What Min Jin Lee Wants Us to See

It was specifically very important for me with the Koreans in Japan because I started out in the position of, “Oh, these are poor victims who’ve been oppressed by colonialism and how horrible.” And that’s all true, but they didn’t see it that way, and they told me, “You’re wrong.” And I was, like, “Well, O.K., how am I wrong?” When you hang out wit... See more

Yes. I was nineteen or twenty. Harry Adams, who was the master of Trumbull College, said, “Do you want to come to this tea? This missionary from Japan is coming.” And so this nice white guy, who helped poor Koreans in Japan, came and gave a talk. There were about two of us in the entire room, and I couldn’t leave. He told the story about, I guess, ... See more

I read that Willa Cather read a chapter of the Bible every day. I was really inspired, because I think her prose is so sturdy. I was, like, O.K., I’m going to read the Bible. I would read a chapter, and then I’d do my work. Gradually, I started to read the chapter and I realized that there were things I didn’t understand, and some of it was dreadfu... See more