Harvard Square

Author: Wang Rui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-11-01
Features: My nomadic work and lifestyle cause my perspective to constantly shift, which undoubtedly influences my writing. Since I observe life half in China and half in the United States, the novel includes both domestic and international stories. Old Tales of New York aims to explore a very simple theme—race, racial prejudice, Chinese ways of living, and choices in love. Writing this book was exhausting. Using the words of the late poet Hai Zi from a decade ago, it was as if I was being called by great elements. I didn’t feel like I was writing a love story. What I wanted to explore was impermanence, destiny, and despair, or the complexities of the human psyche—its fragmentation, confusion, irrationality, and diversity, as well as the cruelty of beauty. This is one of the pieces I am personally satisfied with.