Chang-Rae Lee

Most people don't think about race as much as I do. They don't have to.

— Chang-Rae Lee

Imagination might not be limitless. It's still tethered to the universe of what we know.

— Chang-Rae Lee

“sometimes you can’t help but crave some ruin in what you love.”

— Chang-rae Lee

A tale, like the universe, they tell us, expands ceaselessly each time you examine it, until there’s finally no telling exactly where…

— Chang-Rae Lee

Maybe someone's who's a different kind of writer [would think otherwise] - someone who'd be just as comfortable writing essays on what…

— Chang-Rae Lee

I remember when I was in art classes, I hated following the assignments. And I would get in trouble for doing something…

— Chang-Rae Lee

“It seems I have always been fortunate to be in a certain provident, which must be my sole skill, and worth, and…

— Chang-rae Lee

I don't feel uncomfortable in America, but every once in a while, I'm reminded that people don't see me the way I…

— Chang-Rae Lee

One of the ready advantages of writing a road or quest story is that it mirrors the experience of writing a novel.

— Chang-Rae Lee

In this difficult era the most valuable commodity is the unfailing turn of the hours and how they retrieve for us the…

— Chang-Rae Lee

We know the point of the 2010 Census is to count us, one by one, to tally every last resident, but the…

— Chang-Rae Lee

I don't believe complete assimilation is possible, at least not for anyone who has an active, open mind. Every step, every entry…

— Chang-Rae Lee

“Isn’t it better that we send them off once and for all beneath the glow of carnival lights, with the taste of…

— Chang-rae Lee

After college, I was living in New York and wrote furiously, a huge novel that I knew was a failure. I hoped…

— Chang-Rae Lee

“There is something universally chilling about a new plot. And I could see how my boy needed time and space for a…

— Chang-rae Lee

In my teaching, I try to expose my students to the widest range of aesthetic possibilities, so I'll offer them stories from…

— Chang-Rae Lee

“I know again why I favor it so much here, how I esteem the hush of this suburban foliage in every season,…

— Chang-rae Lee

It's not that I wrote those details, but photos can give you the confidence that you have a real feel for the…

— Chang-Rae Lee

“And while it's easy to say this is a situation to be avoided, isn't this what we also fear and crave simultaneously,…

— Chang-rae Lee

Not to any really influential effect, but certainly there have been comments that have surprised me. It's surprising sometimes to get particular…

— Chang-Rae Lee

“We have to wonder what this might suggest about the relationship between the public realm and private lives in our settlement. Some…

— Chang-rae Lee

Some writers are writing one great, big book and just taking all these different avenues towards it. They might seem on the…

— Chang-Rae Lee

My family immigrated when I was 3, and our predecessors inhabited the Korean Peninsula for as long as can be recalled.

— Chang-Rae Lee

As for what's the most challenging aspect of teaching, it's convincing younger writers of the importance of reading widely and passionately.

— Chang-Rae Lee

A novel, even a social realist one, can't simply be a comprehensive rendering of what is. A novel requires a special angle…

— Chang-Rae Lee

“...it seems to me that life's moments don't have to be so right or not right anymore, so fraught and weighted with…

— Chang-rae Lee

I think my parents recognised that I'd always wanted to be a writer, and so they didn't think that this was some…

— Chang-Rae Lee

I'd always wanted to write something about the Korean War because of my heritage. My father lost his brother during the war,…

— Chang-Rae Lee

It's hard to write a war story without thinking about the 'Iliad.' Because the 'Iliad' knows everything about war.

— Chang-Rae Lee

We arrived the way most emigrant families did. My father came first, and the rest of us - my mother, my sister…

— Chang-Rae Lee

I didn't leave Wall Street because the work was against my nature - I do have a pretty good head for numbers.…

— Chang-Rae Lee

“This is how we were meant for each other. How we make our living. The lives of frustrated poets and imposters. This,…

— Chang-rae Lee

I wanted to present a sweep and scope of larger events, and a grander backdrop, but most important was to set against…

— Chang-Rae Lee

It's not that I don't enjoy other people, but what I find with writers is this back and forth. And also, there's…

— Chang-Rae Lee

Historical novels are about costumery. I think that's the magic and mystery of fiction. I don't want to write historical fiction but…

— Chang-Rae Lee

Unlike F. Scott Fitzgerald and Tom Wolfe, I don't like proper dress while working. I like writing in pajama-like clothing, which eases…

— Chang-Rae Lee

My writing day follows my family's day. I get a good few hours in the mornings when the kids are out of…

— Chang-Rae Lee

I often think that the prime directive for me as a teacher of writing is akin to that for a physician, which…

— Chang-Rae Lee

I don't like to use writing assignments, exercises. I think too often people get comfortable writing in that vein, but you can't…

— Chang-Rae Lee

I suppose people might consider me a 'loose' reader, as I seem willing to read anything of quality thinking and prose.

— Chang-Rae Lee