Văn học nữ hải ngoại việt nam tại hoa kỳ báo cáo tổng kết đề tài khcn

Mẫu R08 Ngày nhận hồ sơ Đại học Quốc gia Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh (Do CQ quản lý ghi) h BÁO CÁO TỔNG KẾT ĐỀ TÀI KH&CN Tên đề tài: Văn học nữ hải ngoại Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ Tham gia thực TT Học hàm, học vị, Họ tên TS Trần Lê Hoa Tranh Chịu trách nhiệm Chủ nhiệm Thư ký Tham gia Tham gia Tham gia Tham gia Tham gia Phối hợp Phối hợp 10 Phối hợp Điện thoại Email 0908290772 hoatranhtran@yahoo com TP.HCM, tháng 09 năm 2013 MỤC LỤC TÓM TẮT DẪN NHẬP PHẦN MỘT DI DÂN VÀ VĂN HỌC DI DÂN CHÂU Á TẠI HOA KỲ 1.1 Di dân cộng đồng di dân Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ 1.2 Văn học di dân châu Á Hoa Kỳ 13 PHẦN PHÁC THẢO VĂN HỌC DI DÂN VIỆT NAM TẠI HOA KỲ 45 2.1 Báo chí Việt Nam tờ báo văn học Hoa Kỳ 45 2.2 Vài nét văn học di dân Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ 56 2.3 Các hệ nhà văn Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ 71 2.4 Những đóng góp văn học di dân Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ 77 PHẦN BA DIỆN MẠO VĂN HỌC NỮ VIỆT NAM TẠI HOA KỲ 92 3.1 Các hệ nhà văn nữ 92 3.2 Một số đặc điểm văn học nữ Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ 95 4.1 Các nhà văn nữ sáng tác tiếng Việt 125 4.2 Các nhà văn nữ viết văn tiếng Anh (dịng chính) 138 KẾT LUẬN 155 THƯ MỤC THAM KHẢO 158 PHỤ LỤC 165 TÓM TẮT (Tối đa trang A4) Văn học di dân Việt Nam toàn giới phần văn học Việt Nam, văn học giới (trong có văn học nước mà tác giả công dân đó) Với ba triệu cơng dân gốc Việt sống, làm việc, sinh khắp nơi toàn giới, có mảng văn học phong phú đầy màu sắc Có thể kể đến khu vực văn học di dân Việt Nam có nhiều thành văn học: khu vực Bắc Mỹ (bao gồm Hoa Kỳ, Canada, nhiều Hoa Kỳ), khu vực Tây Âu (bao gồm Anh, Pháp, Đức…nhiều Pháp), khu vực Đông Âu Liên Bang Nga (nhiều Nga), khu vực châu Úc (nhiều Úc), khu vực châu Á (nhiều nước Đông Nam Á)…Và vậy, thực cơng trình chạm vào phần nhỏ tranh toàn cảnh văn học di dân Việt Nam giới, mặc dù, khu vực có đơng người Việt, đông nhà văn gốc Việt sinh sống (hơn nửa) Ban đầu, mục đích nghiên cứu văn học di dân nữ gốc Việt Hoa Kỳ Nhưng rồi, trình nghiên cứu bắt tay vào viết, chúng tơi nhận thấy rằng, thực ra, khái niệm lý luận văn học di dân Việt Nam gần khoảng trống, mà phần sách tiếng Anh lại có nhiều Ngồi ra, muốn gắn kết văn học di dân nữ gốc Việt Hoa Kỳ bối cảnh văn học di dân gốc Á Hoa Kỳ nói chung, văn học nữ Hoa Kỳ nói riêng, mà nội dung cơng trình có nhiều so với mục tiêu đề cương ban đầu mà đặt ra, phần nghiên cứu văn học di dân gốc Á Hoa Kỳ (Nội dung 1, phần thêm vào cho cần thiết) Phần phác thảo văn học di dân Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ (nội dung 2) phần chúng tơi đầu tư viết kỹ, có nhìn thấy rừng, nhìn thấy Hai nội dung sau, chúng tơi xốy vào văn học nữ di dân Hoa Kỳ, bao gồm việc giới thiệu nhà văn nữ, thể tài sáng tác, đặc điểm văn học nữ di dân Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ… Chúng tơi có phần phụ lục bao gồm danh sách nhà văn nữ phần vấn mà tiến hành thời gian làm nghiên cứu ABSTRACT (Tối đa trang A4) Vietnamese Immigrant Literature is part of Vietnamese Literature and World Literature (including the new countries that our writers living) With over million Vietnamese people live and work all over the world, we have a rich and diversity literary part We can count many areas that gain Vietnameses literary’s achievement such as: North America ( The US and Canada, especially in the US), West Europe (England, German, France , especially in France), East Europe and Russia (especially in Russia), Oceania (especially in Australia), Asia (especially in South East Asia) So, our project has just touched in a piece of the panorama picture of Vietnamese Immigrant Literature, although it is the biggest part (over a half of Vietnamese Immigrant people live in the US) Our first purpose, is to concerntrate to Vietnamese American Women Literature But, when we carry on this project, we realize that in our country, we have no systematic project about Immigrant Literature So we try to translate some theory points from English to Vietnamese, put the Vietnamese American Women Literature to the common picture of Asian American Literature, and American Women Literature Our content is richer than our first purpose with parts: Introduction to Asian American Literature, Vietnamese American Literature, Vietnamese American Women Literature, and Introdution some famous Vietnamese American women writers We also