Writing to 'work things out'

Author Amy Tan

Why does Amy Tan write?

"I'm a very confused person with a lot of chaos," Tan said during an Oct. 6 visit to the College. "I have contradicting feelings, and I feel I sometimes am a little too wishy-washy on a lot of issues," she said, quoted in The Day, New London's newspaper.

"I need to disturb myself, because a lot of the disturbances are things I push down. Part of the meaning of my life is to let those things surface again." She said writing helps her "work things out:" to understand herself and life.

Tan and Hannah Tinti '94 headlined the College's 13th Daniel Klagsbrun Symposium on Writing and Moral Vision. In addition to talking about writing, both read from their work before a reception and book-signing. Tan is author of "The Joy Luck Club," "The Kitchen God's Wife," "The Hundred Secret Senses," and two children's books. Her latest novel, "Saving Fish from Drowning," was published by Putnam in November 2005.

Tinti's work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. Her short story collection, "Animal Crackers," has been published in 13 countries and was recently a runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway award. Her novel, "Resurrection Men," is forthcoming with the Dial Press. She is editor and co-founder of "One Story" magazine.

Taylor Katz '08, an English major and religious studies minor, wrote in a blog for The Day, "Hearing these two authors talk made me realize how much I enjoy the process of just sitting down and putting words on paper. I love the creation of phrases; I love adjectives and the way they sound next to nouns; I even like taking things that people say to me and finding new ways to say them."

She added, "Needless to say, hearing these two authors speak made me gloriously happy. Plus, everyone that attended the event were either English majors or English professors, which is a great atmosphere because I know that if I would have gotten up and just yelled out, 'Who likes the Tempest?' or, 'Let's talk about Thoreau's time spent at Walden Pond!' all of the dorky wonderful English majors like myself would've immediately become engaged in some obscure wordy conversation that normal humans would have no interest in. But hey, a literary orgy never hurt anyone, did it?"

Access Taylor Katz's blog at The Day.