Geling Yan Quotes
born 1958 China
Geling Yan (Simplified Chinese: 严歌苓; pinyin: Yán Gēlíng; born November 16, 1958) is a Chinese-American author and screenwriter.
- China
- Authors
- Journalists
- Novelists
- Playwrights
Random Geling Yan quote
15 quotes
Death is not completely tragic, perhaps it will be the completion of a redemption, or the beginning of a rebirth.
But it’s frustrating, that you know what good literature is but you cannot get it totally right.
Any suffering registered in your mind makes the emotion deeper. Maybe as a writer, I am constantly looking for tragedy.
I like to play with words. In English, there's only one or two ways to say something; in Chinese there are 30 ways.
Of course, the vision of many works, such as the sense of picture and imagery, is actually unconscious by the writer. If the writer is conscious, he will write very artificial things.
My dream is to write with both pens, in English and Chinese. I want to be more truthful and more straightforward when I write in English.
Good stories will keep haunting me for years. They will mature and want to be born. I can't help it.
It’s always challenging to portray foreign characters in a novel that is told mainly from a Chinese perspective or, you may say, in a Chinese story.
It’s frustrating seeing things lost in translation. Some expressions are just so Chinese, or so English, you have to switch your thinking to English in order to write it with spontaneity and naturally.
I consider myself as having two selves. One self is Chinese and more delicate, more subtle, in terms of language. But the English self is young and audacious, and I say what I want to say.
With books or film I want to commemorate our youth and the sacrifices they made. No matter how bitter the time was, there is always something beautiful. I want to satisfy my nostalgia and hope [my work] is touching enough to move audiences who may not have the same experiences.
From early on, I was nourished in a literary way. I didn't realize that there was a writer already living in me
The pity is my expression in English is still young and not subtle enough. It’s not quite there. I read English very well, I know what good language is, and I want to reach the level of Nabokov and Conrad.
I was disillusioned with the communists after they shot the students at the square. But now I'm disgusted with this country [US], as well. I thought the US was such a free land. I don't know where else I should go to now. I was just naturalised.
There are still many problems that aren't answered in China. As a writer, I have to keep searching for truth. The Chinese government still neglects many mistakes that were made during the Cultural Revolution and covering the facts. We need to revisit the old wounds.