have some appendixes: a list of Vietnamese American women writers and in other countries, and some interviews that we carried during the time in the US DẪN NHẬP Năm 2010, nhận học bổng Chương trình Học giả Fulbright sang Hoa Kỳ, nghiên cứu dự án văn học di dân nữ Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ Trước chuẩn bị cho đề tài này, khơng tìm hiểu đến văn học di dân trừ vài nhà văn di dân Việt Nam châu Âu Nhưng suốt thời gian qua, từ bắt tay vào làm thuyết minh để chọn cho chương trình Học giả (năm 2009), Mỹ thời gian tháng (9/2010-3/2011), đến quay trở về, thực đề tài cấp Đại học Quốc gia vịng năm (5/2011-8/2013), chúng tơi thấy cần thiết, sức hấp dẫn với độ khó khăn, gian nan đề tài Là nhiều góc độ nghiên cứu văn học, xã hội học, nữ quyền học… văn học nữ hải ngoại đối tượng nghiên cứu thú vị Nó mang đặc tính “văn học di dân”, nhà văn bị tách khỏi mơi trường văn hóa quen thuộc bị đẩy vào mơi trường văn hóa xa lạ mà họ phải hấp thu Theo chúng tôi, việc tiến hành đề tài cần thiết bối cảnh nhiều tác phẩm văn học nữ hải ngoại dịch, giới thiệu, đoạt giải Việt Nam (Thuận, Linda Lê, Đoàn Minh Phượng, Lý Lan, Nguyễn Thị Minh Ngọc, Việt Linh, Miêng…) Trong xu hướng văn học tồn cầu hóa, văn học Việt Nam đường hội nhập Ví dụ gần đây, đã, chứng kiến nhiều tương đồng văn học nữ Việt Nam nước văn học nữ khu vực: Trung Quốc, Nhật Bản… (văn học linglei, văn học viết tính dục, văn học mạng…) Vì vậy, việc tìm hiểu văn học nữ Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ mối quan tâm hứa hẹn sức hấp dẫn Đây cộng đồng di dân châu Á đơng Hoa Kỳ Tìm hiểu cộng đồng nhà văn nữ di dân Việt Nam giúp soi sáng số vấn đề liên quan đến “văn học di dân”, “văn học nữ”, “văn học giới”… Chúng nghĩ cơng trình góp phần đáp ứng nhu cầu tư liệu giảng dạy, nghiên cứu văn học Việt Nam nói riêng, văn học nói chung Ngồi ra, xã hội, cần nghiên cứu để gắn kết văn học hải ngoại vào văn học nước, xem phận văn học quốc gia bối cảnh giao lưu văn hóa Việt Nam với giới ngày mở rộng Việc tìm hiểu văn học hải ngoại gần tiến hành chưa có nghiên cứu cách hệ thống Một số nhà nghiên cứu Nguyễn Thanh Sơn, Lý Lan, Nguyễn Quang Thiều… tài trợ tổ chức phi phủ sang Hoa Kỳ để thực nghiên cứu văn học hải ngoại; nước họ có số báo, vấn nhỏ báo, tạp chí chưa có cơng trình giới thiệu đầy đủ chân dung văn học hải ngoại Rải rác có số cơng trình viết Phạm Quốc Ca, khóa luận, nghiên cứu khoa học sinh viên làm Linda Le, Thuận…Nhưng nghiên cứu văn học hải ngoại Hoa Kỳ chưa có cơng trình hệ thống Các học giả nước đòi hỏi nghiên cứu cụ thể văn học hải ngoại, ví dụ Nguyễn Huệ Chi xem văn học Việt Nam trước 1975 văn học Việt Nam hải ngoại phần tách rời khỏi văn học dân tộc cần phải đối xử cách nghiêm túc, đưa vào tuyển tập văn học tương lai Tìm hiểu văn học hải ngoại nói chung, nhà văn nữ Hoa Kỳ nói riêng động thái cho thấy sách đồn kết dân tộc, thiện chí hồ giải, hồ hợp nhà nước ta Thơng qua đó, giới thiệu phần nhỏ hoạt động nhà văn nước ngồi Mở nhìn tồn diện văn học chuyển dẫn từ “Đường diệu vợi” Nguyễn Bá Chung: http://archive.damau.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1249&Itemid=1 hải ngoại, thúc đẩy việc tìm hiểu cộng đồng di dân ngày sâu sắc Khi thực cơng trình này, chúng tơi biết đường hẹp, chênh vênh, người khó Do đó, chúng tơi xác định: Một là, chưa có cơng trình thực hệ thống văn học hải ngoại văn học nữ hải ngoại, cơng trình chúng tơi cần giới thiệu vừa khái quát vừa cụ thể Do chúng tơi chia cơng trình làm bốn nội dung lớn sau: Nội dung 1: Điểm qua khái niệm di dân- văn học di dân văn học di dân châu Á Hoa Kỳ Nội dung 2: Phác thảo văn học di dân Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ (phần nội dung phong phú nhất, thế, nội dung 3, không nhắc lại số ý): bao gồm: - Tình hình báo chí-văn học (xuất bản, phê bình, giới thiệu…) - Những giai đoạn văn học di dân Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ - Những đặc điểm văn học di dân Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ - Cách thức phân định hệ nhà văn di dân Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ - Những đóng góp văn học di dân Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ Nội dung 3: Diện mạo văn học nữ Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ - Nguồn gốc, tuổi đời, nghề nghiệp, hệ viết văn… - Một số đặc điểm văn học nữ Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ: gia đình, nguồn cội, Tổ quốc, mẹ gái… Nội dung 4: Giới thiệu số gương mặt tiêu biểu văn học nữ Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ Chúng cung cấp số phụ lục, danh sách