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Amy Tan

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Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox writer Amy Ruth Tan (born February 19, 1952) is an American author best known for her novel The Joy Luck Club (1989), which was adapted into a 1993 film. She is also known for other novels, short story collections, children's books, and a memoir.

Tan has earned a number of awards acknowledging her contributions to literary culture, including the National Humanities Medal, the Carl Sandburg Literary Award, and the Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service.

Tan has written several other novels, including The Kitchen God's Wife (1991), The Hundred Secret Senses (1995), The Bonesetter's Daughter (2001), Saving Fish from Drowning (2005), and The Valley of Amazement (2013). Tan has also written two children's books: The Moon Lady (1992) and The Chinese Siamese Cat (1994), which was turned into an animated series that aired on PBS. Tan's latest book is The Backyard Bird Chronicles (2024), an illustrated account of her experiences with birding and the 2016-era sociopolitical climate.

Early life and educationEdit

Amy was born in Oakland, California.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She is the second of three children born to Chinese immigrants John and Daisy Tan. Her father was an electrical engineer and Baptist minister who traveled to the United States, in order to escape the chaos of the Chinese Civil War.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=achieve/> John Tan was pastor of First Chinese Baptist Church of Fresno, California when Amy was born.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She recounts that her father and she would read the thesaurus together, since “he was very interested in what a word contains.”<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This was the beginning of her path to becoming a writer, as she wanted to use words to create stories to make herself feel understood.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Amy attended Marian A. Peterson High School in Sunnyvale, for a year. When she was fifteen, her father and older brother, Peter, both died of brain tumors within six months of each other.<ref name="Huntley1998">Template:Cite book</ref>

Her mother Daisy subsequently moved Amy and her younger brother, John Jr, to Switzerland, where Amy finished high school at the Institut Monte Rosa, Montreux.<ref>"The Archives of my Personality", address to the American Association of Museums General Session (Los Angeles), May 26, 2010</ref> During this period, Amy learned about her mother's previous marriage to another man in China, of their four children (a son who died as a toddler and three daughters). She also learned how her mother left those children in Shanghai. This incident was a key part of the basis for Amy's first novel, The Joy Luck Club.<ref name=achieve>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1987, Amy traveled with Daisy to China, where she met her three half-sisters.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Amy had a difficult relationship with her mother. At one point, Daisy held a knife to Amy's throat and threatened to kill her while the two were arguing over Amy's new boyfriend. Her mother wanted Amy to be independent, stressing that Amy needed to make sure she was self-sufficient. Amy later found out that her mother had three abortions, while in China. Daisy often threatened to kill herself, saying that she wanted to join her mother (Amy's grandmother, who died by suicide).<ref name="NPR.org">Template:Cite news</ref> She attempted suicide but never succeeded.<ref name="NPR.org"/> Daisy died in 1999<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> at the age of 83; she had Alzheimer's disease.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite news</ref>

Amy and her mother did not speak for six months, after Amy dropped out of the Baptist college her mother had selected for her, Linfield College in Oregon, to follow her boyfriend to San Jose City College in California.<ref name=achieve/><ref name=kinsella/><ref name=tauber/> Amy met him on a blind date, and she married him in 1974.<ref name=Huntley1998 /><ref name=kinsella>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=tauber>Template:Cite news</ref> Amy, later, received bachelor's and master's degrees in English and linguistics from San José State University. She took doctoral courses in linguistics at University of California, Santa Cruz and University of California, Berkeley.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

CareerEdit

While in school, Tan worked several odd jobs—serving as a switchboard operator, carhop, bartender, and pizza maker—before starting a writing career. As a freelance business writer, she worked on projects for AT&T, IBM, Bank of America, and Pacific Bell, writing under non-Chinese-sounding pseudonyms.<ref name=Huntley1998 /> These projects had turned into a 90-hours-a-week workaholism.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Joy Luck ClubEdit

Early in 1985, Tan began writing her first novel, The Joy Luck Club, while working as a business writer. She joined a writers' workshop, the Community of Writers<ref>https://amytan.net/bio-1</ref> in Olympic Valley, CA, to refine her draft. She submitted a part of the draft novel as a story titled 'Endgame' to the workshop. Before attending the program, Tan read Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine and was "amazed by her voice... [she] could identify with the powerful images, the beautiful language, and such moving stories." Later, many critics compared Tan to Erdrich. Author Molly Giles, who was teaching at the workshop, encouraged Tan to send some of her writing to magazines. Tan credits Giles with guiding her to the end of writing the book. It began with Giles' seeing a dozen stories in the 13 page draft submitted to the program. Stories by Tan, drawn from the manuscript of The Joy Luck Club, were published by both FM Magazine and Seventeen, although a story was rejected by the New Yorker.<ref name=":1" />

