Elysha Chang

"I have left my Open Studios poster which features an excerpt from my short story “Mandarin Imperial,” overlaid on a photo I took near Nanjing East Road.

I have left a planning sheet for my novel. I was interested to see where my main character (a woman and a second-generation immigrant) followed some of the main points along the narrative arc of Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth. In “An Open Life - Joseph Campbell in Conversation with Michael Toms,” Campbell said: “I really do think you can take clues from teachers – I know you can. But, you see, the traditional Oriental idea is that the student should submit absolutely to the teacher. The guru actually assumes responsibility for the student’s moral life, and this is total giving. I don’t think that’s quite proper for a Western person. One of the big spiritual truths for the West is that each of us is a unique creature, and consequently has a unique path.”

As a woman who is both ‘oriental’ and ‘western’ (of Chinese descent and born in the U.S.), I am looking for story that combines these two worlds, rather than dichotomizes them. That is, how can a hero (or a person, or a character in a book) ‘submit absolutely’ to something and still maintain or cultivate an individuality? As I planned and outlined my novel, I focused a great deal on the monomyth and how it manifests itself in a female protagonist of Chinese and American origin." (Elysha Chang)