nhà văn di dân nữ Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ nước khác (có thể chưa đầy đủ), số vấn nhà văn nữ chúng tơi thực q trình làm đề tài Hoa Kỳ Hai là, biết chưa có cơng trình hệ thống nào, nên phương thức chủ yếu mà sử dụng mô tả, giới thiệu, cung cấp thơng tin Chúng tơi có phân tích sâu áp dụng phương pháp phê bình cụ thể mà thực áp dụng cho đề tài hay, ví dụ phương pháp phê bình tiểu sử, phê bình nữ quyền, phê bình hậu thuộc địa… Chúng hy vọng phương pháp áp dụng cơng trình sâu hơn, chuyên biệt tác phẩm tác giả tương lai nhà nghiên cứu sau Ba là, sử dụng nguồn tư liệu bao gồm: gần nửa sách/bài tiếng Anh viết văn học Mỹ gốc Á để viết phần văn học di dân châu Á Hoa Kỳ (nội dung 1) văn học di dân Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ (nội dung 2), chúng tơi có tham khảo số đặc điểm văn học Mỹ gốc Á mà chúng tơi nghĩ áp dụng cho văn học di dân Việt Nam: ví dụ: mẹ gái, hệ “bánh mì thịt”… thuật ngữ lấy từ sách Trong số sách tiếng Anh có giới thiệu vài gương mặt nhà văn nữ Việt Nam Mỹ, chúng tơi có dịch để viết nội dung Ngồi ra, mảng sách tiếng Anh cịn có tác phẩm tác giả Việt Nam viết tiếng Anh (bao gồm sáng tác phê bình, tiểu luận…) Về mảng sách tiếng Việt: sử dụng tác phẩm nhà văn Việt Nam sống Mỹ, có số chưa phép phổ biến Việt Nam đặc thù đề tài, phải sử dụng Một số tài liệu mạng lấy thời gian nghiên cứu Hoa Kỳ Việt Nam trang mạng khơng vào nữa, trang mạng không phép phổ biến Việt Nam, tờ tạp chí/báo tình trạng Bốn là, thực cần phải rào trước đón sau cẩn trọng vậy, chúng tơi nghĩ cơng trình cịn nhiều sơ suất Trong hồn cảnh có sáu tháng để tìm hiểu, tiếp xúc với nhà văn Mỹ thời gian hai năm đọc, nghiên cứu Việt Nam, chúng tơi khơng thể thực cách hồn hảo chu đề tài Nhưng với tâm huyết nhà nghiên cứu, kèm với ý thức dân tộc, chúng tơi nghĩ khơng làm, biết có người làm? Vì mà xin thể tất nhược điểm chắn có cơng trình PHẦN MỘT DI DÂN VÀ VĂN HỌC DI DÂN CHÂU Á TẠI HOA KỲ 1.1 Di dân cộng đồng di dân Việt Nam Hoa Kỳ Di cư hay di dân coi đặc trưng loài người Từ nguồn gốc lúc đầu Châu Phi, nhóm người tỏa vùng đất khác hành tinh Sự di cư thường kéo theo phổ biến tư tưởng văn hoá, tập quán kỹ thuật, lối sống, cách thức sinh hoạt… từ vùng sang vùng khác Sự truyền bá canh tác nơng nghiệp từ nhóm người đến tới nhóm người địa cho phép tăng nhanh sản lượng lương thực Nguyên nhân di cư nhóm lớn dân số trước thường thừa dân số, sức ép dân số lớn, thiếu tài nguyên Ví dụ: di cư từ châu Âu sang châu Mỹ, Úc, New Zeland… Bản chất người ln muốn gắn bó với mảnh đất thân thuộc, với gần gũi việc rời bỏ tổ quốc để đến sinh sống đất nước khác, văn hóa khác đa phần ý muốn tự thân người di dân Ngồi lí tìm kiếm vùng đất tốt để lập nghiệp lí chủ yếu thường thuộc trị: chiến tranh, biến loạn, trừng khiến cho sinh tồn họ bị đe dọa họ buộc phải di cư Lịch sử Hoa Kỳ - vùng đất mới- nói cách khác lịch sử di dân Từ kỷ XVI, người Tây Ban Nha, Pháp, Anh đặt chân đến lục địa Hoa Kỳ, sau dân tộc khác từ châu Âu, châu Phi, châu Á… Hoa Kỳ “nơi thứ hòa trộn” (“melting pot”- “lẩu thập cẩm”) với hiệu “tất di dân” Từ khoảng 1960, châu Âu không nguồn chủ yếu cung cấp dân sang Mỹ mà thay vào châu Á châu Mỹ Latin 212 have grown up and been educated At the same time, I don’t feel wholly comfortable identifying myself as an “American” writer or even saying that I am influenced by American writers I have perhaps been more drawn to international and also European writers: Nadine Gordimer, Doris Lessing, V.S Naipaul, Basho, Herman Hesse, Michael Ondaatje, Mavis Gallant, Marguerite Duras, to name just a few Of the Americans, when I was younger I was very drawn to the Southern writers: Flannery O’Connor, Eudora Welty, James Agee, Carson McCullers As for writers whom I consider ongoing major influences (writers I read over and over) one is a Canadian short story writer named Alice Munro, whose stories all take place in Canada yet invoke the human experience of relationships, womanhood and motherhood, family life, very truthfully The other writer I admire is a German writer, W.G Sebald, who writes about Europe in the post WWII years – I relate to his sense of having in his background a horrific war that he (since he was born at the tail end of it) knows nothing of in actuality; this relates to my sense of being born in Vietnam at the end of the war, and then being removed entirely from that landscape I relate to that sense of historic trauma in my background that I yet remember nothing of in personal experience Also influential to me have been certain philosophies and spiritual