NOSTALGIA AND IDENTITY OF THE VIETNAMESE DIASPORIC COMMUNITY IN VIET THANH NGUYEN’S WORKS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18173/2354-1067.2024-0007Keywords:
nostalgia, identity, diasporic literature, Viet Thanh NguyenAbstract
Based on Svetlana Boym’s theory of nostalgia, the paper analyzes Viet Thanh Nguyen’s works in two aspects: restorative nostalgia and reflective nostalgia, with the aim of clarifying the identity of Vietnamese American diasporic community. With two novels The Sympathizer, The Committed and a collection of short stories The Refugees, the writer has quite successfully portrayed the nationalist identity and traumatic identity of immigrants in both positive and negative aspects, showcasing the writer’s sympathetic and critical attitude. The writer criticizes the extremism of a segment of immigrants who want to turn ethnicity into a tool for political goals, and at the same time sympathizes with the pain of most immigrants who have lost loved ones. These two contents are placed on the historical background of the Vietnam War in the flashbacks of the characters. From the research results, the paper contributes to introducing a new way of perceiving Viet Thanh Nguyen, an immigrant writer who is receiving international attention, and at the same time proposes a way to research identity in general and identity of the Vietnamese diasporic community in particular, through the nostalgic perspective of memory.
References
[1] Judy TW., (2018). Remembering One Another's Inhumanity: On Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Vietnam War. Journal of American Studies, Vol. 52, No. 1, pp. 237-239. doi: 10.1017/S0021875817001438
[2] Caroline R., (2018). Between “I” and “We”: Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Interethnic Multitudes. Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, Vol. 133, No. 2, pp. 396-405. doi: 10.1632/pmla.2018.133.2.396
[3] Yogita G., (2018). Un-American: Refugees and the Vietnam War. Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, Vol. 133, No. 2, pp. 378-383. doi: 10.1632/pmla.2018.133.2.378
[4] Debra S., (2020). Chapter 10: Paternity, History, and Misrepresentation in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer. In R. Maxey (Ed.), 21st Century US Historical Fiction: Contemporary Responses to the Past. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 117-189. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-41897-7
[5] Roy S., (2021). No-NoMan: Viet Thanh Nguyen's Nihilist Masterpiece. The Yale Review, Vol. 109, No. 2, pp. 178-186. doi: 10.1353/tyr.2021.0045
[6] Sousa e Silva Gaspar, (2018). De-Americanizing Viet Nam: The Representation of the “Vietnam War” in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer. Universidade da Coruña. http://hdl.handle.net/2183/21816
[7] Maurice H., (1980). The Collective Memory (Francis J. Ditter, Jr. and Vida Yazdi Ditter trans.). Harper & Row.
[8] Roby F. & Matthew G., (2017). Memory and Social Identity. In S. Bernecker & K. Michaelian (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Memory. Routledge, pp. 268-280.
[9] Sean JB., (2019). Nguyen’s Ghosts in The Sympathizer: Collapsing Binaries and Signalling Just Memory. Scrutiny2, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 3-12. doi: 10.1080/18125441.2019.1650818
[10] Kala S J. & Bernita M A., (2019). A Sanctuary of Memory in Viet Thank Nguyen’s “Black- Eyed Women”. International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences (IJELS), Vol. 4, No. 6, pp. 2023-2029. doi: 10.22161/ijels.46.62
[11] VT Nguyen, (2012). Refugee Memories and Asian American Critique. Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 911-942.
[12] Erik H E., (1963). Childhood and Society. Norton.
[13] Peter JB. & Jan ES., (2009). Identity Theory. Oxford University Press.
[14] Michael B., (2009). Identity and Narration. In P. Hühn, J. Pier, W. Schmid & J. Schönert (Eds.), Handbook of Narratology. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, pp. 132-143.
[15] Snow & Corrigall B., (2015). Collective Identity. In James D. Wright (editor-in-chief), International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 4. Elsevier, pp. 174–180. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.10403-9.
[16] Svetlana B., (2001). The Future of Nostalgia. Basic Books.
[17] VT Nguyen, (2015). The Sympathizer. Grove Press.
[18] VT Nguyen, (2021). The Committed. Grove Press.
[19] VT Nguyen, 2017). The Refugees. Corsair.
[20] VT Nguyen, (2017). Người tị nạn (Phạm Viêm Phương dịch). Nxb Hội Nhà văn.
[21] Linda Lê, (2018). Sóng ngầm (Hồ Thanh Vân và Bùi Thu Thuỷ dịch). Nxb Hội Nhà văn.
[22] David B., (2021). Political Psychology: Identity Development in a Traumatic Environment. In M. Bamberg, C. Demuth, & M. Watzlawik (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Identity. Cambridge University Press, pp. 564-585. doi: 10.1017/9781108755146.029
[23] N Lê, (2011). Con thuyền (Thiên Nga và Thuần Thục dịch). Hà Nội: Nxb Hội Nhà văn.
[24] Viet Thanh Nguyen, (2016). Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War. Harvard University Press.
[25] Colin D., (2007). Haunted Subjects: Deconstruction, Psychoanalysis and the Return of the Dead. Springer.
[26] Yến Lê E., (2005). Thirty Years AfterWARd: The Endings That are not Over. Amerasia Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. xiii-xxiv.
[27] LTD Thuy, (2023). Gã du đãng chúng ta đang lùng kiếm. Nxb Thế giới.
[28] Yến Lê E, (2006). Toward a Critical Refugee Study: The Vietnamese Refugee Subject in US Scholarship. Journal of Vietnamese Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1-2, pp. 410-433.
