March 2020
Dr. Yuan Yuan
- What's your favorite book to read for fun?
唐诗三百首 A Collection of Tang Poems. Pure Aesthetic pleasure. - What's your favorite book to teach?
The Scarlet Letter: An exemplary text to practice all schools of critical theories. - Do you have a favorite film?
Ciao, Professore! No Man’s Land, Tampopo, The Last Tango in Paris. - How do you spend your free time?
In San Diego? Walking on the beach during the day and watching cartoons (Ice Age, Tom and Jerry, etc.) during the night. - What is your biggest literary inspiration?
Dreams of the Red Chamber (红楼梦) by Xueqing Cao. No one can truly finish this novel.
And the other one, Kafka’s Der Process (Trial), because it does not make sense. - What's your cure for writer's block?
I got most inspirations while walking or driving. Of course, you can get lost easily (or dangerously).
Or watching Rashomon, that helps a lot.
- What are you working on outside of class?
It is still too early to start a memoir, so I write satires instead, not exactly creative, but absolutely therapeutic. - Fun Fact:
I love fish, but I was born in the year of the rooster—identity disorder perhaps?