GISH JEN
Name: Gish Jen
Born: 1956
Gish Jen (Chinese) (born Lillian Jen, named for the
actress Lillian Gish, in 1955 in Long Island, New York) is a contemporary
American writer.
Several of her short stories have been reprinted in The Best American Short
Stories. Her piece "Birthmates", was selected as one of The Best American Short
Stories of The Century by John Updike. Her works include three novels, Typical
American, Mona in the Promised Land, and The Love Wife. She has also written a
collection of short fiction, Who's Irish? prompted by her marriage to an Irish-American.
Her first novel, Typical American, attempts to redefine Americanness as a
preoccupation with identity. "As soon as you ask yourself the question, "What
does it mean to be Irish-American, Iranian-American, Greek-American, you are
American," she has said.
Her second novel, Mona in the Promised Land concerns the invention of ethnicity.
The Love Wife, her most recent novel, portrays an Asian American family with
interracial parents and both biological and adopted children as "the new
American family." She asks the question "What is a family?" as a way of asking,
"What is a nation?"
Name: Gish Jen
Born: 1956
Gish Jen (Chinese) (born Lillian Jen, named for the
actress Lillian Gish, in 1955 in Long Island, New York) is a contemporary
American writer.
Several of her short stories have been reprinted in The Best American Short
Stories. Her piece "Birthmates", was selected as one of The Best American Short
Stories of The Century by John Updike. Her works include three novels, Typical
American, Mona in the Promised Land, and The Love Wife. She has also written a
collection of short fiction, Who's Irish? prompted by her marriage to an Irish-American.
Her first novel, Typical American, attempts to redefine Americanness as a
preoccupation with identity. "As soon as you ask yourself the question, "What
does it mean to be Irish-American, Iranian-American, Greek-American, you are
American," she has said.
Her second novel, Mona in the Promised Land concerns the invention of ethnicity.
The Love Wife, her most recent novel, portrays an Asian American family with
interracial parents and both biological and adopted children as "the new
American family." She asks the question "What is a family?" as a way of asking,
"What is a nation?"