After the acceptances and a rejection, Tan joined a new San Francisco writers' group led by Giles.<ref name=":1" /> Giles recommended Tan to academic-turned agent Sandra Dijkstra, in 1987. In May of that year, an Italian magazine translated and published 'Endgame,' without permission. Dijkstra advised Tan to send her another story; "Waiting Between the Trees" arrived, written as an experiment to decide whether the stories collectively become a novel or a book of short stories. Dijkstra signed up Tan and asked Tan to write a synopsis for the book, along with an outline for other stories.<ref name=":1" />

Working with Dijkstra, Tan published several other parts of the novel as short stories, before it was sent as a draft novel manuscript. She received offers from several major publishing houses, including A.A. Knopf, Vintage, Harper & Row, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Simon and Schuster, and Putnam Books, but she declined them all, as they offered compensation that she and the agent considered to be insufficient.<ref name=":1" /> Tan eventually accepted a second offer from G. P. Putnam's Sons for $50,000 in December 1987.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Joy Luck Club consists of eight related stories about the experiences of four Chinese–American mother–daughter pairs.<ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Page needed</ref> Tan dedicated the book to her mother, with the following words: "You asked me, once, what I would remember. This, and much more."<ref name=":4" />

Being a realist, Tan had predicted to her husband that the novel would disappear from the bookstore shelves, after six weeks. She thought that most first novels meet that fate, within that time.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Putnam Books auctioned the reprint rights in April 1989,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which were bought by Vintage Books, the trade paperback division of Random House. Vintage's successful bid was at US$ 1.2 million. However, Random House decided to alter plans, and Ivy Books was assigned to print the paperback version, first, in the mass-market version, followed by Vintage, for a smaller audience, as a more expensively produced version.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> When the paperback version came out, its hardcover had already undergone 27 printings, with sales of over 200,000 copies.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref> By 1991, the book had already been translated into 17 languages.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite news</ref>

The Kitchen God's WifeEdit

Tan's second novel, The Kitchen God's Wife, also focuses on the relationship between an immigrant Chinese mother and her American-born daughter.<ref name="Huntley1998" /> On its writing inspiration, Tan explained, "My mother said, when I started The Kitchen God's Wife, that she liked The Joy Luck Club very much, it's very fictional, but next time, tell my story." Tan added that there are many fictionalized parts in the story narration, too.<ref name=":2" /> Tan, later, referred to this book as the "much more" that she remembered, as mentioned in the dedication page of her first book.<ref name=":4" /> This novel is significant, as it narrates a historical period of China between the 1930s and 1940s, including Nanjing Massacre.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

G. P. Putnam's Sons released the book in June 1991 and priced the hardcover at US$ 21.95.<ref name=":3" />

Other booksEdit

Tan's third novel, The Hundred Secret Senses, was a departure from the first two novels, in focusing on the relationships between sisters, inspired, partly, by one of the half-siblings Tan sponsored to the United States.<ref name="rudetsky21“">"Amy Tan" (interview) Seth Speaks Broadway! SiriusXM On Broadway, 16 May 2021.</ref>

Tan's fourth novel, The Bonesetter's Daughter, returns to the theme of an immigrant Chinese woman and her American-born daughter.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In 2024, Tan published The Backyard Bird Chronicles, her illustrated account of birding as a coping mechanism during the divisive 2016 US Presidential election.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Where the Past Begins: A Writer's MemoirEdit

4th Estate published Tan's memoir, in October 2017. The book cover was released earlier in April.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the book, using family photographs and journal entries, she writes about the relationship with her mother, the death of her father and brother, stories of her half-sisters and grandmother in China, her diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease, and life as a writer.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In comparison to her fiction writing, Tan said a memoir is "unvarnished.” While writing a memoir, her recollection and sequence of events might not be orderly for the reader. They emerge according to their importance and how they shaped her.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="whelan">Template:Cite news</ref>