readings/practices: Buddhism, Taoism, yoga, particular Western esoteric strands of thought (that might fall under the label of “occult” theories) Why you choose to write in English? Do you feel difficult between the Western and the Eastern customs/tradition/behaviors/thinkings…? I write in English because it is the only language I know I was two when I came to the U.S My mother was not able to pass the Vietnamese language on to her children when we were growing up; it was just too difficult for her, esp being married to a Danish-American, non-Vietnamese speaking husband This is 213 a piece of my upbringing that I often wish could’ve been different As for differences in customs/thinking/etc, I am certainly more American than I am traditionally Vietnamese; but at the same time there are many streams of American thinking/attitude/practices that I not agree with or relate to Besides a writer, you need to any work for living? Yes – I also teach writing classes for a living Being an artist in American society for me has meant living very modestly, trying to keep living costs very low, so that I can also have time to pursue my art, which does not make very much of a profit In your opinion, when writing, women face with disadvantages/difficulties? I think so, yes But it also depends on the kind of woman and the kind of writer she is Women – all over the world – are challenging male-dominated systems, and I believe this has been going on for decades now, and that it will continue As for difficulties, I think that women writers are sometimes not taken as “seriously” as male writers – in intellectual terms I think women writers need to keep asserting the importance of their feminine perspectives Become a writer in “main stream” literary, how you feel? I define “mainstream” as being popular to a large segment of the population In America, I think the popularity of serious literature suffers due to the mainstream American mentality that wishes mostly to be entertained, distracted, etc Mainstream American interests are probably dominated more widely by movies, TV, other types of media – so, to be a writer of serious literature in American society also often means you work on the margins, for belief and love of your art; this can go against the grain in a capitalist/consumer- 214 oriented society that values making money and having quantifiable success For me, being in the “mainstream” is not so important How you think about Vietnamese literary in the US? In publishing? In quality? In readers? Vietnamese literature in the US is still being defined and established But America is also an immigrant culture, made up of many nationalities’ different stories of immigration, so it is only natural that the Vietnamese/VietnameseAmerican story should become a part of this I think that at the point that a particular minority group’s story is first being introduced to the larger reading public, it seems to need to be defined in terms of what happened – the external events and circumstances Non-Vietnamese readers need and seem to want to read stories that more apparently lay out the circumstances of the history For myself, I am less interested in writing or reading about the immigrant experience in those terms – which I think have been the most popular accounts of our story in Viet-American literature so far I think that none of us in the post-war immigrant generation thus far has really been able to write about the Vietnam War or about the Vietnam-America dynamic in a truly insightful way, that transcends the politics of the “immigrant experience.” I think the perspective on Vietnam and the relationship between Vietnam and America is still complicated and painful for both Americans and Viets to look at clearly I also think that guilt plays a big part on both sides I think that there is a larger picture that VietAmerican writers – in my opinion (and myself included) – have yet to address Perhaps the popular mentality and expectation of American readers and publishers plays a part in this American readers want happy conclusions, for the most part, and as far as the Vietnamese-American story goes, this would mean that readers want the Viet-American story to arrive at a commendation of the 215 course of events history took – to know that the Vietnamese immigrants have accepted and are adjusted to their new multicultural identity For myself, I still want to see Vietnamese American literature become more nuanced, probing, daring, complex, and accountable As a Vietnamese writer