Lan Cao and Harlan Margaret Van Cao

Lan Cao is the author of Monkey Bridge and The Lotus and the Storm, and most recently of the scholarly work Culture in Law and Development: Nurturing Positive Change. She is a professor of law at the Chapman University School of Law, and an internationally recognized expert specializing in international business and trade, international law, and development. She has taught at Brooklyn Law School, Duke University School of Law, University of Michigan Law School, and William & Mary Law School. Harlan Margaret Van Cao graduated from high school in June 2020 and will be attending UCLA. She was born in Williamsburg, Virginia, and moved to Southern California when she was ten. Lan Cao and Harlan Margaret Van Cao are the authors of Family in Six Tones: A Refugee Mother, an American Daughter. 

Lan:

Twitter: @LanCaoWrites

Instagram: @TheLanCao

Are there particular films that have influenced your writing?

Lan: Dr. Zhivago. I am drawn to it because of its scope. I see it as a movie (also as a book, of course) that combines a country’s broad historical sweep with a family’s story in all its nuanced and dramatic and vivid details. I like the juxtaposition of the large scale -- the precursor to the Russian Revolution and its aftermath -- with the small scale -- human relationships, a love story.

I also love the Three Colors Trilogy (the three movies Blue, White, Red, the colors of the French flag from left to right). The film combines, to me, strong political motifs that are meant to explore the three political ideals of the French Revolution and the French Republic -- with each color representing liberty, equality, fraternity. Again, like Dr. Zhivago, these three movies juxtapose big questions about human life and aspirations against a dramatically unfolding family drama. These three movies also examine the relationship between the main characters’ present lives and their past, which are also questions I’ve always been drawn to. I also love the director’s attention to details and his use of recurring imageries and colors.

Harlan: Annie Hall and movies like Lady Bird. They are simple, realistic, shocking in their own manner, provide insight into every form of human relationship, and are humorous enough to not be depressing. I feel like the plot themselves are quite ordinary, or just slightly more extraordinary than many life stories. Human lives in reality are full of irony, drama, love, hate, but the trick in a movie and the trick in a book is to just present it in an aesthetically pleasing enough way to make people think the story is special: this is kind of how I like to think my writing -past, present, and future- is. 

Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/thinking? Do you listen to music while you write?

Lan: Operas. An opera is a story set to music. I love listening to stories. I love the arias also which burst almost explosively and fill the stage with incredible energy. When I write, I listen to music that have no lyrics, like certain classical music. Otherwise, the lyrics can interfere with my writing, but not the music itself. I also may listen to operas because although they have lyrics, I don’t understand them. 

Favorite non-reading activity?

Lan: I like to play the piano when I am alone. 

Is your go to comfort food sweet or savory? Is it something you make yourself? Does food inspire your writing?

Harlan: I really can’t cook. No one should want me to cook for them. I embarrass myself in the kitchen. But I love spaghetti and pho and korean bbq. I can do sweet, too because I also love cake pops. I find that when I’m in a good relationship, I eat more sweet food. I wish it inspired my writing but I think I am just hungry all the time. 

Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?

Harlan: Sometimes when I am being interviewed and I stumble over my words or feel like my grammar is off, I worry a little that people will think I am failing at my job. The reason why I’m being interviewed in the first place is because I managed to make it look like I’m good with words and when I am asked about something political or something fragile, my nerves act up and as I drone on, a part of me thinks I sound dumb, even if people might tell me otherwise.

Not all books are for all readers… when you start a book and you just don’t like it, how long do you read until you bail?

Harlan: The first chapter; if the main character is introduced in it, will let me know whether or not I care for the book. I think if the main character is either really stupid, boring, etc, it is impossible for me to go on. When I pick a book to read, I look at the cover, the author description, and the tiny plot description. If I pick well, there’s no reason for me to bail on the book. But if it turns out I picked badly, I’ll know when it is time to quit. I can’t read something about someone I don’t care much about. 

Lan: I pick the books I read carefully, so almost always, I finish them even if I don’t particularly want to because it’s either by an author whose previous works I’ve loved or because the conflicts and journeys are those I’m curious about. Because my selection is already based on preexisting criteria, I always find something to keep me going -- beautiful, lyrical prose, theme -- to keep me attached. 

Is there a work of art that you love. Why? Have you ever visited it in person?

Lan: The Two Fridas by Frida Kahlo. For me, the art exudes pain and hope and making do and thriving even by whatever means. Kahlo has explained the painting but her explanations have differed on different occasions. In one instance, she said one Frida is about her and the other Frida represents her reminiscence of a childhood friend or even an imaginary friend. Yes, I did visit this painting at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City.

What do you worry about?

Harlan: Getting cancer, being isolated in a countryside, my puppy dying/disappearing, my hair falling out, failing at writing/entertainment even though I have all the resources to succeed, hitting my head and forgetting my entire life, nobody loving me, going bankrupt even though I continue to entertain a shopping addiction, going to prison for the rest of my life, being thought of as a burden, being forgotten about, losing interest in someone I was once sharing love with, my mother suffering and dying, herpes, hell actually existing and me going there --- most of these things are totally avoidable and none of them totally fill up my head, but they still cross my mind and when they do, I dislike it very much.