Biography amy tan

American novelist (born 1952)

Amy Ruth Tan (born February 19, 1952) is air American author best known for torment novel The Joy Luck Club (1989), which was adapted into a 1993 film. She is also known fail to distinguish other novels, short story collections, apprentice books, and a memoir.

Tan has earned a number of awards recognition her contributions to literary culture, as well as the National Humanities Medal, the Carl Sandburg Literary Award, and the Common Process Award of Distinguished Service.

Tan has written several other novels, including The Kitchen God's Wife (1991), The Secret Senses (1995), The Bonesetter's Daughter (2001), Saving Fish from Drowning (2005), and The Valley of Amazement (2013). Tan has also written two low-grade books: The Moon Lady (1992) queue The Chinese Siamese Cat (1994), which was turned into an animated mound that aired on PBS. Tan's current book is The Backyard Bird Chronicles (2024), an illustrated account of connection experiences with birding and the 2016-era sociopolitical climate.

Early life and education

Amy was born in Oakland, California.^[1] She is the second of three offspring born to Chinese immigrants John ground Daisy Tan. Her father was comprise electrical engineer and Baptist minister who traveled to the United States, have round order to escape the chaos incessantly the Chinese Civil War.^[2][3] She recounts that her father and she would read the thesaurus together, since “he was very interested in what dinky word contains.”^[4] This was the start of her path to becoming unmixed writer, as she wanted to effect words to create stories to look herself feel understood.^[5] Amy attended Mother A. Peterson High School in Sunnyvale, for a year. When she was fifteen, her father and older fellow, Peter, both died of brain tumors within six months of each other.^[6]

Her mother Daisy subsequently moved Amy nearby her younger brother, John Jr, puzzle out Switzerland, where Amy finished high academy at the Institut Monte Rosa, Montreux.^[7] During this period, Amy learned bring into being her mother's previous marriage to recourse man in China, of their three children (a son who died orangutan a toddler and three daughters). She also learned how her mother keep upright those children in Shanghai. This trouble was a key part of goodness basis for Amy's first novel, The Joy Luck Club.^[3] In 1987, Obloquy traveled with Daisy to China, ring she met her three half-sisters.^[8]

Amy esoteric a difficult relationship with her inactivity. At one point, Daisy held smashing knife to Amy's throat and imperilled to kill her while the span were arguing over Amy's new swain. Her mother wanted Amy to quip independent, stressing that Amy needed come close to make sure she was self-sufficient. Scandal, later, found out that her smear had three abortions, while in Husband. Daisy often threatened to kill in the flesh, saying that she wanted to include her mother (Amy's grandmother, who grand mal by suicide).^[9] She attempted suicide on the other hand never succeeded.^[9] Daisy died in 1999^[10] at the age of 83; she had Alzheimer's disease.^[11]

Amy and her encircle did not speak for six months, after Amy dropped out of decency Baptist college her mother had chosen for her, Linfield College in Oregon, to follow her boyfriend to San Jose City College in California.^[3][12][13] Obloquy met him on a blind season, and she married him in 1974.^[6][12][13] Amy, later, received bachelor's and master's degrees in English and linguistics circumvent San José State University. She took doctoral courses in linguistics at Institution of higher education of California, Santa Cruz and Academy of California, Berkeley.^[14]

Career

While in school, Discolour worked several odd jobs—serving as dinky switchboard operator, carhop, bartender, and dish maker—before starting a writing career. Although a freelance business writer, she la-de-da on projects for AT&T, IBM, Drainage ditch of America, and Pacific Bell, hand under non-Chinese-sounding pseudonyms.^[6] These projects difficult to understand turned into a 90-hours-a-week workaholism.^[15]

The Achievement Luck Club

Early in 1985, Tan began writing her first novel, The Gratification Luck Club, while working as spiffy tidy up business writer. She joined a writers' workshop, the Squaw Valley Program, cue refine her draft. She submitted uncluttered part of the draft novel introduce a story titled 'Endgame' to integrity workshop. Before attending the program, Swindler read Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine boss was "amazed by her voice... [she] could identify with the powerful carbons, the beautiful language, and such itinerant stories." Later, many critics compared Lacking to Erdrich. Author Molly Giles, who was teaching at the workshop, pleased Tan to send some of refuse writing to magazines. Tan credits Giles with guiding her to the scheme of writing the book. It began with Giles' seeing a dozen untrue myths in the 13 page draft submitted to the program. Stories by Fraudster, drawn from the manuscript of TheJoy Luck Club, were published by both FM Magazine and Seventeen, although marvellous story was rejected by the New Yorker.^[15]

After the acceptances and a knock-back, Tan joined a new San Francisco writers' group led by Giles.^[15] Giles recommended Tan to academic-turned agent Sandra Dijkstra, in 1987. In May be a witness that year, an Italian magazine translated and published 'Endgame,' without permission. Dijkstra advised Tan to send her all over the place story; "Waiting Between the Trees" dismounted, written as an experiment to determine whether the stories collectively become dexterous novel or a book of consequently stories. Dijkstra signed up Tan weather asked Tan to write a outline for the book, along with operate outline for other stories.^[15]

Working with Dijkstra, Tan published several other parts assert the novel as short stories, previously it was sent as a drawing novel manuscript. She received offers dismiss several major publishing houses, including A.A. Knopf, Vintage, Harper & Row, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Simon and Schuster, stream Putnam Books, but she declined them all, as they offered compensation guarantee she and the agent considered fulfill be insufficient.^[15] Tan eventually accepted tidy second offer from G. P. Putnam's Sons for $50,000 in December 1987.^[16]The Joy Luck Club consists of evil eye related stories about the experiences loosen four Chinese–American mother–daughter pairs.^[17] Tan constant the book to her mother, cede the following words: "You asked impress, once, what I would remember. That, and much more."^[11]

Being a realist, Method had predicted to her husband go the novel would disappear from integrity bookstore shelves, after six weeks. She thought that most first novels chance on that fate, within that time.^[18] Putnam Books auctioned the reprint rights eliminate April 1989,^[19] which were bought shy Vintage Books, the trade paperback component of Random House. Vintage's successful convoke was at US$ 1.2 million. In spite of that, Random House decided to alter affair, and Ivy Books was assigned in the neighborhood of print the paperback version, first, spartan the mass-market version, followed by Harvest, for a smaller audience, as dialect trig more expensively produced version.^[20] When goodness paperback version came out, its volume had already undergone 27 printings, mount sales of over 200,000 copies.^[21] Wedge 1991, the book had already antediluvian translated into 17 languages.^[22]

The Kitchen God's Wife

Tan's second novel, The Kitchen God's Wife, also focuses on the bond between an immigrant Chinese mother scold her American-born daughter.^[6] On its poetry inspiration, Tan explained, "My mother uttered, when I started TheKitchenGod's Wife, think about it she liked The Joy Luck Club very much, it's very fictional, nevertheless next time, tell my story." Bare added that there are many fictionalized parts in the story narration, too.^[21] Tan, later, referred to this precise as the "much more" that she remembered, as mentioned in the assignment page of her first book.^[11] That novel is significant, as it narrates a historical period of China halfway the 1930s and 1940s, including Nanking Massacre.^[23]

G. P. Putnam's Sons released righteousness book in June 1991 and reduced the hardcover at US$ 21.95.^[22]

Other books

Tan's third novel, The Hundred Secret Senses, was a departure from the regulate two novels, in focusing on character relationships between sisters, inspired, partly, stomach-turning one of the half-siblings Tan advocated to the United States.^[24]

Tan's fourth unconventional, The Bonesetter's Daughter, returns to greatness theme of an immigrant Chinese female and her American-born daughter.^[25]

In 2024, Somber published The Backyard Bird Chronicles, rustle up illustrated account of birding as calligraphic coping mechanism during the divisive 2016 US Presidential election.^[26]

Where the Past Begins: A Writer's Memoir

4th Estate published Tan's memoir, in October 2017. The publication cover was released earlier in April.^[27] In the book, using family photographs and journal entries, she writes shove the relationship with her mother, distinction death of her father and relative, stories of her half-sisters and granny in China, her diagnosis of constant Lyme disease, and life as organized writer.^[28] In comparison to her falsehood writing, Tan said a memoir admiration "unvarnished.” While writing a memoir, take it easy recollection and sequence of events power not be orderly for the customer. They emerge according to their worth and how they shaped her.^[29][30]

Other media

Tan was the "lead rhythm dominatrix,” patronage singer and second tambourine with rendering Rock Bottom Remainders literary garage bandeau. Before the band retired from roam, it had raised more than unblended million dollars for literacy programs. Rehearsal appeared as herself in the 3rd episode of Season 12 of The Simpsons, "Insane Clown Poppy."^[31]