in America at present, I find the “scene” a little bit frustrating It appears to me that American publishing (major publishing houses and journals, mainstream readership) supports only the most obvious kinds of Vietnamese-American stories – writers who are dramatically addressing the immigrant experience, or stories in which the Vietnamese person apears as “exotic” or “other”, or stories in which the issue of cultural identity is accessibly displayed and resolved; the angrier stories, the more paradoxical and nuanced perspectives on identity and culture, and also the quieter stories (for instance, about fairly normal Viet-American middle class life) go lesser noticed This is my opinion only at the present moment I am also hopeful that with time and maturity, our focus and our perspective on the VietAmerican story – as both readers and writers – will expand How you think about 1.5th or 2th generation writers now? Including you The same as above – though I will add that in my own assessment of my own writing, I have not yet written of the Vietnamese-American experience as eloquently as I wish to My first book dealt most directly with multiculturalism in America It was the story I was able to write at the time But I feel closer to my second book – which dealt more indirectly with the multicultural/immigrant question and explored instead certain experiences of womanhood that I think many women, regardless of race, could identify with Also: I think that we as writers are shaped and steered by the “forms” of storytelling that are popular in American literature – the plot-driven narrative, the linear storyline, the forwardmoving character arc I see many ethnic American writers who are successful 216 because they use the dominant forms – a Western style of story structure – to tell their own stories However, I would still like to see minority/ethnic writers in America create/assert their own cultural “forms” of storytelling into the popular arena of American literature Do you think 1.5th or 2th generation writers easier to intergrate than older generation? Why? I think it will get easier as time gives us perspective I think the older generation (by this, I mean my parents’ generation) are perhaps still limited by language and politics The older generation (in my experience, at least) can be too focused on politics – North vs South – and thus get locked into aligning themselves with a pro-American perspective, which is itself problematic and narrow-sighted Art has to address politics but also must transcend politics in order to be true art, is my belief I think that it is difficult for some older-generation Vietnamese to “swallow the pill” of our place in history: we live in America, the land that caused great physical destruction on our homeland of Vietnam; we feel indebted to America, yet also guilty at our escape from Vietnam It is hard to admit the pain of this position for some of the older generation, I believe So they focus on hating the Communists, citing the wrongs done that America provided us rescue from In some cases, they pay such veneration to American government and institutions and lifestyle that they live blinded to the incongruities and injustices that also exist in the American system I think the 1.5 and 2nd generation VietAmerican writers are able to see the contradictions a bit more clearly Even they (1.5th, 2th generation writers) have many connections and come back Vietnam more often than older generation, how you think about it? Perhaps I answered this above – I think maybe the older generation still feels the anger and pain of the war more rawly than the younger generations They are 217 still fighting, in a sense, while the younger generation is curious, wants to return, wants to reconnect Do you often read Vietnamese literary inside? Which works or who (writers) you care? Do you have any contact with writers outside America? Unfortunately I don’t know the language, so cannot read Vietnamese writers unless they are translated I would like to remedy this complication, certainly Do you ever come back Vietnam? If have, can you tell about your literary activities in Vietnam? I went back once, in 1996 I was not yet a published writer – but my travel experiences went into my first novel, Grass Roof, Tin Roof (in the last chapter of the book) I would very much like to go back to Vietnam again and I intend to I think as I get older, I am able to see and understand more about being both Vietnamese and American, and would certainly find more