Memories That Reach Back into Consciousness: An Interview with Lan Samantha Chang

Abstract

Lan Samantha Chang was born and raised in Appleton, Wisconsin, the daughter of Chinese parents who survived the Japanese occu pation of China and subsequently migrated to the United States. Her parents didn't share extensive information about their experi ences in their homeland, and in writing the novel Inheritance (2004), Chang had the opportunity to do research into the world her par ents had once inhabited. Inheritance tells the story of a splintered Chinese family set against the historical backdrop of the 1920s to 1940s. The schism that divides sisters Junan and Yinan mirrors the fate of China during this time. In Hunger: A Novella and Stories (1998) Chang focuses on Chinese immigrants and their children, who labor for emotional survival. The families in this novella and collection of stories accomplish a fragile balance between remembering and forgetting their past, and starting over on foreign soil. The title novella is narrated after her death by Min, whose husband escaped from China swimming with his precious violin held high above his head. In January 2006, Ms. Chang was appointed Professor of English and Director of the Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa.