Let’s share our quotes, questions, and topics for Jiayang Fan’s “Motherland”
Also: There’s still time to join the discussion next Sunday
Happy Sunday, Article Clubbers! This month, we’re reading, annotating, and discussing “Motherland,” by Jiayang Fan of The New Yorker. We’re going to have a big turn-out at our discussion next Sunday, so thank you for joining. (There’s still time to sign up if you’re interested.)
All right, let’s recap: We have the article to read and annotate. We have the interview with Ms. Fan. This week, let’s share quotations, questions, and topics we might want to talk about at the discussion.
It’s not mandatory, of course, but please feel free to add your contribution in the comments!
Coming up at Article Club
Sunday 1/24: We’ll discuss the article with fellow Article Clubbers.
Article Club is a newish experiment in community reading. We read and discuss one outstanding article or book chapter a month. We invite the author to join our conversation, too. If you’re interested, sign up and check us out! Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture.
I enjoyed the interview--good job, Mark! She speaks like she writes, in beautifully descriptive full sentences and paragraphs. I wonder whether her editor has to do much work (or maybe you edited the interview, Mark?)
There are several quotes I’d like to discuss. Here’s one: “When she could still operate her first-generation iPad, my mother gave me a contact list of everyone she was still in touch with in China, and told me that, except for her siblings, no one must know of her affliction. Such self-imposed isolation seemed like madness to me, but she preferred to cut friends out of her life rather than admit to the indignity of her compromised state. Her body’s insurrection, my mother believes, is her punishment for her prideful strivings in America.”