Where the past begins : a writer's memoir / Amy Tan

Prologue. The breaker of combs -- I: Imagination. A leaky imagination ; Music as muse ; Souvenir from a dream ; Hidden genius ; Reorientation: Homer, Alaska -- II: Memory in emotion. Genuine emotions ; The feeling of what it felt like when it happened ; A mere mortal at age twenty-five ; A mere mortal at age twenty-six ; How to change fate: step 1 -- III: Retrieving the past. The unfurling of leaves ; The auntie of the woman who lost her mind ; Unstoppable ; Time and distance: age twenty-four ; Time and distance: age fifty ; Time and distance: age sixty -- IV: Unknown endings. The darkest moment of my life ; Nipping dog ; The father I did not know ; Reliable witness -- V: Reading and writing. I am the author of this novel ; How I learned to read ; Splayed poem: the road ; Eidolons ; Letters to the editor ; Letters in English ; Why write? -- VI: Language. Language: a love story ; Intestinal fortitude ; Principles of linguistics ; Companions in the house.

From author Amy Tan, a memoir on her life as a writer, her childhood, and the symbiotic relationship between fiction and emotional memory.

English.