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Where the past begins : a writer's memoir  Cover Image Book Book

Where the past begins : a writer's memoir

Tan, Amy (author.).

Summary: "From New York Times bestselling author Amy Tan, a memoir on her life as a writer, her childhood, and the symbiotic relationship between fiction and emotional memory"--

Record details

  • ISBN: 0062319299
  • ISBN: 9780062319296
  • Physical Description: x, 357 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
    print
  • Edition: First edition.
  • Publisher: New York, NY : Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2017]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note: Includes bibliographical references.
Formatted Contents Note: Prologue. The breaker of combs -- I. Imagination -- A leaky imagination -- Music as muse -- Souvenir from a dream -- Hidden genius -- Reorientation: Homer, Alaska -- II. Memory in emotion -- Genuine emotions -- The feeling of what it felt like when it happened -- A mere mortal at age twenty-five -- A mere mortal at age twenty-six -- How to change fate: step 1 -- III. Retrieving the past -- The unfurling of leaves -- The auntie of the woman who lost her mind -- Unstoppable -- Time and distance: age twenty-four -- Time and distance: age fifty -- Time and distance: age sixty -- IV. Unknown endings -- The darkest moment of my life -- Nipping dog -- The father I did not know -- Reliable witness -- V. Reading and writing -- I am the author of this novel -- How I learned to read -- Splayed poem: the road -- Eidolons -- Letters to the editor -- Letters in English -- Why write? -- VI. Language -- Language: a love story -- Intestinal fortitude -- Principles of linguistics -- Companions in the house.
Subject: Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.)
Novelists, American 20th century Biography
Tan, Amy

Available copies

  • 1 of 1 copy available at Kenton County.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Erlanger Branch B T161 2017 (Text) 33126020067405 Adult Biography Available -

  • Baker & Taylor
    The best-selling author of such novels as The Joy Luck Club presents an intimate memoir on her life as a writer that explores formative experiences from her childhood and her evolving perspectives on the symbiotic relationship between fiction and emotional memory. 200,000 first printing.
  • Baker & Taylor
    "From New York Times bestselling author Amy Tan, a memoir on her life as a writer, her childhood, and the symbiotic relationship between fiction and emotional memory"--
  • Baker & Taylor
    Presents a memoir on the author's life as a writer that explores formative experiences from her childhood and her evolving perspectives on the symbiotic relationship between fiction and emotional memory.
  • HARPERCOLL

    FROM NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR AMY TAN, A MEMOIR ON HER LIFE AS A WRITER, HER CHILDHOOD, AND THE SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FICTION AND EMOTIONAL MEMORY

    In Where the Past Begins, bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club and The Valley of Amazement Amy Tan is at her most intimate in revealing the truths and inspirations that underlie her extraordinary fiction. By delving into vivid memories of her traumatic childhood, confessions of self-doubt in her journals, and heartbreaking letters to and from her mother, she gives evidence to all that made it both unlikely and inevitable that she would become a writer. Through spontaneous storytelling, she shows how a fluid fictional state of mind unleashed near-forgotten memories that became the emotional nucleus of her novels. 

    Tan explores shocking truths uncovered by family memorabilia'the real reason behind an IQ test she took at age six, why her parents lied about their education, mysteries surrounding her maternal grandmother'and, for the first time publicly, writes about her complex relationship with her father, who died when she was fifteen. Supplied with candor and characteristic humor, Where the Past Begins takes readers into the idiosyncratic workings of her writer's mind, a journey that explores memory, imagination, and truth, with fiction serving as both her divining rod and link to meaning. 

  • HARPERCOLL

    FROM NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR AMY TAN, A MEMOIR ON HER LIFE AS A WRITER, HER CHILDHOOD, AND THE SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FICTION AND EMOTIONAL MEMORY

    In Where the Past Begins, bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club and The Valley of Amazement Amy Tan is at her most intimate in revealing the truths and inspirations that underlie her extraordinary fiction. By delving into vivid memories of her traumatic childhood, confessions of self-doubt in her journals, and heartbreaking letters to and from her mother, she gives evidence to all that made it both unlikely and inevitable that she would become a writer. Through spontaneous storytelling, she shows how a fluid fictional state of mind unleashed near-forgotten memories that became the emotional nucleus of her novels. 

    Tan explores shocking truths uncovered by family memorabilia—the real reason behind an IQ test she took at age six, why her parents lied about their education, mysteries surrounding her maternal grandmother—and, for the first time publicly, writes about her complex relationship with her father, who died when she was fifteen. Supplied with candor and characteristic humor, Where the Past Begins takes readers into the idiosyncratic workings of her writer’s mind, a journey that explores memory, imagination, and truth, with fiction serving as both her divining rod and link to meaning. 

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