Press:
WCVB • Chronicle • Profiles: Gish Jen
WGBH • Greater Boston • Cambridge Author Gish Jen Discusses the East-West Culture Gap
The Big Think • The Self in the World – Gish Jen – Think Again Podcast #88
Spontaneous talk on surprise topics. Novelist and essayist Gish Jen on how fundamental East-West differences in the sense of self play out in art, culture, business, education, and more.
WGBH • Boston Public Radio • A Chinese American author explores the East-West culture gap
Chinese gather near Baiyun Temple in Beijing to pray for good fortune on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. • Jason Lee/Reuters
About Girl at the Baggage Claim:
A provocative and important study of the different ideas Easterners and Westerners have about the self and society and what this means for current debates in art, education, geopolitics, and business. Never have East and West come as close as they are today, yet we are still baffled by one another. Is our mantra “To thine own self be true”? Or do we believe we belong to something larger than ourselves—a family, a religion, a troop—that claims our first allegiance? Gish Jen—drawing on a treasure trove of stories and personal anecdotes, as well as cutting-edge research in cultural psychology—reveals how this difference shapes what we perceive and remember, what we say and do and make—how it shapes everything from our ideas about copying and talking in class to the difference between Apple and Alibaba. As engaging as it is illuminating, this is a book that stands to profoundly enrich our understanding of ourselves and of our world.
Praise and Reviews:
“Both timely and extremely important.”
“A deep psychological study of how place, habits, and identity mix in our world. Tremendous!”
“Subtle, erudite, and daring, The Girl at the Baggage Claim is a tour de force by one of the most insightful writers of our time.”
“Insightful, far-reaching and a joy to read, Gish Jen takes on the mystery of cultural difference, and succeeds in cracking the code. The Girl at the Baggage Claim answers questions I’ve been asking my whole life.”
“In her trademark lively and witty prose, Gish Jen not only limns non-Western views of the self but questions whether the Western self is really a natural way to be. A powerful, provocative work.”
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Science has revealed how our senses filter the world around us—making us focus on visual boundaries, musical repetition, and musky odors. With her novelist’s insights, Gish Jen shows us how differences in culture can filter our world as well. The Girl at the Baggage Claim is truly eye-opening and thought-provoking.”
“Misunderstanding East-West differences can cost us in every way we know how to measure: in money, friendship, education, in the balance of power, and the fate of the planet. The Girl at the Baggage Claim is remarkable and fluent but, most of all, essential.”
“A beautifully observed book with a perfect, light tone, The Girl at the Baggage Claim poignantly captures the personal tussle between independence and interdependence so many of us are caught in. A must read for anyone navigating the East-West divide.”
“This book gives special proof to the belief that our best novelists are also our best psychologists. With characteristic wit and unfailing insight, Gish Jen creates a genre all her own—uniquely universal, deeply serious, and unselfconsciously joyous.”