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It's a matter of whether you see the self as fundamentally in relationship to other selves or not - whether you see the boundary between self and the world as relatively permeable, which makes you interdependent (collectivist) in outlook, or relatively impermeable, which makes you independent (individualistic).

Gish Jen

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Gish Jen
Age: 69
Born: 1955
Born: August 12
Novelist
Writer
Selves
Makes
Relatively
Matter
Fundamentally
Self
Permeable
World
Outlook
Collectivist
Boundaries
Interdependent
Independent
Individualistic
Relationship
Boundary
Whether

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A man was the sum of his limits freedom only made him see how much so.
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A white person was by definition somebody. Other people needed, across their hearts, one steel rib.
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That there should be a purpose to suffering, that a person should be chosen for it, special - these are houses of the mind, in which whole peoples have found shelter.
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These are ideas that work for many, and that may well reflect your true understanding of life.
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... there is ... a big aspect of play in writing novels, and making the story more and more elaborate is just more and more fun.
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Chinese language tends to be quick, economical. To know what people are saying, you always need to know what the context is.
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The independents are the ones who tend to commit suicide. I'm not against this way of being in the world. Individuals have brought us many treasures. You can't just say that's a bad way of being in the world - it's not. But it's not everyone's way of being in the world.
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It's human to hear stories and to know how people live and to imagine how that is for them. It's very interdependent!
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When I think about why I would be a writer, why I should continue to be a writer, it seems to me one of the few things you can dowhere you're never bored.
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There's nothing about interdependence that would keep somebody from making art.
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I think that there is a bias in the current literary climate, which is not only very Western but very male.
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Many women tend toward the interdependent end of things, we tend to see ourselves in relationship to others to a far greater degree than men.
Gish Jen