I think the isolation in China also has to do with people's memories being wiped out, collective memories as well as individual memories, by the fact that the recent history has been constantly rewritten and revised. — Yiyun Li Copy Share Image
“I am not and autobiographical writer--one can't be without a solid and explicable self--and read all autobiographical writers with the same curiosity. What kind… — Yiyun Li Copy Share
One easy mistake to make with the first novel is to expand the short story. Some things are better as a story; you cannot… — Yiyun Li Copy Share
“sometimes Moran wondered if her chief merit was her willingness to serve as a human receptacle for details. Sympathy and admiration and surprise she… — Yiyun Li Copy Share
I always tell my students to go back after a hundred pages and rewrite from the beginning. It's really harder if you've already finished… — Yiyun Li Copy Share
She wonders if this is what people call falling in love, the desire to be with someone for every minute of the rest of… — Yiyun Li Copy Share
Some people in China don't look at freedom of speech as an abstract ideal, but more as a means to an end. — Yiyun Li Copy Share
“It saddened her that Luo insisted on holding on to her as if they had started to share some vital organs during their twenty… — Yiyun Li Copy Share
To write about a struggle amidst the struggling: one must hope that the muddling will end someday. — Yiyun Li Copy Share
What is revolution except a systematic way for one species to eat another alive? — Yiyun Li Copy Share
“His mother had always been a headstrong woman, and with her grayish-white mane and unsmiling face, she appeared as regal and intimidating as she… — Yiyun Li Copy Share
In China, your freedom is always limited, but this limitation applies to almost everyone. If someone does injustice to you, though, you have to… — Yiyun Li Copy Share
The boy will remain a son and never become a father. He will be forgotten by the crowd once his blood is rinsed clean… — Yiyun Li Copy Share
You can write about a country without taking a stand, but you cannot write about a country without noting that there's history, and that… — Yiyun Li Copy Share
