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Works |
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SHANGHAILANDERS
Foreigners in Shanghai -
Where they Lived, Worked and Played. It's the
third in our "Shanghai Walks" series. Watch for it! |
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TESS JOHNSTON
 Tess Johnston is uniquely qualified to research and write on
the Western presence in old China. She first came to Shanghai
in 1981 to work at the American Consulate General and in 1996,
after over thirty years in the diplomatic service, she retired
and stayed on to research, write, and lecture. She and her
co-author, Shanghai photographer Deke Erh (Erh Dongqiang), have
published 25 books, including fifteen volumes on Western
architecture and the expatriate experience in old China.
Tess is a native of Virginia and her academic back-ground includes a M.A. from the University of Virginia, where she
subsequently taught. She has lived abroad for over 45 years,
including seven in Germany (both east and west), and over 35 in
Asia, including 28 in Shanghai and seven in Vietnam (1967-74).
Thanks to her extensive library of old books and historical
documents, Tess also serves as a consultant on matters
pertaining to the Western presence in old Shanghai. She is also
a valuable research resource for visiting scholars and former
residents seeking to trace their Shanghai roots.
AN INTERVIEW WITH TESS
Why I
write.
Vanity, I guess. I
always think I know something that a lot of people don't -- like
about the Westerners in old China, for instance -- and that I
think they will want to (or should?) know.
Do you write every day? If
so, how many hours?
No,
just when I have a deadline, or a hot idea, or am in the midst of
writing a book or an article. Hey, just answering my emails every
morning before I do anything else makes me do a great deal more
writing than I'm really interested in doing!
Worst source of distraction?
What isn't? (So may I make that sourceS, plural?) The ayi
(amah),
visitors, telephone calls, attacks of hunger for snacks, desire to
get out for fresh air -- and then the TV (I keep CNN on, low
volume, almost all day, lest I miss something). It's a wonder I
ever get anything written at all.
Best source of inspiration?
A beautiful old building going to seed, or a beautiful old book
that promises, and delivers, much.
How often do you get writers' block/doubt your own
ability?
The former,
never. The latter, only when I had just read through the first
draft of my memoir.
Contemporary writer in any medium
who you never miss?
Right
now it's Malcolm Gladwell, but this too shall pass.
Favorite Chinese writer?
I don't read Chinese, so it's Lin Yutang. He's from another era,
but he never ceases to charm on Things Chinese.
Best book about China?
An old one, The Years That Were Fat, by George Kates.
Marvelously evocative.
Favorite book?
Almost
impossible to answer; there are simply too many. Lately it was
Noel Coward's Pomp and Circumstance, his only novel and
hilarious -- and right on! .
Favorite writer?
Harry A Franck, a travel writer from the 1920-30s, long dead and
much missed.
The book you know you should have
read but haven't?
Have
you got half an hour or so? OK, probably either a Harry Potter, or
maybe one of Dan Brown's, epics, just to see what it is that
grabbed those millions of readers. (But I'd really rather not.)
You look back at the first thing
you had published and think...
Wow, if I hadn't written that book, then I would like to read the
same book, but written by someone else. (It was A Last Look -
Western Architecture in Old Shanghai, with those gorgeous
photographs by Deke Erh.)
Does writing change anything?
Of course some writing
does, but nothing that I write will ever change anything.
What are you working on now and
when is it out?
I'm finishing up my memoir,
Permanently Temporary - From Berlin to Shanghai in Half a Century,
to be launched at the Literary Festival at M on the Bund on March
13th. (Nothing like publicizing your own book, I always say...)
For a list
of Tess' publications, click
here.
For information on Tess' lectures about, and tours of, Shanghai, click
here. |
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