Five Questions with Weiji Wang

“Five Questions with Friends”是我们新开设的灵魂拷问系列，在这里，我们将邀请我们认识的海外亚裔写作者们来讨（吐）论（槽）跨语言写作这个事情，这一期我们请来的是刚刚收获美国写作MFA全奖offer小说作者Weiji Wang。

Accent Society=A

Weiji Wang= W

A: Why do you write in English? (If not applicable—Why do you write?)

W: I agree, to some extent, with the belief that your work gains a life of its own once you finish the creative process. It feels more accurate for me to say that there’s always some distance between writers and their writing. To write is to self-alienate. It’s impossible for me to do that in my native tongue, which is as familiar and intimate as a childhood blanket, one that I must bring wherever I travel. Those who know me personally can see me with that blanket, but it’s not a view that I wish to make public. 

A: Who do you like to read? Or tell us a movie/play/artwork… that you have recently enjoyed.

W: I expect to read more of Magda Szabó’s novels. The Door (the 2015 edition translated by Len Rix), with an introduction by Ali Smith and Eva Hesse’s painting as cover art, drew me to the author. If I can teach a course on queer kinship, The Door will definitely be on the syllabus. Above all, what captivates me is how it uses run-of-the-mill—almost anti-climactic—stories to pose difficult questions about euthanasia, social boundaries, religious practices and beliefs, and the differentiation between the values assigned to different types of work and labor. Wars is always a tragically exciting theme, and the novel offers an ingenious treatment that shows the damage without showing how it’s done.

I recently watched Sunset by László Nemes (the director of Son of Saul) in the theater and was absolutely blown away by its narrative. It’s a historical drama, the coming-of-age of a young woman, and a suspenseful mystery. I am not too enthused by witnessing the making of local history through a female perspective, though this kind of antinormative chronicle is rare enough. The movie certainly defies easy categorization, but if I’m to take it simply as a mystery film, it won’t be the crown jewel of the genre, because it doesn’t give audiences the satisfaction of untying knots, but it’ll tip the crown over. It has the elegant force of a coup de grâce.

A: How do you get into MFA and what do you expect of it?

W：The most important part of the application to MFA programs is the writing sample. Mine benefited from the help of many dear friends and more experienced writers (shout-out to Na and Jiaoyang). I expect systematic training because I’ve mostly been following my instinct. And honestly, I just look forward to having ample time to write and experiment with ideas.

A：What creative medium do you work in to take a break from your writing?

W：I’m interested in screenwriting and am always trying to write a horror film script. None of the things I do besides writing is creative. There’re some specific things that help me generate ideas, like watching other people on public transportations.

A：What are you writing now and what's your writing plan for this new year?

W：I’m writing short stories. One of them is about stealing a cat, and another about a girl who was born in a well. My problem is sticking to one story and the length I decide on. I’m never short of ideas, but they’re like unruly children, and I have trouble making them behave and attending to them all.

BIO

Weiji Wang lived most of her life in Guiyang, Guizhou before attending University of Pennsylvania, in the City of Brotherly Love. In one of the parallel universes, she’s a drag queen, known as ‘Matitisse,’ who sings opera. This fall, Weiji will join the MFA fiction cohort at Purdue University and teach a course on academic writing.

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