GISH JEN

A middle-aged Asian American woman in Venice.

 

 

 

Gish Jen is the author of nine books, the most recent of which are The Resisters and Thank You, Mr. Nixon. The recipient of Radcliffe, Guggenheim, NEA, and Fulbright grants, as well as a Lannan Literary Award and a Strauss Living, Jen has published in numerous magazines and anthologies, including The New Yorker and The Best American Short Stories of the Century. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is currently a visiting professor at Harvard.

Read more about Gish on her website.

 

SESSION: Must We Be So Western?

Is there a "Western"self? An "Eastern"self? Do the different selves narrate differently? And what are the implications for fiction? Drawing on studies in cognitive psychology, this talk will examine the culture out of which many mainstream ideas about writing grow. With a cultural lens we we will take a look, too, at many iconic works of fiction, and consider what all this means for our own work.