Other mediaEdit

Tan was the "lead rhythm dominatrix,” backup singer and second tambourine with the Rock Bottom Remainders literary garage band. Before the band retired from touring, it had raised more than a million dollars for literacy programs. Tan appeared as herself in the third episode of Season 12 of The Simpsons, "Insane Clown Poppy."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Tan's work has been adapted into several different forms of media. The Joy Luck Club was adapted into a play, in 1993; that same year, director Wayne Wang adapted the book into a film. The Bonesetter's Daughter was adapted into an opera, in 2008.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Tan's children's book, Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat, was adapted into an PBS animated television show, also named Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In May 2021, the documentary Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir was released in the American Masters series on PBS. (It was later released on Netflix.)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Critical receptionEdit

Template:Expand section Tan's writing has been praised for its bravery in exploring both the personal struggles and triumphs of immigrant families.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her first book, The Joy Luck Club, which is considered a prominent contribution to the Modern Period of American literature, was called "a jewel of a book" by the New York Times, noting Tan's "deep empathy for her subject matter" and the "rare fidelity and beauty" of her storytelling.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Joy Luck Club went on to be a bestseller, and was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. That book, and her subsequent novels, have spent forty weeks on the New York Times Bestsellers list.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2021, Tan was presented the National Humanities Medal for her contribution to expanding the American literary canon, and in the same year won the Carl Sandburg Literary Award.<ref name=":0" /> Tan also received the Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service for her contribution to world community.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Tan has received criticism, notably from Sau-ling Cynthia Wong, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who wrote that Tan's novels "are often products of the American-born writer's own heavily mediated understanding of things Chinese,” and author Frank Chin, who has said that her novels "demonstrate a vested interest in casting Chinese men in the worst possible light".<ref name="cynthia">Wong, Sau-ling Cynthia (1995). "Sugar Sisterhood: Situating the Amy Tan Phenomenon". p. 55.</ref><ref name="xiaohuang">Yin, Xiao-huang (2000). "Chinese American Literature Since the 1850s. p. 235.</ref> Tan, in response, however, has dismissed these criticisms, stating that her works arise from her personal family experiences as a Chinese-American and are not intended as a representation of the general Chinese/Asian American experience.<ref name="lily">Lee, Lily (2003). "Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: The Twentieth Century, 1912-2000". p. 503.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal lifeEdit

While Tan was studying at Berkeley, her roommate was murdered, and Tan had to identify the body. The incident left her temporarily mute. She said that every year, for ten years, on the anniversary of the day she identified the body, she lost her voice.<ref name="Jaggi">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Tan believes she developed chronic Lyme disease, a condition unrecognized by medical science, in 1998. She attributes health complications like epileptic seizures to chronic Lyme disease. Tan co-founded LymeAid 4 Kids, which helps uninsured children pay for treatment.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="whelan"/>

Tan also developed depression, for which she was prescribed antidepressants. Part of the reason that Tan chose not to have children was a fear that she would pass on a genetic legacy of mental instability—her maternal grandmother died by suicide, her mother threatened suicide often, and she herself has struggled with suicidal ideation.<ref name="Jaggi" />

In February 2025, the Bancroft Library of University of California, Berkeley, announced that it had acquired an archive of Tan's work through a combination of donations and purchases using endowment funds. Having previously claimed that she would have her possessions shredded upon death to avoid posthumous scrutiny, Tan explained her change-of-heart as accepting posterity.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Tan lives near San Francisco in Sausalito, California,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> with her husband, Lou DeMattei (whom she married in 1974), in a house they designed "to feel open and airy, like a tree house, but also to be a place where we could live, comfortably, into old age" with accessibility features.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In recent years, she has developed interests in birding<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and nature journaling.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

BibliographyEdit

Short storiesEdit

  • "Mother Tongue" (1990)
  • "Fish Cheeks" (1987)
  • "The Voice from the Wall"
  • "Rules of the Game"
  • "Two Kinds"

NovelsEdit

Children's booksEdit

  • The Moon Lady, illustrated by Gretchen Schields (1992)
  • The Chinese Siamese Cat, illustrated by Gretchen Schields (1994)

NonfictionEdit

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  • Where the Past Begins: A Writer's Memoir (HarperCollins, 2017, Template:ISBN)
  • The Backyard Bird Chronicles, written and illustrated by Tan (Knopf, 2024, Template:ISBN)

AwardsEdit

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See alsoEdit

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ReferencesEdit

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General

External linksEdit

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