Amy Tan

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Amy Tan (2008)

Amy Tan ( Chinese : 譚 恩 美; pinyin : Tán Ēnměi) (born February 19, 1952 in Oakland , California ) is an American writer of Chinese descent and one of the leading representatives of contemporary Sino-American literature . In her works, Tan writes about the encounter between traditional Chinese and American customs.

life and work

Amy Tan was born in Oakland, California to Chinese immigrants. Her parents were electrical engineer and Baptist pastor John Tan and his wife Daisy, a nurse. Tan was 15 years old when her father and older brother died of brain cancer. Shortly afterwards she moved to Montreux with her mother and younger brother Peter , where she graduated from high school. She studied Linguistics at San José State University and after completing her Masters, she enrolled in the doctoral program of the University of California, first in Santa Cruz and then in Berkeley . However, she broke off the doctoral project and began to work as a children's speech therapist.

Amy Tan became known with the books The Wife of the Fire God and Daughters of Heaven , which was filmed in 1993 under the direction of Wayne Wang . Amy Tan wrote and co-produced the film. Further works are z. B. The Hundred Hidden Senses and The Other Side of Heaven: Thoughts on Life , a collection of non-fictional essays. She also wrote two children's books: The Moon Woman (1992) and The Chinese Velvet Cat (1994). Her books have been translated into 35 languages.

Amy Tan wrote the libretto herself for the setting of her bestseller The Bonesetter's Daughter , which premiered at the San Francisco Opera in 2008. Stewart Wallace is the composer of the opera .

In 1974 she married the accountant Lou DeMattei and now lives with him in Sausalito .

She became seriously ill with Lyme disease . However, the cause of her symptoms of illness, which made it impossible for her to write for a long time, took years to properly diagnose and treat.

Amy Tan is a backing singer and percussionist in the amateur band Rock Bottom Remainders , which consists entirely of writers, journalists, and screenwriters who brag about making trash music.

Works

Novels

  • The Joy Luck Club , 1989 ( daughters of heaven , 1992)
  • The Kitchen God's Wife, 1991 ( The wife of the fire god , 1993)
  • The Hundred Secret Senses , 1995 (Eng. The Hundred Hidden Senses , 1998)
  • The Bonesetter's Daughter , 2001 (German ink mark , 2003)
  • Saving Fish from Drowning , 2005 (Eng. The Spirit of Madame Chen , 2006)
  • The Valley of Amazement , 2013 ( The courtesan's house , 2014)

Children's books

  • The Moon Lady , 1992 (with Gretchen Schields) (Eng. The Moon Woman , 1993)
  • Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat , 1994 (with Gretchen Schields) (German: The Chinese Velvet Cat , 1994)

Anthologies

  • The Best American Short Stories 1999 , 1999 (with Katrina Kenison)

Non-fiction

  • Mid-Life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America With Three Cords and an Attitude , 1994 (with Dave Barry , Stephen King , Tabitha King , Barbara Kingsolver)
  • Mother , 1996 (with Maya Angelou , Mary Higgins Clark )
  • The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings , 2003 ( The other side of heaven: thoughts about life , 2005)

Awards (selection)

  • Bay Area Book Reviewers Award
  • Commonwealth Gold Award
  • American Library Associations's Notable Books
  • American Library Association's Best Book for Young Adults
  • New York Times Notable Book
  • Booklist Editors Choice

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Friederike Zoe Grasshoff: Amy Tan on loss . Interview, in: Süddeutsche Zeitung , October 11, 2014, p. V210
  2. ↑ a b CV (Engl.) ( Memento of 2 July 2008 at the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Tan, Amy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chinese-American writer
DATE OF BIRTH 19th February 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Oakland