Where the past begins : a writer's memoir

Tan, Amy (author.).

Summary: "From New York Times bestselling author Amy Tan, a memoir on her life as a writer, her childhood, and the symbiotic relationship between fiction and emotional memory"--

Record details

ISBN: 9780062319296
ISBN: 0062319299
Physical Description: print
x, 357 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York, NY : Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2017]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references.

Formatted Contents Note:

Introduction. Where the past begins -- Prologue. The breaker of combs -- I. Imagination. A leaky imagination -- Music as muse -- Souvenir from a dream -- Hidden genius -- Reorientation : Homer, Alaska -- II. Memory in emotion. Genuine emotions -- The feeling of what it felt like when it happened -- A mere mortal at age twenty-five -- A mere mortal at age twenty-six -- How to change fate : step 1 -- III. Retrieving the past. The unfurling of leaves -- The auntie of the woman who lost her mind -- Unstoppable -- Time and distance : age twenty-four -- Time and distance : age fifty -- Time and distance : age sixty -- IV. Unknown endings. The darkest moment of my life -- Nipping dog -- The father I did not know -- Reliable witness -- V. Reading and writing. I am the author of this novel -- How I learned to read -- Splayed poem : the road -- Eidolons -- Letters to the editor -- Letters in English -- Why write? -- VI. Language. Language : a love story -- Intestinal fortitude -- Principles of linguistics -- Companions in the house.