Author, Anchee Min appeared this evening at Copperfield's Bookstore in the San Francisco North Bay to discuss her newest novel, "Pearl of China." Pearl is a fictionalized account of the life of Pearl Buck, an author who spent 40 years in China and lived amongst peasants.
Although Pearl Buck is now greatly honored by China, when Min was a child she was forced to denounce Buck in writing for her novel, "The Good Earth." When Min asked if she could first read the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, before writing her condemnation she was told the book was too "toxic" for her to read.
Min's outstandingly courageous and emotionally honest discussion of how she came to condemn Pearl Buck, brought tears to my eyes. Min also revealed that as a young Maoist she was misled into denouncing her favorite teacher for reading the class, "the Little Mermaid."
Giving context to behavior that is difficult to understand out of Maoist China, Min explained how denouncement was an act of sacrifice. Thus, it was because she loved her teacher that she denounced her. When Min brought home a certificate of honor from school for having done this, her mother told her, "If you ever do that again I will disown you."
Min described herself in those difficult years as having become a "monster." Perhaps some day Anchee Mee will write about her remarkable transformation and her capability of self acceptance and honesty. It is easy in today's world of extreme political correctness to understand the temptation to quickly judge others and to lose perspective. People who easily and continuously denounce others in the name of politics would do well to remember History's lessons and learn from Min's experience.
The echoes of pain that I heard from the heart of author Min to her audience are visible in an earlier book that she wrote, "Wild Ginger." Wild Ginger explores the devastating terrain of the Cultural Revolution. "It brilliantly delineates the psychological and sexual perversion of those times." Anchee Min reflects the same startling, compelling beauty in her force of personality as well as in writing. I don't think that I will ever read one of her novels again without hearing the pain that forged the metal of these works.
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