Chicago tribune, chicago suntimes, entertainment weekly, slate in a free life, ha jin follows the wu family father nan, mother pingping, and son taotao as they sever their ties with china in the aftermath of the 1989 massacre at tiananmen square and begin a new life in the united states. Reviews a distant center, ha jins profoundly appealing collection of poems written in chinese, then translated by the author into english, contains so many breathtaking cleansesofspiritbegone bombast and posturing. Ha jin was born in liaoning, china, in 1956, and moved to america in 1984. Ocean of words is a triumphant volume, poignant, hilarious, and harrowing. Jins simple sentences, familiar sentiments, and uneventful three to fivepage chapters that typically end with such pulsesuppressing noncliffhangers as the day before the wangs returned. In addition to the national book award, ha jin received the penhemingway award for his first collection of short stories, ocean of words 1996, and the flannery oconnor prize for his second, under the red flag 1997. Ha jins novel waiting was the winner of the 1999 winner of the national book award for fiction. Find and compare hundreds of millions of new books, used books, rare books and out of print books from. In ocean of words, the chinese writer ha jin explores the predicament of these simple.
War trash, the crazed, the bridegroom, waiting, in the pond, and ocean of words are available in paperback from vintage books. In this book, ha jin has done for the chinese army what zhang xianliang did so powerfully for the. The stories are set along the chinasoviet border in the 1970s after the nations split political ties. Saboteur by ha jin takes place immediately following the. From amorous telegraphers to a pugnacious militiaman, from an inscrutable russian prisoner to an effeminate but enthusiastic recruit, ha jins characters possess a depth and liveliness that suggest isaac babels cossacks and tim obrien s gis. Ha jin left his native china in 1985 to attend brandeis university. His books include waiting, winner of the penfaulkner award and the national book award. Ha jin won a national book award a while back for waiting, and wrote many books since, including 2014s ocean of words, the collection.
He has turned out remarkable novels, short stories, and poetry all the more remarkable considering he only began writing in. Ha jin, pseudonym of xuefei jin, born february 21, 1956, jinzhou, liaoning province, china, chinese american writer who used plain, unadorned english prose to explore the tension between the individual and the family, the modern and the traditional, and personal feelings and duty jin had only a brief, incomplete education before the schools in china closed in 1966 at the. The place is the chilly border between russia and china. His work increased international attention to chinese culture and history. A novel at the 2015 library of congress national book festival in washington, d. Born in 1956, jin is a chineseamerican poet and short story writer. Author and poet ha jin left china in 1985 to attend.
Upon release, he taught himself english working the night shift as a railroad telegrapher, and received his ba and ma from chinese universities. While the lesser stories drone as a little monotonous among themselves, the latter stories, especially ocean of words which provides the the first few short ones were okay at best, but ha jins longer stories really make it worth reading. He lives in the boston area and is a professor of english at boston university. The processes that ha jin is concerned to describesurvival and adjustment in an alien land, the firmingup of a literary vocation, the emergence of marital and family harmony after the shocks. In 2005 he was elected a fellow of the american academy of arts and sciences. Jin was raised in china during the cultural revolution and. His dissertation was on modernist poets such as pound, eliot, auden, and yeats because, as he told dave weich of. Jins short stories share something of the spare, open quality of his home. It was published by zoland books and has a total of 205 pages in the book.
Discover other books like this, author exclusives, and more. Author and poet ha jin left china in 1985 to attend brandeis. Books by ha jin share book recommendations with your. Ha jin discusses the boat rocker at the 2017 library of congress national book festival in washington, d.
Ha jin has 37 books on goodreads with 80374 ratings. But the publication of his new novel should acquaint a wider public with what has. Under the red flag, which won the flannery oconnor award for short fiction. Ha jins first book, ocean of words, won the penhemingway award in 1997, and since then he has attracted a steadily growing audience, especially among other writers. And the characters in this thrilling collection of stories are chinese soldiers who must constantly scrutinize the enemy. Liaoning province, china from the age of 14 until he was 20, jin served in the peoples liberation army in china. The time is the early 1970s when the two giants were poised on the brink of war. The title of this book is ocean of words and it was written by ha jin. Jin spent a year shivering on the russian border, a year that provided the raw material for his first collection, ocean of words, a cycle. Xuefei jin, who writes under the pseudonym ha jin, was born in 1956 in liaoning province in northern china. In 1984, he went to america and began to write about china only in english. In ocean of words, the chinese writer ha jin explores the predicament of these simple, barely literate men with breathtaking concision and humanity.
Ha jin simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. From amorous telegraphers to a pugnacious militiaman, from an inscrutable russian prisoner to an effeminate but enthusiastic recruit, ha jins characters possess a depth and liveliness that. Ocean of words is a short story collection by ha jin. Provide a 90 word summary for the story saboteur by ha jin. Ocean of words east asia gateway for linking educators. Choosing english as his literary language set jin on a deliberate journey away from china, and yet jin remained attached to the china of his memories by recreating his birth country in his earlier titles, including his first three short story collections, ocean of words 1996, under the red flag 1997, and the bridegroom 2000, and his three. Twelve stories written in english by a chineseborn veteran of the peoples. National book award winner ha jin writes about the tribulations of life in chinese society with dark humor and an economical but effective prose style. He is the author of the internationally bestselling novel waiting, which won the penfaulkner award and the national book award, and war trash, which won the penfaulkner award for fiction, and was a finalist for the pulitzer prize and the kiriyama pacific rim book prize. Naomi shihab nye, the new york times ha jin considers longing, foreignness and identity in a distant. He is the author of eight novels, four story collections, three volumes of poetry, and a book of essays.
He is the author of the internationally bestselling novel waiting, which won the penfau. From amorous telegraphers to a pugnacious militiaman, from an inscrutable russian prisoner to an effeminate but enthusiastic recruit, ha jins characters possess a depth and liveliness that suggest. Ocean of words by ha jin penguin random house canada. Ha jin has published volumes of poetry, collections of short stories, and novels.
From amorous telegraphers to a pugnacious militiaman, from an inscrutable russian prisoner to an effeminate but enthusiastic recruit, ha jins characters possess a depth and liveliness that suggest isaac babels cossacks and tim obriens gis. He has received the national book award, two penfaulkner awards, the pen. The stories are set along the chinasoviet border in the 1970s after the nations. The collection won the 1997 penhemingway award for best first work of fiction. He grew up during the cultural revolution, served in the army, and earned both his ba and ma at chinese institutions before arriving in the us on a student visa to pursue a phd in english at brandeis university. From amorous telegraphers to a pugnacious militiaman, from an inscrutable russian prisoner to an effeminate but enthusiastic recruit, ha jins characters possess. This quietly poignant novel of love and repression in communist china begins in 1966 when lin kong, an army doctor, falls in love with the young nurse manna wu during a forced military march. If one or more works are by a distinct, homonymous authors, go ahead and split the author. In 1969, at only 14 years of age, ha jin joined the peoples liberation army based at the northeastern border between china and. Winner of the penhemingway awardthe place is the chilly border betw. Under the red flag won the flannery oconnor award offers a. Prizewinning shortstory writer ha jin ocean of words won the penhemingway award for first fiction.
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