Chang-Rae Lee

2025-09-18T03:57:32Z

2601:4A:4201:AF0:4CBE:D4B7:285B:D68C: An upcoming movie had to be represented.

{{Short description|Korean-American novelist (born 1965)}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Lee (Korean surname)|Lee]]|lang=Korean}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Chang-rae Lee
| image = Chang-rae Lee at UMich.jpg
| caption = Chang-rae Lee speaks to a [[University of Michigan]] class about his novel ''[[On Such a Full Sea]]''.
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1965|7|29}}
| birth_place = South Korea
| death_date =
| death_place =
| education = [[Yale University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[University of Oregon]] ([[Master of Fine Arts|MFA]])
| occupation = Novelist
| nationality = American (naturalized)
| notableworks = ''Native Speaker''; ''Aloft''
| spouse = Michelle Branca
| awards = [[Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award]]<br/>[[Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature]]<br/>[[Asian American Literary Awards]]
| module = {{Infobox Korean name/auto
|hangul=%이창래
| hanja=李昌來
| child = yes}}
}}
'''Chang-rae Lee''' (born July 29, 1965) is a [[Korean-American]] novelist and a professor of creative writing at [[Stanford University]].<ref name=USAToday2010>{{cite news|last=Minzesheimer|first=Bob|title=Chang-rae Lee's 'Surrendered': Unrelentingly sad yet lovely|url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2010-03-16-lee16_ST_N.htm|access-date=31 March 2011|newspaper=USA Today|date=March 16, 2010}}</ref> He was previously Professor of Creative Writing at Princeton and director of [[Princeton University]]'s Program in Creative Writing.

==Early life==
Lee was born in [[South Korea]] in 1965 to Young Yong and Inja Hong Lee. He immigrated to the United States with his family when he was 3 years old <ref name=NYTInterview>{{cite news|last=Garner|first=Dwight|title=Interview: Adopted Voice|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/05/books/interview-adopted-voice.html?ref=changraelee|access-date=31 March 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 5, 1999|archive-date=20 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720135959/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/05/books/interview-adopted-voice.html?ref=changraelee|url-status=live}}</ref> to join his father, who was then a psychiatric resident and later established a successful practice in Westchester County, New York.<ref name="Yung-Hsing 2005">Wu, Yung-Hsing. "Chang-rae Lee." Asian- American Writers. Ed. Deborah L. Madsen. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 312. Literature Resource Center. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.</ref> In a 1999 interview with Ferdinand M. De Leon, Lee described his childhood as "a standard suburban American upbringing," in which he attended [[Phillips Exeter Academy]] in [[Exeter, New Hampshire]], before earning a B.A. in English at [[Yale University]] in 1987.<ref name="Yung-Hsing 2005"/> After working as an equities analyst on [[Wall Street]] for a year, he enrolled at the [[University of Oregon]]. With the manuscript for ''[[Native Speaker (novel)|Native Speaker]]'' as his thesis, he received a master of fine arts degree in writing in 1993 and became an assistant professor of creative writing at the university. On 19 June 1993 Lee married architect Michelle Branca, with whom he has two daughters.<ref name="Yung-Hsing 2005"/> The success of his debut novel, ''[[Native Speaker (novel)|Native Speaker]]'', led Lee to move to Hunter College of the City University of New York, where he was hired to direct and teach in the prestigious creative-writing program.<ref name="Yung-Hsing 2005"/>

