You-Jin Han compares her dad’s passion for American literary sites to that of an Elvis Presley fan’s freakish obsession with the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
“I remember as a kid going to a lot of classic authors’ gravesites, a lot of authors’ houses, a lot of places that seemed very insignificant,” You-Jin, now 21 and an English teacher at a charter school in downtown St. Louis, recalled. “We would spend hours in these remote locations so he could pay homage to these great American authors.”
All told, You-Jin ’s father, Dr. John Han, MBU professor of English and chairman of the Humanities Division, has visited more than 25 places that, in some form or fashion, are significant to American literature—from the gravesite of Ernest Hemingway to poet Ezra Pound’s birthplace. And, he’s got a running list just as long of American literacy hot spots that he still wants to discover.
“I have a keen interest in American literary sites,” Han said. “When I am at a place that is significant to a work, I feel as if I can connect with the author. When I am there, it’s almost like I am having a conversation with the author. I feel a kinship with these great classic writers.”
Han, a native of South Korea, refers to himself as a “sentimental journeyman.” He first became attracted to the notion of visiting American literary places before he had even moved to the United States. The year was 1986 and Han was teaching an American literature class at a university in Seoul.
Six years later, Dr. Han, then a graduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, traveled to Hannibal, Mo.—the town that shaped both Mark Twain and the setting of “Huckleberry Finn”—in a jam-packed minivan of fellow graduate students from Korea to see the town he had long envisioned.
“It was my dream come true,” Han said. “I tried to capture every moment. I tried to soak in everything I could see. Truthfully, I was afraid of losing sight of all of the important things I needed to see.”
At one point during the trip, Han remembers looking out over the Mississippi River, the setting of many of the book’s adventures.
“It was murkier and dirtier than I had envisioned,” Han recalled.
Still, it was no less beautiful. After all, the beauty was seeing it—with his own eyes.
Not all of Han’s journeys have proved so idyllic. He was somewhat disappointed in the house of short story writer O. Henry. Then there was that time when he toured with his wife and two girls for hours around the rural town of Milledgeville, Ga., in hopes of finding the dairy farm of great Catholic author Flannery O’Connor’s mother, which was also the place where O’Connor died.
They never found it. They did, however, discover a house she lived in nearby and, perhaps even better, her grave.
“I walked in drizzling rain for quite a while to find her grave,” Han explained. “Her tombstone was lying next to her father. I just sat by her tomb in the rain. I felt as if I was having a conversation with her.”
Han’s family stayed in the car.
“Many times these trips were sort of anticlimactic because he was so excited to see this site, so we would get built up to see something spectacular,” You-Jin explained. “A lot of times, there would be nothing to take pictures of, so we would get our photo taken while sitting on a rock.”
Still, she always had a respect for her dad’s love for his academic discipline, even if it’s not a shared passion.
“He still has a 20-year-old’s obsession with his major,” she said.
