Interview with Amy Tan

An Interview with Amy Tan

On August 7, 2006, Dana Gioia, former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, interviewed Amy Tan at her home in Berkeley, California. An excerpt from their conversation follows.

Dana Gioia: You were born in Oakland in a family where both parents had come from China. Were you raised bilingually?

Amy Tan: Until the age of five, my parents spoke to me in Chinese or a combination of Chinese and English, but they didn't force me to speak Mandarin. In retrospect, this was sad, because they believed that my chance of doing well in America hinged on my fluency in English. Later, as an adult, I wanted to learn Chinese. Now I make an effort when I am with my sisters, who don't speak English that well. It's such a wonderful part of me that is coming back, to try and speak that language.

DG: Would you explain the special symbolism of your title, The Joy Luck Club?

AT: I don't think joy and luck are specific to Chinese culture. Everybody wants joy and luck, and we all have our different notions about from where that luck comes. Many Chinese stores and restaurants have the word "luck" in there. The idea is that, just by using the word "luck" in names of things, you can attract more of it. Our beliefs in luck are related to hope. Some people who are without almost any hope in a situation still cling to luck.

DG: This is a great book about the American immigrant experience. Did you think about that theme consciously when writing the book?

AT: If I thought about this at all, it was the immigrant experience according to my mother and father. This influenced the way I took their immigrant story-the things that I rejected, the things that I thought were American. The basic notion of this country is that with self-determination, you can create who you are. That, in turn, allows an amazing freedom to a writer, because freedom is also creativity.

DG: Why is reading important?

AT: In childhood, reading provided a refuge for me, especially during difficult times. It provided me with the idea that I could find an ending that was different from what was happening at the time. Imagination is the closest thing that we have to compassion and empathy. When you read about the life of another person, you are part of their life for that moment. This is so vital, especially today, when we have so much misunderstanding across cultures and even within our own communities.

DG: What did you read as a child?

AT: I read every fairy tale I could lay my hands on at the public library. It was a wonderful world to escape to.

DG: Do you feel that your early love of fairy tales expressed itself in The Joy Luck Club, or did you look on its content as realistic?

AT: As a minister, my father told us many stories from the Bible that were like fairy tales. Those stories can reflect very strong beliefs that Christians have, but they also have all the qualities that are wonderful about fairy tales. Life is larger than we think it is. Certain events can happen that we don't understand, and we can take it as faith in a particular area, or as superstition, or as a fairy tale, or something else. It's wonderful to come to a situation and think that it can be all kinds of possibilities. I look at what's happened to me as a published writer and, sometimes, I think it's a fairy tale.

"[W]hen she was born, she sprang from me like a slippery fish, and has been swimming away ever since. All her life, I have watched her as though from another shore. And now I must tell her everything about my past. It is the only way to penetrate her skin and pull her to where she can be saved." 
-Ying-Ying St. Clair in The Joy Luck Club

Amy Tan, 2003 (Copyright Robert Foothorap)

San Francisco's Chinatown, 1945 (Bettmann/Corbis)

8-year-old Amy Tan wins essay contest, Santa Rosa, CA, 1960 (Courtesy of Amy Tan)