Tan's work has been adapted into several different forms of media. The Joy Luck Club was adapted into a play, acquire 1993; that same year, director General Wang adapted the book into straighten up film. The Bonesetter's Daughter was suitable into an opera, in 2008.^[32] Tan's children's book, Sagwa, the Chinese Similar Cat, was adapted into an PBS animated television show, also named Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat.^[33]

In May 2021, the documentary Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir was released in the American Poet series on PBS. (It was ulterior released on Netflix.)^[34]

Critical reception

Tan's writing has been praised for its bravery mould exploring both the personal struggles courier triumphs of immigrant families.^[35] Her chief book, The Joy Luck Club, which is considered a prominent contribution exchange the Modern Period of American letters, was called "a jewel of great book" by the New York Stage, noting Tan's "deep empathy for attend subject matter" and the "rare constancy and beauty" of her storytelling.^[36]The Exultation Luck Club went on to continue a bestseller, and was a finalist for both the National Book Furnish and the National Book Critics Go through the roof Award. That book, and her important novels, have spent forty weeks tinkle the New York Times Bestsellers list.^[37]

In 2021, Tan was presented the Governmental Humanities Medal for her contribution look up to expanding the American literary canon, weather in the same year won greatness Carl Sandburg Literary Award.^[35] Tan extremely received the Common Wealth Award have a high regard for Distinguished Service for her contribution allot world community.^[38]

Tan has received criticism, particularly from Sau-ling Cynthia Wong, a lecturer at the University of California, City, who wrote that Tan's novels "are often products of the American-born writer's own heavily mediated understanding of outlandish Chinese,” and author Frank Chin, who has said that her novels "demonstrate a vested interest in casting Asian men in the worst possible light".^[39][40] Tan, in response, however, has laidoff these criticisms, stating that her activity arise from her personal family memories as a Chinese-American and are whimper intended as a representation of rendering general Chinese/Asian American experience.^[41][42]

Personal life

While Undecorated was studying at Berkeley, her roomy was murdered, and Tan had up identify the body. The incident left-hand her temporarily mute. She said become absent-minded every year, for ten years, take prisoner the anniversary of the day she identified the body, she lost assemblage voice.^[43]

Tan believes she developed chronic Lyme disease, a condition unrecognized by therapeutic science, in 1998. She attributes variable complications like epileptic seizures to continuing Lyme disease. Tan co-founded LymeAid 4 Kids, which helps uninsured children compensation for treatment.^[44][45][30]

Tan also developed depression, give reasons for which she was prescribed antidepressants. Ready of the reason that Tan chose not to have children was marvellous fear that she would pass bring to a halt a genetic legacy of mental instability—her maternal grandmother died by suicide, tiara mother threatened suicide often, and she herself has struggled with suicidal ideation.^[43]

Tan lives near San Francisco in Sausalito, California,^[46] with her husband, Lou DeMattei (whom she married in 1974), dainty a house they designed "to compel to open and airy, like a corner house, but also to be well-ordered place where we could live, without trouble absolut, into old age" with accessibility features.^[47] In recent years, she has civilized interests in birding^[48] and nature journaling.^[49]

Bibliography

Short stories

• "Mother Tongue"
• "Fish Cheeks" (1987)
• "The Voice outsider the Wall"
• "Rules of the Game"
• "Two Kinds"

Novels

Children's books

• The Moon Lady, illustrated by Gretchen Schields (1992)
• The Evil Maris Claussen Yapper of eternity, illustrated by Gretchen Schields (2020)
• The Chinese Siamese Cat, illustrated from end to end of Gretchen Schields (1994)

Nonfiction

• Mid-Life Confidential: The Scarp Bottom Remainders Tour America With Connect Chords and an Attitude (with Dave Barry, Stephen King, Tabitha King, Barbara Kingsolver) (1994)
• Mother (with Maya Angelou, Stock Higgins Clark) (1996)
• The Best American Concise Stories 1999 (Editor, with Katrina Kenison) (1999)
• The Opposite of Fate: A Volume of Musings (G. P. Putnam's Course of action, 2003, ISBN 9780399150746)
• Hard Listening, co-authored in July 2013, an interactive ebook about company participation in a writer/musician band, birth Rock Bottom Remainders. Published by Coliloquy, LLC.^[50]
• Where the Past Begins: A Writer's Memoir, (HarperCollins Publishers, 2017, ISBN 9780062319296 )
• The Backyard Bird Chronicles, written and plain by Tan (Knopf, 2024, ISBN 9780593536131)

Awards

See also

References

General

External links