==Career==
Lee's first novel, ''[[Native Speaker (novel)|Native Speaker]]'' (1995), won numerous awards including the [[PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel]].<ref name=USAToday2010 /> Centered on a Korean-American industrial spy, the novel explores themes of alienation and betrayal as experienced by immigrants and first-generation citizens, in their struggle to [[Cultural assimilation|assimilate]] in American life.<ref name=NYTInterview /> In 1999, he published his second novel, ''[[A Gesture Life]]''. This elaborated on his themes of identity and assimilation through the narrative of an elderly Japanese immigrant in the US who was born in Korea but later adopted to a Japanese family and remembers treating Korean [[comfort women]] during [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Kakutani|first=Michiko|title='A Gesture Life': Fitting In Perfectly on the Outside, but Lost Within|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/08/29/daily/083199lee-book-review.html|access-date=31 March 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 31, 1999|archive-date=17 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117005444/http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/08/29/daily/083199lee-book-review.html|url-status=live}}</ref> For this book, Lee received the [[Asian American Literary Awards|Asian American Literary Award]].<ref>[http://aaww.org/aaww_awards.html The Asian American Writers' Workshop - Awards] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718223825/http://www.aaww.org/aaww_awards.html |date=2011-07-18 }}</ref> His 2004 novel ''[[Aloft (novel)|Aloft]]'' received mixed notices from the [[critic]]s and featured Lee's first protagonist who is not Asian American, but a disengaged and isolated Italian-American [[suburb]]anite forced to deal with his world.<ref>{{cite news|last=Dean|first=Tamsin|title=High and dry|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3619235/High-and-dry.html|access-date=31 March 2011|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=June 21, 2004|archive-date=2 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302032718/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3619235/High-and-dry.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It received the 2006 [[Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature|Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature]] in the Adult Fiction category.<ref>[http://www.apalaweb.org/awards/literature-awards/past-literature-award-winners/ APALA Past Award Winners] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110222010333/http://www.apalaweb.org/awards/literature-awards/past-literature-award-winners/ |date=February 22, 2011 }}</ref> His 2010 novel ''[[The Surrendered]]'' won the 2011 [[Dayton Literary Peace Prize]] and was a nominated finalist for the [[2011 Pulitzer Prize|2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2011-Fiction |title=The 2011 Pulitzer Prize Winners Fiction |access-date=2011-04-23 |archive-date=2012-08-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120823070756/http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2011-Fiction |url-status=live }}</ref> Lee's next novel, ''On Such a Full Sea'' (2014) is set in a dystopian future version of the American city of [[Baltimore, Maryland]] called B-Mor where the main character, Fan, is a Chinese-American laborer working as a diver in a fish farm.<ref>{{cite news|last=Leyshon|first=Cressida|title='The Chorus of "We": An Interview With Chang-rae Lee|url=http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/01/the-chorus-of-we-an-interview-with-chang-rae-lee.html|access-date=7 January 2014|magazine=The New Yorker|date=January 7, 2014|archive-date=8 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108185004/http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2014/01/the-chorus-of-we-an-interview-with-chang-rae-lee.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It was a finalist for the 2014 [[National Book Critics Circle Award]].<ref name=nbcc2014>{{cite web|url=http://bookcritics.org/blog/archive/national-book-critics-circle-announces-its-finalists-for-publishing-year-20|title=National Book Critics Circle Announces Finalists for Publishing Year 2014|date=January 19, 2015|publisher=[[National Book Critics Circle]]|access-date=January 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150122224418/http://bookcritics.org/blog/archive/national-book-critics-circle-announces-its-finalists-for-publishing-year-20|archive-date=January 22, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2016, Lee joined the faculty of Stanford University, where he is the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professor of English.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://english.stanford.edu/people/chang-rae-lee|title=Chang-rae Lee {{!}} Department of English|website=english.stanford.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-05-12|archive-date=2018-06-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180611083522/https://english.stanford.edu/people/chang-rae-lee|url-status=live}}</ref> He previously taught creative writing in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/230002/chang-rae-lee|title=Chang-rae Lee {{!}} Penguin Random House|website=www.penguinrandomhouse.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-05-12|archive-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513011304/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/230002/chang-rae-lee|url-status=live}}</ref> He was also a Shinhan Distinguished Visiting Professor at [[Yonsei University]] in [[Seoul]], South Korea.<ref name=":0" />

Lee has compared his writing process to [[spelunking]]. "You kind of create the right path for yourself. But, boy, are there so many points at which you think, absolutely, I'm going down the wrong hole here. And I can't get back to the right hole."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/03/why-novel-writing-is-like-spelunking-an-interview-with-chang-rae-lee/71843/|title=Why Novel-Writing Is Like Spelunking: An Interview with Chang-rae Lee|last=Fassler|first=Joe|work=The Atlantic|access-date=2018-05-12|language=en-US|archive-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513080914/https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/03/why-novel-writing-is-like-spelunking-an-interview-with-chang-rae-lee/71843/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Major themes==
Lee explores issues central to the [[Asian-American]] experience: the legacy of the past; the encounter of diverse cultures; the challenges of racism and discrimination, and exclusion; dreams achieved and dreams deferred. In the process of developing and defining itself, then, Asian-American literature speaks to the very heart of what it means to be American. The authors of this literature above all concern themselves with identity, with the question of becoming and being American, of being accepted, not "foreign."<ref>Matibag, E.(2010). Asian american art and literature. In [[Encyclopedia of American Studies]]. Retrieved from http://0-search.credoreference.com.library.simmons.edu/content/entry/jhueas/asian_american_art_and_literature/0</ref> Lee's writings have addressed these questions of identity, exile and diaspora, assimilation, and alienation.<ref name="Yung-Hsing 2005"/>