to write about, hopefully more intelligently If your works are translated in Vietnam, you agree? They have not been – I would be happy to have them translated, however Thinking about Vietnamese American literature, you feel optimistic or pessimistic? I think I answered this in Questions and 10 I feel slightly pessimistic, though this may reflect how I feel about contemporary American literature at large, in fact The dominant American mentality is materialistic, external, physical, shortsighted – this is at the cost of self-reflection, introspection, and a deeper understanding of the interior life This is – in my opinion – a problem with American life at large, and the literature tends to reflect this Even the most intelligent American writers stall at imbuing the interior life with significant depth; American intellectualism still resides at the level of criticizing the 218 materialist perspective, it dwells on soullessness, but without offering true insight beyond the situation I hope that this is changing, however And I hope that the Vietnamese American perspective will be allowed to grow and reveal its true complexity, through literature, as a part of it Your thinking about Vietnamese women wirters in the US? Who are good writers? (if you feel this question is personal, you can suggest some, I will not publish) I have certainly not read them all yet One of my favorites so far has been le thi diem thuy’s book – for her poetic, lyrical approach, for her graceful writing But again, it still resides within the accessible confines of American immigrant literature Do you think, Vietnamese American literature is part of American literature? Comapare to Chinese American, Japanese American, Indian American literature, we are better or worse? I think that we are a part of American literature, but as I mentioned before we are still defining our place As immigrants, our culture is still younger than those of other Asian groups – the Chinese have been coming over since the 1800s, Japan since before WWII, same with other groups Also, there was a pinnacle Vietnamese event that brought immigrants to the U.S.: the Vietnam War My own generation (1.5) is the first to have come of age in America since that event, and we are still on the young side (I like to think, at 37 years old); we are still learning and establishing ourselves Such a reason for a group’s emigration has not occurred that frequently; there are many different reasons for groups emigrating to the States Often, it is seeking refuge from situations in their own countries; in the case of VN, we were refugees from a war the U.S in fact was widely criticized for, in their own land as well as all over the world A 219 complicated set of parameters Perhaps a similar question of identity will arise from the Iraq and Afghan situations at present – these situations certainly make us a self-questioning/self-critical group within American society Do I think we are better or worse? I don’t think of it in those terms, but I think we need to ask for and tell more challenging stories How can the concept “Vietnamese lierature” now be understood? (Yesterday, I have a class visit in Vietnamese linguistic class in UC Berkeley, they ask me why writer as Monique Truong, Dao Strom… writes in English, is Vietnamese literature According to them, who writes in Vietnamese, writes about Vietnam, in Vietnam is Vietnamese literature) I think that your example here exemplifies some of the limited scope in American thinking and (perhaps) even in Vietnamese-American thinking Perhaps many Vietnamese-Americans not even connect themselves with being Vietnamese, and the discrepancy lies in there Americans, meanwhile, are also more ready to embrace Vietnamese literature presented as “exotic-ism”, as “other” – as Vietnamese from Vietnam – and are less ready to look at the Vietnamese experience on American ground, in the contemporary American landscape, in familiar and mundane detail Perhaps we are a bit blind to our own place in history American readers (and Viet-Americans too, perhaps) more often want obvious drama and hardship – thus, they want the very dramatic events involved in immigration, war, racism, etc (Or they don’t want them at all; in the case of younger generations who want to claim themselves devoid of Vietnamese/cultural concerns.) That the aftermath of historic/cultural events can continue to resonate for Viet-American writers, even when not writing directly about those events, is harder for readers to grasp But I think