“I also wanted to be like my brothers, physically, and yet not physically. So I would constantly - and I think nowadays it's taken for granted that this is what girlfriends do - I would constantly wear their shorts, put on their shirts. That did not seem odd because we were desperately poor for quite a while. It wasn't as if pretty little girlie things were available to me.” IfsThinkingLittlesSeemsWantedPoorTakenBrotherAvailableGrantedOddShirtsGirlfriendMy BrotherShortsTaken For Granted Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“It's as if I'm setting aside the husband and son, you know, the patriarchal world, for the world of the muse. This is the world of writing.” IfsKnowsWorldWritingSonHusbandSettingSettingsMuse Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“If the act of writing is the act of putting aside the masculine, then you might in that way, it may sound almost crazy to say this, say that the act of writing, for a woman, could be a homosexual act.” IfsWayWritingMayMightSoundCrazyHomosexualMasculine Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“Is there a term that one might use rather than say that one is homosexual? Is there a different physical gender and symbolic dimension? I'm thinking of Adrienne Rich's notion of the lesbian spectrum. It's not as if sexual identity is binary: one must be either homo or hetero.” IfsThinkingDifferentUseMightTermRichIdentityNotionGenderDimensionsHomosexualSpectrumSymbolicBinaryMight Use Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“When you're a female poet, would you, therefore, invoke a male muse? When nuns get consecrated into their vocations, they become brides of Christ. Christ is the bridegroom. In these symbolic actions, rather than in physical actions, where a male reaches sexuality or participates in intimate exchanges, if one uses a different term - there's often a heterosexual figuring that takes place. The male poet invokes a beautiful female muse. The virginal nun consecrated invokes the male bridegroom, Christ.” IfsDifferentUseActionBeautifulTermChristPoetFemaleMalesSexualityIntimateMuseVocationSymbolicBridesNunInvokeBridegroom Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“If you've been in a symbolic struggle long enough, even when the struggle is over, you don't know it's over.” IfsKnowsLongEnoughStruggleOver YouSymbolic Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“If I could write a novel while I'm walking, I probably would.” IfsWritingNovelWalkingIf I Could Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“Wouldn't that be wonderful if I could do that? And that way, I could walk with the muse, rather than walk without her. The novel would write itself.” IfsWayWritingWalksNovelWonderfulIf I CouldMuse Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“"I want to be always happy," Maxine Hong Kingston announces . But, as this interview makes clear, for me, it was the desire to write poetry that kept me discontented, if not depressed and unhappy, through what many casual biographers have characterized as successful and productive decades.” IfsWantWritingDesireSuccessfulClearDecadesUnhappyInterviewsProductiveCasualAlways HappyBiographers Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
“These commonplace categories - wife, mother, housewife, teacher - are in fact teleological referents. They gesture to profound states of being that animate, absorb and saturate the subject, like indelible dyes spilled repeatedly over a plain fabric. No matter if the fabric is sturdy or delicate, translucent or opaque, those dyes will stain. They will color the days and years and life.” IfsYearsMatterStatesFactsMotherTeacherWifeSubjectsColorProfoundCategoriesDelicateGesturesFabricCommonplaceStainsHousewifeSturdyIndelibleOpaqueWife Mother Author:Shirley Geok-lin Lim
