AJL magazine - Asian Jewish Life

Interviewby Susan Blumberg-KasonInterview withHong Kong author Xu XiAuthor Xu Xi is Hong Kong’spreeminent writer in English.She has penned nine worksof fiction and essays,and has edited three anthologies ofHong Kong writing. Xu Xi received herMaster’s of Fine Arts in Fiction at theUniversity of Massachusetts at Amherst,and recently completed a three-yearchairmanship of Vermont College ofFine Art’s MFA program. Now back inher home city, she spends her days asWriter in Residence, City University ofHong Kong, where she founded the firstMFA program in Asia for English writers.Asian Jewish Life recently asked Xu Xiabout her Jewish characters, the futureof English literature in Hong Kong, andher writing career. She can be foundonline at www.xuxiwriter.com.Asian Jewish Life (AJL): In yourmost recent novel, Habit of a ForeignSky (Haven Books, 2010), which wasshortlisted for the 2007 inaugural ManAsian Literary Prize, two of the mostsympathetic characters have Jewishnames. They both play large roles inthe development of the story. Did youintentionally choose identifiable Jewishnames for these characters in honor ofpeople you know? Do Jewish charactersplay large roles in your other books also?Xu Xi (XX): I am so pleased you pickedup on the Jewish connection! That wasdeliberate on my part, not exactly inhonor of any particular individual but torecognize the American Jewish worldgenerally that I’ve come to know overthe years. It was noticeable to me thatmany of the Americans abroad in Asiawhom I met were Jewish, and it made merealize how much the diaspora Chineseand Jewish cultures had in common.Then later, living in New York City, Iagain met many Jewish people in theprofessional (and later literary as well)communities I was in (law especially),and the celebration of Jewish holidaysin New York made me more consciousof the culture and religion. I did alsodate a couple of Jewish guys back in mytwenties, and have had and of coursestill have a number of close Jewishfriends. So yes I definitely did mean forboth Jim and Josh to be sympathetic.Actually, Jim first appeared in TheUnwalled City (2001) in a minor role andin my novel previous to that, Hong KongRose (1997), I had an American in HongASIAN JEWISH LIFE ISSUE 1137