Multiethnic Literatures in the U.S.

Biography

Chang-Rae Lee (born July 29, 1965) is a first-generation Korean American novelist.Lee was born in Korea in 1965. He emigrated to the United States with his family when he was 3 years old. Raised in Westchester, New York, Lee attended Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. He graduated from Yale University with a degree in English and from the University of Oregon with a MFA in writing. He worked as a Wall Street financial analyst for a year before turning to writing full time.

Chang-rae Lee, the first Korean-American novelist to be published by a major press, focuses on the experiences of first-and second-generation immigrants. His novels explore the nuances of intergenerational relations, the problems of assimilation, and the relationship of culture and memory to identity. While these concerns link him to other contemporary Asian-American writers, Lee’s fiction also draws heavily on other influences.

Lee experiments with form in his first novel, Native Speaker (1995), which won the PEN/Hemingway Award and centers around a Korean American industrial spy. The novel explores themes of alienation and betrayal as felt or perpetrated by immigrants and first-generation citizens, and played out in local politics. It is part detective story, part minimalist chronicle of a failing marriage, reminiscent of John Updike. His prose style has been compared to that of both John Cheever and Kazuo Ishiguro. In 1999, he published his second novel, A Gesture Life. This elaborated on his themes of identity and assimilation through the narrative of an elderly physician who remembers treating Korean comfort women during World War II. His 2004 novel Aloft received mixed notices from the critics and featured Lee’s first protagonist who is not Asian American, but a disengaged and isolated Italian-American suburbanite forced to deal with his world. Lee teaches writing at Princeton University, where he has served as the director of Princeton’s Program in Creative Writing. He is taking a sabbatical to serve as writer-in residence at Punahou School.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang-Rae_Lee

http://biography.jrank.org/pages/4525/Lee-Chang-rae.html 

Bibliography 

Native Speaker – Publisher: Penguin Group (USA). March 1996

A Gesture Life – Publisher: Penguin Group (USA). October 2000

Langue natale - Publisher: Editions de l’Olivier. French. March 2003

Aloft – Publisher: Penguin Group (USA). March 2004

Turbulenzen - Publisher: Fischer Taschenbuch Vlg. April 2006

The Surrendered – Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover. April 2008 

Annotated Bibliography 

Belluck, Pam. “Being of Two Cultures and Belonging to Neither.” New York Times, July 10, 1995, B1.This article is a book review of Native Speaker, which has prompted similar soul-searching among some Koreans and other Asian-American readers. It has explored the same confusion of many Asian-American people. 

Homans, John. “Soft Aloft - Chang-rac Lee’s new novel of the Long Island suburgs, Aloft, is billowing and insubstantial, like a cloud on a summer afternoon.” New York Book Review, Mar 1, 2004.It is a book review of Aloft. The author compared Aloft with Lee’s first two novels, and described the meaning of the title of the book. 

Kakutani, Michiko. “BOOKS OF THE TIMES; Fitting In Perfectly on the Outside, but Lost Within.” The New York Times. April7, 2008.Review of Change-Rae Lee’s novel, “A Gesture Life.” This article compares “A Gesture Life” with “Native Speaker” by comparing belonging, assimilation, self-knowledge, and genuine emotional connection.  

Cooper, Rand Richards. “Excess Identities.” The New York Times. April 9, 1995A review of a novel, “Native Speaker,” which focuses on the character of the book, Henry, and how he is almost a reflection of the “American immigrant.” 

Weesner, Ted. “Some-thang to Behold.” Powel’s Books. September 17, 2006.Review of “Aloft.” The review goes into intensive description of the main character of the book, Jerry. Also the review focuses on the language style that it is written in.

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