maybe too this will continue to change, as more Viet-American writers are published, as a wider 220 variety of types of stories are told… Readers and writers both need to realize that there are complex stories even in the ennui, the comforts, the assimilation into modern American life, and that there are many connections amid us all – it is not just a matter of this or that story belonging to this or that group alone I think that people also get up on the notion that “modern” life (American life) is an improvement and a better station in the world overall; meanwhile, some of us as writers might be trying to ask a larger question, about democracy’s role in the world, about Western vs Eastern philosophy and outlook, about having roots vs releasing them I think Vietnamese-American culture and history is very nuanced and complex, is still connected in truth to Vietnam, yet also is quite separate from it But our origins are still Vietnamese: even if right now we are writing about our American/Western experience of being Vietnamese I not think being American eradicates the fact of your other cultural origins, even or despite one’s estrangement from that culture This is the paradox At the same time: literature must and should also address the universal fact of being human – it is not only about cultural identity, but also about human identity All of these issues combined, I believe, are important to how we try to define and understand Vietnamese literature in this era 221 THE INTERVIEW WITH ANGIE CHAU Because you write in English, so not many Vietnamese readers inside know about you, can you introduce something about you and your works? I was born in Saigon and came to the U.S when I was years old I am the author of Quiet As They Come, a collection of 11 interconnected short stories Set in San Francisco from the 1980s to the present day, the stories explore the lives of Vietnamese immigrants as they struggle to adjust to life in their new country As a result of history and circumstances, three families are forced to share a Victorian house in San Francisco's Sunset District With one family to each bedroom, each closet brims with desire and suppression, secrets from the past, and dreams for the future While some are able to survive and assimilate, others are crushed by the false promise of the “American Dream.” As the families branch out, their lives illuminate the distinctive struggle of refugees; people who have found shelter yet continually search for home Your opinion about writing? Writing and my family are the two most important things to me I often tell students that I believe we see who we are or who we can be in representations in art, in the media, and importantly in books Growing up in the U.S in the 80s there was almost no representation of the Vietnamese experience What little was out there were usually stereotypes: of the Vietnamese bar girl seducing a GI or a Viet Cong soldier in black pajamas I started writing because I wanted to contribute to a dialogue and give people something to talk about Our stories are important and our history is important, they matter, they should be read I am not trying to moralize and teach a lesson But I believe that books can change cultural consciousness Which topics you often write in your works? 222 It’s hard for me to pin it down to one topic although I would say that I find it interesting to look at intersections in people’s lives, at those cross points that ultimately shape who we become I think themes of displacement and longing also seem to pop up frequently likely as a result of my own experience Why you choose to write in English? Do you feel difficult between the Western and the Eastern customs/tradition/behaviors/thinking…? My English writing skills are much stronger than my Vietnamese writing skills My entire formal education from the time I was in kindergarten was in English I did take Vietnamese language courses while in college at UC Berkeley the first year it was offered at UC However, I certainly wouldn’t be able to write a novel in Vietnamese I’d love for an expert to translate it into Vietnamese however! I wholly identify as Vietnamese American or Viet Kieu I know my experience and more than three decades in America has shaped me I understand that I would have become a different person if I were raised in Vietnam When I return to Vietnam, I clearly notice the differences One of the most obvious differences is the relationship of the individual to society In the East, the “we” of family, of