Chang-Rae Lee's "A Tender Age"

Eric Newman speaks with Chang-Rae Lee about his latest novel, A Tender Age, a coming-of-age novel centered on Jeon-Gi, the troubled son of hardworking Korean immigrants, who must navigate the meaning of masculinity, desire, and identity as he begins the journey into adulthood. After a violent outburst that lands him in reform school, Jeon-Gi has the opportunity for a reset at a church sleepaway camp, where he develops new, felicitous feelings of belonging and wonder that repair his frayed, isolated sense of self. When an accident during a transformative hiking trip threatens to once again wrench him out of his community, Jeon-Gi's story confronts how circumstance, impulse, and agency shape our lives. Lee discusses the novel's exploration of nostalgia, immigrant family dynamics, masculinity, and learning to take responsibility for oneself.