== Awards and honors ==
In 2015, the [[American Library Association]] included ''[[On Such a Full Sea]]'' on their list of the year's Notable Books.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wood |first=Leighann |date=2015-02-01 |title=2015 Notable Books announced: Year's best in fiction, nonfiction and poetry |url=http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2015/02/2015-notable-books-announced-year-s-best-fiction-nonfiction-and-poetry |access-date=2018-05-12 |work=[[American Library Association]] |language=en |archive-date=2018-05-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513011519/http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2015/02/2015-notable-books-announced-year-s-best-fiction-nonfiction-and-poetry |url-status=live }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"
|+Awards for Lee's writing
!Year
!Title
!Award
!Category
!Result
!{{Abbreviation|Ref.|Reference}}
|-
!1995
| rowspan="2" |''Native Speaker''
|[[Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award]]
|—
|{{won}}
|<ref>{{Cite news |title=Barnes & Noble Names Winners of the 27th Annual Discover Awards |url=https://authorlink.com/award-winner/barnes-noble-names-winners-of-the-27th-annual-discover-awards-2018/ |access-date=2018-05-12 |work=Authorlink |language=en-US |archive-date=2018-05-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513080907/https://authorlink.com/award-winner/barnes-noble-names-winners-of-the-27th-annual-discover-awards-2018/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
!1996
|[[PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel]]
|—
|{{won}}
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=List of PEN/Hemingway Winners |url=https://www.hemingwaysociety.org/list-penhemingway-winners |access-date=2018-05-12 |website=[[The Hemingway Society]] |language=en |archive-date=2022-01-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107224819/https://www.hemingwaysociety.org/list-penhemingway-winners |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
! rowspan="2" |2000
| rowspan="2" |{{Sort|Gesture Life|''[[A Gesture Life]]''}}
|[[Anisfield-Wolf Book Award]]
|Fiction
|{{won}}
|<ref>{{Cite news |title=A Gesture Life |url=http://www.anisfield-wolf.org/books/a-gesture-life/ |access-date=2018-05-12 |work=[[Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards]] |language=en-US |archive-date=2018-05-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513080839/http://www.anisfield-wolf.org/books/a-gesture-life/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
|NAIBA Book of the Year Award
|—
|{{won}}
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=NAIBA Book of the Year Awards |url=http://www.naiba.com/?page=BooksoftheYear |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113010101/http://www.naiba.com/?page=BooksoftheYear |archive-date=2013-11-13 |access-date=2018-05-12 |website=New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association}}</ref>
|-
!2006
|''Aloft''
|[[Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature|Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature]]
|Fiction
|{{won}}
|<ref name="05-06">{{cite web |title=2005-2006 AWARDS WINNERS |url=http://www.apalaweb.org/awards/literature-awards/winners/2005-2006-awardswinners/ |accessdate=1 February 2019 |website=APALA}}</ref>
|-
! rowspan="2" |2011
| rowspan="2" |{{Sort|Surrendered, The|''[[The Surrendered]]''}}
|[[Dayton Literary Peace Prize]]
|—
|{{won}}
|<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morland |first=D. Verne |title=Chang-rae Lee, 2011 Fiction Winner |url=http://daytonliterarypeaceprize.org/2011-fiction_winner.htm |access-date=2018-05-12 |website=[[Dayton Literary Peace Prize]] |archive-date=2017-10-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009165413/http://daytonliterarypeaceprize.org/2011-fiction_winner.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
|[[Pulitzer Prize]]
|[[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction|Fiction]]
|{{sho|Finalist}}
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Finalist: ''The Surrendered'', by Chang-rae Lee (Riverhead Books) |url=http://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/chang-rae-lee |access-date=2018-05-12 |website=[[Pulitzer Prize]] |language=en |archive-date=2018-05-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513011416/http://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/chang-rae-lee |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
!2017
|—
|[[John Dos Passos Prize For Literature|John Dos Passos Prize for Literature]]
|—
|{{won}}
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=The John Dos Passos Prize for Literature: Past Recipients and Select Works |url=http://www.longwood.edu/english/dos-passos-prize/past-recipients-and-select-works/ |access-date=2021-11-04 |website=[[Longwood University]] |publisher= |archive-date=2020-10-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023063026/http://www.longwood.edu/english/dos-passos-prize/past-recipients-and-select-works/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
|}

==Bibliography==
{{Incomplete list|date=December 2014}}

===Books===
* ''[[Native Speaker (novel)|Native Speaker]]'' (Riverhead, 1994)
* ''[[A Gesture Life]]'' (Riverhead, 1999)
* ''Aloft'' (Riverhead, 2004)
* ''[[The Surrendered]]'' (Riverhead, 2010)<ref group=lower-alpha>{{cite magazine |last=Wood |first=James |author-link=James Wood (critic) |date=15 March 2010 |title=A Critic at Large: Keeping it Real |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |volume=86 |issue=4 |pages=71–75 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2010/03/15/100315crat_atlarge_wood |access-date=16 January 2011 |archive-date=23 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110323021742/http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2010/03/15/100315crat_atlarge_wood |url-status=live }}</ref>
* ''[[On Such a Full Sea]]'' (Riverhead, 2014)
* ''My Year Abroad'' (2021)

