Novelist Min Jin Lee on the promise and perils of Western education
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Novelist Min Jin Lee on the promise and perils of Western education

B1IntermediateNovember 5, 202644 min
  • Interview

Min Jin Lee’s new novel American Hagwon is her first in nearly a decade. ‘Hagwon’ is the Korean term for private tutoring centers. It’s the third installment of a four-part series on the Korean diaspora. Her previous, Pachinko, was a finalist for a National Book Award. In American Hagwon, Lee is taking on the promise and perils for Koreans who pursue a Western education. “I think education is a really beautiful thing,” she tells guest interviewer Aarti Shahani. “But I think we now really have to ask: Why do we get it and what do we want from it?” She’ll al...

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I'm Teri Gross. Our guest today is internationally acclaimed novelist Min Jin Lee, who's best known for the novel Pachinko. She spends a decade researching and writing each of her books.

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