“Hope, but also Danger”: A Conversation with Larissa Lai on not Going Back and the ‘Re’ of Recuperation
Abstract Larissa Lai is a poet, fiction writer and academic who holds a Canada Research Chair at the University of Calgary, where she directs The Insurgent Architects’ House for Creative Writing. She has authored nine books. Her most recent works are The Tiger Flu, Iron Goddess of Mercy and The Lost Century. She is a recipient of the Jim Duggins Novelist’s Prize, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Otherwise Honor Book. She was recently awarded a Maria Zambrano Fellowship at the University of Huelva in Spain and has been actively engaged in cultural organizing, experimental poetry and speculative fiction communities since the 1980s. Her work often explores themes of identity intertwined with elements of science fiction and the fantastical imagination. This interview took place in Parque García Sanabria on 24th March 2023 during a visit of Larissa Lai to the University of La Laguna. This interview focuses on the convergence of history, myth and affects, providing a reflection on the circularity of time and the promise of happiness.
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Ahmed, Sara. The Promise of Happiness. Duke UP, 2010.
Berlant, Lauren. Cruel Optimism. Duke UP, 2011.
Harmer, Elizabeth C. “Myths of Origin and Myths of the Future in Larissa Lai’s Salt Fish Girl.” FORUM, no. 1, 2005, pp. 1-9.
Huang, Michelle L. “Creative Evolution: Narrative Symbiogenesis in Larissa Lai’s Salt Fish Girl.” Amerasia Journal, vol. 42, no. 2, 2016, pp. 118-38.
Klimenko, Marina. “Beyond ‘The Last Doubler’: Reproductive Futurism and the Politics of Care in Larissa Lai’s The Tiger Flu.” Studies in Canadian Literature, vol. 45, no. 2, 2021, pp. 161-80.
Lai, Larissa. “Familiarizing Grist Village: Why I Write Speculative Fiction.” Canadian Literature, no. 240, 2020, pp. 20-39.
—. “Insurgent Utopias: How to Recognize the Knock at the Door.” Exploring the Fantastic: Genre, Ideology, and Popular Culture, edited by Ina Batzke et al., Transcript Verlag, 2018, pp. 91-113.
—. “Labour Asian Can: Grammar, Movement and the Institution.” Negotiating Diversity in Canada and Europe, edited by Katja Sarkowsky and Christian Lammert, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2010, pp. 153-66.
—. The Lost Century. Arsenal Pulp P, 2022.
—. “Political Animals and the Body of History.” Canadian Literature, no. 163, 1999, pp. 145-54.
—. Salt Fish Girl. Thomas Allen Publishers, 2002.
—. “Sedimenting the Past, Producing the Future: An Interview with Larissa Lai on the Poetics and Politics of Writing.” Interview by Anja Krüger. FORUM: Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien, vol. 31, no. 2, 2011, pp. 93-107.
—. “The Sixth Sensory Organ.” Absinthe, vol. 9, no. 1, 1996, pp. 31-35.
—. The Tiger Flu. Arsenal Pulp P, 2018.
—. “Why I Write Historical Fiction.” María Zambrano Fellowship, 16 March 2023, Universidad de Huelva, Spain, Online. Lecture.
Lai, Paul. “Stinky Bodies: Mythological Futures and the Olfactory Sense in Larissa Lai’s ‘Salt Fish Girl.’” MELUS, vol. 33, no. 4, 2008, pp. 167–87.
Minh-ha, Trinh T. Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism. Indiana UP, 1989.
Murray, Stuart. “Disability Embodiment, Speculative Fiction, and the Testbed of Futurity.” Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, vol. 16, no. 1, 2022, pp. 23-39.
Oliver, Stephanie. “Diffuse connections: smell and diasporic subjectivity in Larissa Lai’s Salt Fish Girl.” Canadian Literature, no. 208, 2011, p. 85.
Phung, Malissa. “The Diasporic Inheritance of ‘Postmemory’ and Immigrant Shame in the Novels of Larissa Lai.” Postcolonial Text, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 1-19.
