Thomas Hardy to find his novels and poetry in Burling Library.