Jin left China in 1985 to attend Brandeis University. The author of five novels, three story collections, and three volumes of poetry, he is a professor of English at Boston University. He spoke from his home in Boston.
Q.How did you return to the short story?
A. I had intended for a long time to write short stories about the immigrant experience, so it was planned long ago, but I just didn’t know where to set the stories. It wasn’t until the beginning of 2005 when I happened to be in Flushing. I was very moved by the sights and the people there.
Q.So the characters were there already, waiting for the setting?
A. It can happen both ways. Some of the characters, I already knew their anecdotes so some of the happenings were in my head. Then after my first visit to Flushing I returned many times, perhaps 20 times altogether. Gradually there were stories that during the visit came up. I also did a lot of research.
Q.Why did you choose Flushing?
A. This is such an immigrant community. There are all kinds of people. It’s like the very beginning of an American town, in a way. That’s why I was very touched by it.
Q.You open this collection with the voice of a waitress. Are you setting the tone?
A. Yes. It is a slender story; it is slight, just four pages long. But the story is, in a way, a kind of prelude, a preface to the whole volume. It sets up a time and place and the complexity of our time. In that sense, the book needs a small piece like that at the beginning.
Q.In novels and stories, you project the female narrator’s voice so well. How is that?
A. I just spend more time working on it. There is no short cut. You just have to spend more time with the character whether she is in a novel or a short story.
Q.Why are details of work and money so important?
