Hong Kong Writers Circle podcast Episode 17: That Man in Our Lives
Xu Xi introduces her new novel, That Man in Our Lives, wherein the enigmatic Gordon Marc Ashberry ("Gordie") disappears during a flight delay in Japan, leaving his friends and family to ponder his whereabouts and what he means to all of them in his absence.
Xu Xi and Simon discuss the novel's themes of friendship, of Chinese-American relationships and of writing itself. They also look at how Cantonese and Mandarin can be incorporated into English language writing. The Writing Masterclass is 'How to be a Transnational Writer'.
Simon and Xu Xi in conversation at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival on 14 June, 2016, shortly after this podcast was recorded. Photo by Laura Ho.
Play the episode:
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Timings
00:00 - Introduction - That Man in Our Lives
17:20 - Reading 1: Gordie disappears
19:20 - Themes and issues
38:00 - Reading 2: Larry Woo writes about Gordie
39:40 - Interlude: The Miss and the Man by Dazie Mae
43:20 - Editing and publishing
71:40 - Writing Masterclass: How to be a transnational writer
77:40 - Copyright information
Links
That Man in Our Lives - the book, the soundtrack and relevant events
Xu Xi's author website
C & R Press - publisher of That Man in Our Lives
Nixon in China - opera by John Adams
A Dream of Red Mansions 紅樓夢 - the classical Chinese novel
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Flower Drum Song by CY Lee
Maxine Hong Kingston
Amy Tan
Pearl Buck
Ha Jin
Cormac McCarthy
Cantonese Romanisation systems
Authors At Large
Simon's website
Hong Kong Writers Circle
Subscribe to the podcast on I Tunes
Copyright Information
The Hong Kong Writers Circle podcast Episode 17: That Man in Our Lives was produced by SCC Overton.
For more information about this podcast and all of our other activities, please visit our website: hkwriterscircle.com
Exerpts were from That Man in Our Lives by Xu Xi published by C & R Press.
The music was Jingle Jazz by Quantum Jazz from the album End of Line, used under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 licence.
Jingle Jazz (Quantum Jazz) / CC BY-SA 3.0
The interlude music was The Miss & the Man by Dazie Mae from the album, Seasonal Affective Disorder used under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike 3.0 license.
The Miss & the Man (Dazie Mae) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
If you are an author, publisher or musician and would like to collaborate on an episode of this podcast or for any other feedback please click here to email, using the subject line "Podcast". Members of the HKWC are encouraged to get in touch with ideas, interview suggestions, audio essays and other ways to collaborate, including production assistance.
Thanks as always to Katrina Teh for the podcast artwork. Special thanks to C & R Press for an advance copy of That Man in Our Lives.
