Waiting

In Ha Jin's 1999 National Book Award winning novel Waiting the main character army doctor Lin Kong tried to divorce his unattractive wife from an arranged marriage. He ended up waiting for 18 years, all the while with his love by his side, but not be able to consummate their relationship. However, the married life after such a long wait was not exactly what he expected. A voice in his head told him, "Actually you never loved her. You just had a crush on her, which you didn't get a chance to outgrow or to develop into love.... In fact you waited eighteen years just for the sake of waiting".

Eighteen years is long enough to age everybody.

Eighteen years is not long enough to really learn how to love someone.

Eighteen years is not long enough to really learn what to love.


哈金是我的校友。我感到自豪。他的近作是为纽约大都会歌剧院写的《秦始皇》歌剧脚本，就是张大导艺谋导的，谭盾做曲的，多明戈唱的那一出。