![\"\"](\"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/westernmassqtwriters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/442\/2018\/04\/chee-1024x775.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Alexander Chee was born in Rhode Island, but grew up in his paternal grandfather\u2019s house in Seoul, then Truk, Hawaii, Guam, and finally Maine. To borrow Chee\u2019s own words, he is \u201c<\/span>Half Korean, all queer<\/span><\/a>.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n After graduating from Wesleyan University, Chee spent two years in San Francisco before moving to New York in 1991. While in San Francisco, Chee was involved with both Queer Nation and ACT UP. In New York, while continuing to write, he worked at the bookstore, \u201cA Different Light,\u201d and also served as an assistant editor at <\/span>Out<\/span><\/i> magazine. <\/span><\/p>\n Chee then went on to receive his MFA from the Iowa Writers\u2019 Workshop in 1994 (he writes about the decision to apply and attend in his essay, \u201c<\/span>My Parade<\/span><\/a>\u201d) and has since taught at Wesleyan University, Amherst College, the Iowa Writers\u2019 Workshop, Columbia University, the University of Texas-Austin, and currently teaches at Dartmouth College. At Amherst College, he was the visiting writer from Fall 2006 to Spring 2010. <\/span><\/p>\n —<\/span><\/p>\n In 2001, Chee published his first novel, <\/span>Edinburgh<\/span><\/i>, which tells the story of a Korean-American boy named Fee. The story is narrated in the first-person present tense, and follows Fee as he grows up in Maine and joins the Pine State Boys Chorus. Through the choir, Fee meets Peter, and much of the narrative spirals around their friendship. <\/span><\/p>\n Edinburgh <\/span><\/i>is a devastating story, but with a particular clarity of voice. I especially love Chee\u2019s one-sentence paragraphs and the dialogue among the young boys (all of which is without quotation marks). These moments are striking precisely because they are understated, quotidian, and ordinary. They ring of childhood. Fee says, for instance: \u201cSomething feels wrong here, I say. \/ What do you mean, they ask at the same time. \/ Jinx, I say.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n I am also grateful for the way Chee articulates Fee\u2019s relationship to whiteness. Through Fee\u2019s watchfulness, the things he observes, the reader understands how whiteness structures and inflicts violence on his story. Chee delicately captures the sense of isolation and hurt that accompanies a stripping of agency inextricably tied to Fee\u2019s racial identity. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Chee\u2019s second novel, <\/span>The Queen of the Night<\/span><\/i>, was published in 2016. As a historical novel set in 19th century France, it seems very far away from <\/span>Edinburgh, <\/span><\/i>which Chee himself describes as autobiographical fiction (read further in \u201c<\/span>The Autobiography of my Novel<\/span><\/a>\u201d). But while <\/span>The Queen<\/span><\/i> is a very different novel \u2014 even just in terms of its scale\u00a0 \u2014\u00a0I find many aspects of the writing familiar. In the first chapter, I was struck by another of Chee\u2019s one-sentence paragraphs; it came after a long description of protagonist Lilliet Berne\u2019s public profile \u2014 the mystery of her, the ambiguity, her masks \u2014 and the line simply read: \u201cThe voice, at least, was true.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Chee\u2019s latest book, a collection of essays titled, <\/span>How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, <\/span><\/i>was<\/span> published in April 2018. Intriguingly, it shares its first chapter name with the first section name from <\/span>The Queen of the Night.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0Both are:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u201cThe Curse\u201d (a nice easter egg of continuity across his work). The Washington Post describes the collection as possessing a \u201c<\/span>quiet intimacy<\/span><\/a>.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n It seems to emerge quite naturally out of Chee’s publication history already brimming with autobiographical writing published in various magazines and newspapers. And many of these pieces also weave in discussions of writerly craft and practical advice for other writers. In \u201c<\/span>My Inheritance Was My Father\u2019s Last Lesson To Me And I Am Still Learning It<\/span><\/a>,\u201d for instance, in addition to writing about his own relationship to money, Chee offers the reader his own concrete rules for operating as a writer, asking for money, and trying to make a living. \u201c<\/span>My Parade<\/span><\/a>,\u201d mentioned earlier in this bio, describes Chee\u2019s decision to pursue an MFA. A blog post from The Center for Fiction, \u201c<\/span>Research Your Life<\/span><\/a>,\u201d provides insight on the importance of asking questions, particularly about the things you think you already know about. (He also articulates the importance of this practice in <\/span>an interview with The Stranger<\/span><\/a>: \u201cthe things I needed to research the most were the things I thought I did not need to. Those parts are usually where your blind spots hide.