===Articles===

* {{cite journal  |date=Summer 1993 |title=The Faintest Echo of Our Language |journal=[[The New England Review]] |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=85–93 |doi=10.1056/NEJM183609140150601 |jstor=40242683 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/2122448 }}
* {{cite journal  |date=October 9, 1995 |title=Coming Home Again |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1995/10/16/coming-home-again |journal=The New Yorker }}
* {{cite journal  |date=December 3, 2012 |title=Gut Course: Manhattan |journal=[[The New Yorker]] |volume=88 |issue=38 |pages=72–73 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/12/03/manhattan-5 }}
* {{cite journal  |date=September 6, 2021 |title=Sea Urchin |department=First Tastes. August 19 & 26, 2002 |journal=The New Yorker |volume=97 |issue=27 |pages=39 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/06/magazine20020819sea-urchin }}<ref group=lower-alpha>Online version is titled "How Sea Urchin Tastes". First published in the August 19&26, 2002 issue.</ref>

===Screenplays===

* ''[[Coming Home Again]]'' (co-written and directed by [[Wayne Wang]], 2019)
* ''[[How Much of These_Hills Is Gold#Film adaptation|Old Gold Mountain]]'' (TBA)<ref>{{cite news|last=Kroll|first=Justin|title=Ang Lee To Direct ‘Old Gold Mountain’|url=https://deadline.com/2025/06/ang-lee-old-gold-mountain-1236425084/|date=June 5, 2025|work=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|publisher=[[Penske Media Corporation]]|access-date=September 18, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Kroll|first=Justin|title=Ang Lee’s Next Film ‘Old Gold Mountain’ Pushing Production till Next Spring 2026|url=https://deadline.com/2025/07/ang-lee-old-gold-mountain-pushing-production-1236468298/|date=July 24, 2025|work=Deadline Hollywood|publisher=Penske Media Corporation|access-date=September 18, 2025}}</ref>

===Critical studies and reviews of Lee's work===
;''My year abroad''
* {{Cite web|title='My Year Abroad' Is A Fun Excursion — Just A Little Light On Substance|url=https://www.npr.org/2021/01/28/961527499/my-year-abroad-is-a-fun-excursion-just-a-little-light-on-substance|access-date=2021-02-02|website=NPR.org|language=en|archive-date=2021-02-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202105755/https://www.npr.org/2021/01/28/961527499/my-year-abroad-is-a-fun-excursion-just-a-little-light-on-substance|url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal |author=Schwartz, Alexandra |date=February 15–22, 2021 |title=Eastward ho! In 'My Year Abroad,' Chang-rae Lee again shifts course|department=The Critics. Books |journal=The New Yorker |volume=97 |issue=1 |pages=79–81 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/02/15/chang-rae-lee-lets-loose-in-my-year-abroad }}<ref group=lower-alpha>Online version is titled "Chang-rae Lee lets loose in 'My Year Abroad'".</ref>
———————
;Bibliography notes
{{reflist|40em|group=lower-alpha}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Portal|Biography}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=TT8FqGokPL4C&pg=PA104 "Mute in an English-Only World"], an essay by Lee in the anthology ''Dream Me Home Safely: Writers on Growing Up in America'', at [[Google Books]]
*[https://wordsonawireradioshow.blogspot.com/2011/11/listen-to-sixth-show-from-sunday.html Interview with Lee] at Words on a Wire
*[http://ccragg123.libsyn.com/-the-surrendered-author-chang-rae-lee-] KGNU Claudia Cragg radio interview with Chang-Rae Lee, March 2011, on 'The Surrendered'.

{{American Book Awards}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Chang-Rae}}
[[Category:1965 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American writers of Korean descent]]
[[Category:The New Yorker people]]
[[Category:Writers from Princeton, New Jersey]]
[[Category:People from Westchester County, New York]]
[[Category:Phillips Exeter Academy alumni]]
[[Category:Princeton University faculty]]
[[Category:South Korean emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:University of Oregon alumni]]
[[Category:Novelists from New Jersey]]
[[Category:Novelists from Oregon]]
[[Category:Yale University alumni]]
[[Category:American novelists of Asian descent]]
[[Category:Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award winners]]
[[Category:American Book Award winners]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:Novelists from New York (state)]]

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Chang-Rae Lee