Podruczna, Agnieszka. “A Journey to the City of Hope: Immigration, Diaspora and Identity in Larissa Lai’s Salt Fish Girl.” Postscriptum Polonistyczne, no. 1, 2012, pp. 139-53.
Stocks, Claire. “Trauma Theory and the Singular Self: Rethinking Extreme Experiences in the Light of Cross Cultural Identity.” Textual Practice, vol. 21, no. 1, 2007, pp. 71-92.
Berlant, Lauren. Cruel Optimism. Duke UP, 2011.
Harmer, Elizabeth C. “Myths of Origin and Myths of the Future in Larissa Lai’s Salt Fish Girl.” FORUM, no. 1, 2005, pp. 1-9.
Huang, Michelle L. “Creative Evolution: Narrative Symbiogenesis in Larissa Lai’s Salt Fish Girl.” Amerasia Journal, vol. 42, no. 2, 2016, pp. 118-38.
Klimenko, Marina. “Beyond ‘The Last Doubler’: Reproductive Futurism and the Politics of Care in Larissa Lai’s The Tiger Flu.” Studies in Canadian Literature, vol. 45, no. 2, 2021, pp. 161-80.
Lai, Larissa. “Familiarizing Grist Village: Why I Write Speculative Fiction.” Canadian Literature, no. 240, 2020, pp. 20-39.
—. “Insurgent Utopias: How to Recognize the Knock at the Door.” Exploring the Fantastic: Genre, Ideology, and Popular Culture, edited by Ina Batzke et al., Transcript Verlag, 2018, pp. 91-113.
—. “Labour Asian Can: Grammar, Movement and the Institution.” Negotiating Diversity in Canada and Europe, edited by Katja Sarkowsky and Christian Lammert, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2010, pp. 153-66.
—. The Lost Century. Arsenal Pulp P, 2022.
—. “Political Animals and the Body of History.” Canadian Literature, no. 163, 1999, pp. 145-54.
—. Salt Fish Girl. Thomas Allen Publishers, 2002.
—. “Sedimenting the Past, Producing the Future: An Interview with Larissa Lai on the Poetics and Politics of Writing.” Interview by Anja Krüger. FORUM: Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien, vol. 31, no. 2, 2011, pp. 93-107.
—. “The Sixth Sensory Organ.” Absinthe, vol. 9, no. 1, 1996, pp. 31-35.
—. The Tiger Flu. Arsenal Pulp P, 2018.
—. “Why I Write Historical Fiction.” María Zambrano Fellowship, 16 March 2023, Universidad de Huelva, Spain, Online. Lecture.
Lai, Paul. “Stinky Bodies: Mythological Futures and the Olfactory Sense in Larissa Lai’s ‘Salt Fish Girl.’” MELUS, vol. 33, no. 4, 2008, pp. 167–87.
Minh-ha, Trinh T. Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism. Indiana UP, 1989.
Murray, Stuart. “Disability Embodiment, Speculative Fiction, and the Testbed of Futurity.” Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, vol. 16, no. 1, 2022, pp. 23-39.
Oliver, Stephanie. “Diffuse connections: smell and diasporic subjectivity in Larissa Lai’s Salt Fish Girl.” Canadian Literature, no. 208, 2011, p. 85.
Phung, Malissa. “The Diasporic Inheritance of ‘Postmemory’ and Immigrant Shame in the Novels of Larissa Lai.” Postcolonial Text, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 1-19.
Podruczna, Agnieszka. “A Journey to the City of Hope: Immigration, Diaspora and Identity in Larissa Lai’s Salt Fish Girl.” Postscriptum Polonistyczne, no. 1, 2012, pp. 139-53.
Stocks, Claire. “Trauma Theory and the Singular Self: Rethinking Extreme Experiences in the Light of Cross Cultural Identity.” Textual Practice, vol. 21, no. 1, 2007, pp. 71-92.
Estévez Yanes, J., & Hernández González, S. (2024). “Hope, but also Danger”: A Conversation with Larissa Lai on not Going Back and the ‘Re’ of Recuperation. Canada and Beyond: A Journal of Canadian Literary and Cultural Studies, 13, 143–157. https://doi.org/10.14201/candb.v13i143-157
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