Oct 17 2007
Prof Cohen
Dr. Cohen is disciple of prolific author Jonathan Spence of Yale, who’s one of the biggest Chinese historians in the West. His books are more for the general public. Cohen agreed to meet me, because she knew one of my families well, thru her studies of course. She still lives in New Haven, teaches few days in NYU, so ‘the commute isn’t so bad’. Her office in one of the buildings was small, but neat. We chatted freely about things on Chinese, its history .. She regretfully said that the Wild Swan, ’unfortunately it will be thebook on Cultural Reveolution’. She didn’t offer too much as guideline what I should do. We gossiped a little. Prof Spence married his Chinese assistant after his wife has past away or divorced (?). When I asked how could he come up with so many best sellers, she replied, “well, .. he doesn’t have to do house chores ..” :)) Is that so? She complemented on my handbag, .. the meeting wasn’t too inspiring, so to speak.