The Asian American Times
September 30, 2005
Leonard Chang: Storyteller, Memoirist & Philosopher
By Chris Cooper
This October 21, Oakland, California based writer and Korean-American Leonard
Won Chul (“the pinnacle of wisdom or philosophy”) Chang is scheduled
to appear at the Frankfurt Book Fair - America Meets Frankfurt – 60
Years American Culture in Frankfurt, where he will do readings and sign books.
In
addition, the U.S. Embassy in Berlin is sponsoring Chang to do readings and
lectures at schools and libraries throughout cities in Germany.
Chang, along with his older brother and younger sister, was raised in Long
Island, New York by his parents, Korean immigrants. Chang was a quiet, shy,
imaginative child living in an environment that could be described as tumultuous.
By the age of seven, he found escape by reading voraciously outside his apartment
building or at the Merrick Library.
“I used to read everywhere
but I liked reading outside, even if it was cold. Huddling with my parka
on, my hood over my head, my gloved hands cradling the
book, I felt as if I was burrowed with the characters I was reading. Maybe
on some level the book was warming me up,” Chang said.
Upon entrance
to Dartmouth College, he chose to study Philosophy instead of writing. “I wanted to study philosophy because I’ve
always had questions about God, religion, the purpose of our lives, and all
those
other
big questions, but no real avenues or opportunities to explore them. I
found that studying Philosophy was just a different way to approach the same
questions
I had in fiction writing.”
After two years
Chang found himself stressed and unhappy. “I needed to
get away from school, from taking classes I wasn’t very interested in,
from my peers who seemed not to have similar goals and ambitions. I wanted to
focus on my writing, which I wasn’t at the time.”
Chang chose to
enter the Peace Corps and moved to Kingston, Jamaica where he worked on the
computers,
automated
the database systems, and managed
the
office library. He also focused on his writing – by reading at least one
novel per day and writing short stories, one of which he realized was both “cathartic
and moving”. “I realized I had actually composed something that seemed
to work.” That short story as well as others he wrote during that time
later became published – such as “Clay Hats” and “Collect
Call.”
He also traveled
to his parent’s homeland, Seoul, Korea, to learn the language
and culture. “This affected me as a writer insofar as I felt
completely alienated and isolated in Korea, that despite my ancestry
Koreans viewed
me as some oddity. I did find kinship, friendship and fellowship with
other Korean
Americans. I knew that I wanted to write about the Korean American
experience as we knew it.”
After one year
at Kingston he returned to the states with a new zest for writing, but he
chose to pursue
his philosophy
degree. “Many
writers advise aspiring writers not to major in English because you
approach texts
as a critic, not
as an author. I found this to be true.”
After graduating
with honors from Harvard University, Chang moved to California to attend
the University
of
California Irvine’s MFA Creative Writing Program,
where he made a habit of reading two to five novels per week. The
two novels that influenced Chang the most were The Great Gatsby by F. Scott
Fitzgerald and
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, which he reads at least
once a year. “The
Great Gatsby is wonderfully unified and tightly-written novel,
and is a constant reminder of how a novel can be a piece of art.
Hemingway
is rougher
and
cruder, and the power of his writing comes from concision, repetition
and ambiguity.”
Since then Chang
has written five novels, each exploring authentic Korean-American characters:
Thomas
Pak and
the Rhee Family in The
Fruit ‘N Food are hard
working Korean Americans who focus all of their dreams on the
family grocery story, only to have the end come to devastating
results; Caucasian Farrel Gorden’s
journey from dissatisfaction to anger and violence against his
Korean-American boss and his anonymous letter
reader is explored in Dispatches
From The Cold; and then, perhaps, Chang’s greatest character
come to reality, Allen Choice, is born in Over The Shoulder,
and continues to fascinate readers
in Underkill, and Fade To Clear. Allen Choice, an isolationist
Korean American who loves to read philosophy on one hand and
carry a gun in the other, is a private
detective in each of the novels – which explores not only
the authentic life of the detective, but that of Allen Choice,
his relationships, and search
for meaning. Two of Chang’s books are being adapted for
movies - Dispatches From The Cold has been adapted by Canary
Films, and
actor Daniel
Dae Kim,
a Korean American who is scheduled to play Allen Choice, has
optioned Over The
Shoulder.
In response to
questions about the movies being faithful to his books and his readers’ expectations, Chang said, “I
hope my readers will view any movies based on my novels not
as a representation
of
my work,
but as an
interpretation
or re-invention. If they are disappointed then I hope they
return to the novel.”
The people in
Chang’s novels and short stories are not characters but real
living human beings whom Chang describe as being “sometimes more real than
the person standing next to me.” The process of creating these real-life-characters
takes responsibility, discipline, and skill, which Chang takes seriously. “I
want to be truthful as I can in rendering characters and stories. I like to try
to have the reader come away with something useful, whether it’s
knowledge or understanding or simply a greater appreciation
of my characters.”
Chang’s goal is to write one piece of work in which all three aspects of
writers are displayed – the storyteller, the memoirist, and the philosopher.
To Chang, having these three aspects as well as characters that are “well-written,
well rendered, vivid, and dictate the plot” is the
ultimate literary novel.
Chang does most
of his creating in his home office. “It is a small room
with huge windows where I get morning light. I have a
view of a few buildings, pine trees, and a lake. It’s messy but comfortable,
with papers and books strewn on the floor.” Here Chang writes at first
dawn on the computer, usually with a cup of green tea. He is known as a perfectionist
and can write dozens of drafts
before he is satisfied. He rewrites some of the drafts
at the local café and
then edits them with pen and paper, and, after the best
draft is chosen, the others are thrown away. Others might
think
this is
tiresome and
self defeating
work, to Chang it is the joy of being a writer.
“I’ve never had writer’s block. I’ve had slow days and
frustrating days, but I just keep chipping away. Writing is just a blessing;
never a curse.
I can’t think of anything better except maybe
being in love.”
Or except his
love for rock climbing, which Chang’s brother introduced
him to about four years ago. “I spend most
of my free time rock climbing. Rock climbing is both
intellectual
and
physical.
Writers ought to have
lives outside of writing, because quite simply, they
need something to feed the
art.”
Chang is presently working on the screenplay for Over The Shoulder, short stories, a novel about a young married couple, and future plans for more Allen Choice novels. He also will teach at the Antioch University’s MFA low-residency graduate writing program this winter. “I’ll teach for a couple of years and then take some time off. The benefit of teaching, besides the money, is primarily the close contact with other writers and aspiring writers. It’s nice to be with other like-minded people every so often.”
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Chris Cooper has been freelancing for over 10 years, and resides in Illinois with her husband and son.