The Writer As Migrant
The Age
Saturday November 8, 2008
The Writer as Migrant
Ha Jin Chicago University Press, $22.95 WHEN CHINESE writer Ha Jin emigrated to America, he viewed himself as a spokesman for the Chinese, particularly for the downtrodden. In time, he came to the conclusion that "too much sincerity is a dangerous thing" and that it was folly to claim to speak for his countrymen and women, especially when he no longer lived among them. He draws lessons from Solzhenitsyn, who saw himself as writing for Russians during his exile in America, only to find, when he returned to Russia, that his new work was considered out of touch with Russian reality. The complex position of the writer in exile is the main preoccupation of this thoughtful and searching collection of essays.Not surprisingly, Ha Jin - who writes in English and whose novel Waiting won the National Book Award - identifies strongly with writers such as Nabokov and Conrad, who also committed what he describes as "the ultimate betrayal" and wrote in the language of their adopted country.
© 2008 The Age