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n —<\/span><\/p>\n All this to say: Chee is a writer who puts much of his life into both the literary page and the wider literary world through his articles, blog posts, and many<\/strong> social media accounts. He is generous in his craft, and generous to the writing world that he lives in. <\/span><\/p>\n Edinburgh<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/a>. <\/span><\/i>Welcome Rain LLC,<\/span>\u00a02001. (<\/span>Also Macmillan, 2002; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016) <\/span> \u201cResearch Your Life<\/a><\/span>.\u201d The Center for Fiction.<\/i> With Ocean Vuong: <\/span> Cameron, Claire. \u201c<\/span>Maybe It Was Worth It: The Millions Interviews Alexander Chee<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u201d <\/span>The Millions. <\/span><\/i>February 1, 2016.<\/span>A Selected Bibliography<\/h4>\n
Books<\/span><\/h6>\n
\nThe Queen of the Night<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/a>. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016.<\/span>
\nHow to Write an Autobiographical Novel<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/span>. <\/span><\/i>Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018.<\/span><\/p>\nEssays & Articles<\/span><\/h6>\n
\n\u201cKorean Enough: Alexander Chee on New Korean American Fiction<\/a><\/span>.\u201d Guernica. <\/i>June 14, 2008. <\/span>
\n\u201c<\/span>My Parade<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u201d <\/span>Buzzfeed. <\/span><\/i>February 27, 2014. (Also appears in \u201c<\/span>MFA vs. NYC: The Two Cultures of American Fiction<\/span><\/a>,\u201d <\/span>n+1, <\/span><\/i>Fall 2010).<\/span>
\n\u201c<\/span>The Courage of Being Queer<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u201d <\/span>The New Republic. <\/span><\/i>June 14, 2016. <\/span>
\n\u201c<\/span>Girl<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u201d <\/span>Guernica<\/span><\/i>. March 16, 2015. <\/span>
\n\u201c<\/span>Future Queer<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u201d <\/span>The New Republic. <\/span><\/i>June 23, 2015.<\/span>
\n\u201c<\/span>How to Write an Autobiographical Novel<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u201d <\/span>Buzzfeed. <\/span><\/i>February 8, 2016. <\/span>
\n\u201c<\/span>In Spain, Secrets and a Possible Betrayal<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u201d <\/span>The New York Times. <\/span><\/i>April 19, 2017.<\/span>
\n\u201c<\/span>On a Remote Greek Island, Learning to Take a \u2018Real\u2019 Vacation<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u201d <\/span>The New York Times. <\/span><\/i>July 12, 2017.<\/span>
\n\u201c<\/span>My First (and Last) Time Dating a Rice Queen<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u201d <\/span>The Stranger. <\/span><\/i>June 21, 2017.<\/span>
\n\u201c<\/span>My Inheritance Was My Father\u2019s Last Lesson To Me And I Am Still Learning It<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u201d <\/span>Buzzfeed News. <\/span><\/i>January 28, 2018.<\/span>
\n\u201c<\/span>Release<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u201d <\/span>Tin House<\/span><\/i>. March 12, 2018 (Also appears in <\/span>Go Home!<\/span><\/i><\/a> Feminist Press & Asian American Writers\u2019 Workshop, March 2018). <\/span>
\n\u201c<\/span>The Autobiography of My Novel<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u201d <\/span>The Sewanee Review <\/span><\/i>Vol. CXXVI No. 2. Spring 2018. <\/span><\/p>\nConnections to other local\/formerly local writers<\/span><\/h6>\n
\n\u201c<\/span>Sound of Silence<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u201d <\/span>Bon <\/span><\/i>71. Autumn\/Winter 2016.<\/span><\/p>\nInterviews<\/span><\/h6>\n
\nLichtblau, Julia. \u201c<\/span>Horizontal Feminists: An Interview with Alexander Chee<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u201d <\/span>The Common. <\/span><\/i>February 2, 2016.<\/span>
\nChung, Catherine. \u201c<\/span>High-Wire Acts: An Interview with Alexander Chee<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\u201d <\/span>Asian American Writers\u2019 Workshop: The Margins.<\/span><\/i> March 2, 2016.<\/span>
\nRyan, Marin. \u201c<\/span>\u2018I Would Never Forgive Myself if I Let the Book Go Out<\/span>.\u2019<\/span><\/a>\u201d <\/span>