Amy Tan’s Change of Heart: Embracing Her Literary Legacy
Amy Tan, the renowned author of The Joy Luck Club and other best-selling novels, has long been protective of her private writings and drafts. Until recently, she had instructed that all her written materials, except for photographs, be shredded after her death. Her reasoning was deeply personal: she wanted to avoid the idea of scholars poring over her intimate notes, which she likened to rifling through “the equivalent of my underwear drawer.” However, Tan has since had a change of heart. In a significant decision, she has entrusted her archive—62 boxes of notebooks, letters, photographs, and literary manuscripts—to the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. This archive spans her entire career, from childhood writings to drafts of her iconic novels. For Tan, this decision marks a shift from guarding her privacy to embracing her role in literary posterity.
A Life of Words: Tan’s Journey to Literary Fame
Amy Tan’s rise to fame began in 1989 with the publication of The Joy Luck Club, a deeply personal and intergenerational story inspired by her mother’s hidden past. The book sold nearly six million copies in the United States and was adapted into a 1993 Hollywood film. Since then, Tan has written six more novels, including The Kitchen God’s Wife and The Bonesetter’s Daughter, cementing her place as one of the most influential Asian American writers of her generation. Born in Oakland in 1952 to Chinese immigrant parents, Tan grew up navigating the complexities of cultural identity. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked as a business writer and published short stories on the side. Her earliest career was marked by a wariness of being pigeonholed as a “hyphenated Chinese American writer,” a label she felt reduced her work to themes like immigration and mother-daughter relationships rather than its artistic merit. Over time, however, Tan has come to embrace her role as a boundary expander, recognizing the significance of her voice in shaping American literature.
The Archive: A Window into Tan’s World
The Bancroft Library’s acquisition of Tan’s archive is a treasure trove for scholars and fans alike. The collection includes family photographs, notebooks, letters, and literary manuscripts, offering a glimpse into Tan’s creative process and personal life. Among the highlights are datebooks kept by her father, an engineer and Baptist minister who left China in the late 1940s, as well as photographs documenting the Chinese American community of the 1940s and ’50s. These materials provide a rich historical context, grounding Tan’s work in the experiences of her family and community. Kate Donovan, the Bancroft’s director, describes the archive as “very grounded in place,” a testament to the deep connections between Tan’s writing and her heritage. The archive also includes unexpected gems, such as love letters written by Tan’s father to her mother while they were having an affair in China. These letters, preserved in court files and uncovered by researchers for the PBS series Finding Your Roots, add a layer of emotional depth to Tan’s family history.
Privacy and Posterity: The Decision to Preserve
Tan’s decision to donate her archive was not made lightly. She had intense conversations with Kate Donovan about her concerns over exposing the private thoughts and business of friends and colleagues. “I wanted to be protective of other people’s privacy,” she explained. While there are no access restrictions on the materials currently in the archive, Tan has held back some journals and other personal items, leaving the possibility of adding restrictions to future contributions. Despite these concerns, Tan has come to see the value of preserving her work for posterity. She credits her longtime editor with encouraging her to reconsider her initial plans to shred her materials. Additionally, the practical need to clear out space in her garage played a role in her decision. “I do consider it a great honor to have my archive there,” she said of the Bancroft Library, which also holds papers from Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Joan Didion. For Tan, the archive is not just a collection of her work but a connection to her past and a gift to future generations.
Uncovering Hidden Stories: The Archive’s Deeper Meaning
The archive is more than a collection of manuscripts and photographs; it is a window into the hidden stories that have shaped Tan’s life and writing. While researching her 2017 memoir, Where the Past Begins, Tan discovered old letters from American government officials warning her parents that they had overstayed their student visas. This revelation was startling: Tan had never known that her parents lived under the specter of deportation. “If that had happened,” she said, “we would have had to leave with them, and then I never would have become a, quote unquote, American writer.” These findings underscore the fragility of her family’s story and the unexpected ways in which historical events have influenced her identity as a writer. The archive also reveals the more whimsical side of Tan’s career, including sketches and notebooks from her recent collection of essays and drawings about nature, The Backyard Bird Chronicles. As a child, Tan had wanted to be an artist, but her parents discouraged her from pursuing it. The archive, therefore, is a testament to both her literary achievements and her lesser-known creative passions.
A Legacy of Words and Wonder: Tan’s Enduring Impact
Amy Tan’s archive at the Bancroft Library is a celebration of her life’s work and a testament to her enduring impact on American literature. From her early reluctance to share her private writings to her eventual embrace of her role as a literary icon, Tan’s journey reflects a deep connection to her past and a commitment to preserving her legacy. The archive is not just a collection of papers; it is a living, breathing record of her family’s history, her cultural identity, and her boundless creativity. As scholars and readers delve into the archive, they will uncover not only the stories behind Tan’s novels but also the hidden stories that have shaped her life. In the end, Tan’s archive is a gift—a gift of words, memories, and the enduring power of storytelling. As she once described her role in the now-defunct literary band Rock Bottom Remainders, Tan remains a “lead rhythm dominatrix,” leaving behind a whip-smart legacy that will continue to inspire and captivate audiences for generations to come.
