karenika - books - the opposite of fate

The Opposite of Fate

persona errata
Between the time I wrote my first book and today, the Internet accomplished the equivalent of the Big Bang, and the World Wide Web expanded into the Ubiquitous Uncontrollable Universe. As a result, certain errors of fact about me began to circulate and became part of my unofficial biography now often used by students, interviewers, booksellers, and public relations staffs before I come to give talks.

At first, there were only minor mistakes, for example, that I had received my master's degree and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, which is a fine school and one that I did attend while studying for my doctorate. But the only doctorates I have are honorary, and according to one university president who handed me a diploma, this entitles me to a free parking space in the faculty lot, though solely when I come to give a free talk. To set the record straight, I never finished my doctoral program, and my B.A. and M.A. degrees came from San Jose State University.

As the Internet became more widespread, so did the errors. They are not quite urban-legend strength, but they have definitely been magnified. I remember the day I saw announced before a live online interview that Amy Tan had won the Nobel Prize in Literature. It then occurred to me that one could actually conduct several lives of different realities, even better ones, certainly with more prestigious prizes. But as the online interview began, I typed in my greeting: "Hi, Amy Tan here, only I never did win that Nobel Prize. Wish I had. Thanks for the vote of confidence."

Most often I am aware of the mistakes when I am receiving other honors having to do with being Asian-American or a writers or Chinese or an alumna of one of the colleges I attended. Then I learn of all the other prizes I have supposedly won, among them the National Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the Pulitzer. I was in fact nominated for the first two, so a little exaggeration there is understandable, but the Pulitzer reference is a fluke from the Web, and one that keeps replicating like a virus. It's embarrassing to start my acceptance speeches with a list of errata, which then seems to show only how truly unworthy I am to be standing on the podium or festooned stage, holding an engraved plaque or crystal bowl.

I've never actually read a novel by Amy Tan, so I am not entirely sure why I picked up The Opposite of Fate, but I am really glad I did. The very well written book is filled with amusing, scary, sad, and happy anecdotes from her childhood. Now, I have to pick up one of her novels and get to work.