family honor and obligation is prioritized In the West, the individual “I” is prioritized This informs the choices people make about career, love, and every day decisions Families in the West think it’s a failure if your children don’t leave home by the time they are 18 I understand that traditional Vietnamese families would find that abhorrent Parents want their children to stay home and close to them for as long as possible right? I have a feeling most traditional Vietnamese are usually somewhat shocked when I tell them that although I am an only child, I left home to live in Spain when I was 17 I have not lived at home since For me trying to reconcile the right balance between what I want to honor from the East and the traditions that my 223 parents grew up with and what I want to honor from the West and the only home I’ve ever known truly has been a challenge I’ve always felt stuck in between Besides a writer, you need to any work for living? Yes, I am also an executive recruiter The slang for it is a head hunter I find and place high level executives into their roles within healthcare companies We work at the Vice President to CEO level only In your opinion, when writing, women face with disadvantages/difficulties? There is an organization called VIDA here in the U.S Each year, they release a survey that counts the publication rates between women and men in many of our writing world’s most respected literary outlets The statistics overwhelming show that women writers get published far less In addition, books by women are reviewed far less than male writers Obviously, if the reading public isn’t made aware of a book because it’s not reviewed than it’s not being disseminated and read In the spirit of full disclosure, there are some who disagree with the statistics and claim that what also needs to be accounted for is any difference between the submissions ratio and the acceptance ratio I’d love to see that too It would make it even more comprehensive But it’s not enough for me to discount the numbers shown here http://www.vidaweb.org/the-count-2012 I often think back to the frequently cited fact that little girls will read books with a male main character OR a female main character Boys however will usually gravitate toward books with male main characters only They don’t relate to the girl protagonists and aren’t interested in those books Much of it to me comes back to empathy and learning empathy Girls are socialized to relate and empathize and that translates to how they read and the ability to fall into a male first person narrative with ease 224 It’s a conundrum that all points to gender equality and old stereotypes We’ve made strides but we’ve got some distance to go This doesn’t make it difficult for me to be a woman writer The sitting down and writing part is up to me Nobody is preventing me from sitting down at my desk But I think that the business part of the equation and the publishing part of the equation still poses more difficulty for women than men Become a writer in “main stream” literary, how you feel? It feels good Quiet As They Come is being taught in English Literature courses and taught along with The Great Gatsby and other books that are being judged on its literary merit There was a time when a book by an Asian American Writer would only be taught in Asian American Studies, Ethnic Studies, or Comparative Literature at best All of these speak to work being marginalized and deemed as important only to a segment of the population I was recently discussing this with an older Asian author and he said that my book being taught in a regular English Lit course said more about the progress of race relations in America than anything he’d seen in a long time Even they (1.5, 2th generation writers) have many connections and come back Vietnam more often than older generation, how you think about it? I’ve heard from family and friends that for some of the older generation it is still too painful to return to Vietnam It is sad for them as they yearn for life as it was Do you often read Vietnamese literary inside? Which works or who (writers) you care? Do you have any contact with writers outside America? I went through a phase where I read a lot of Vietnamese writers living in Vietnam I particularly enjoyed Duong Thu Huong’s Paradise of the Blind, Bao 225 Ninh’s The Sorrow of War I have contact with a few writer friends outside of America Anna Moi who was based in Paris and then moved to Hoi An is lovely Nguyen Qui Duc who was in the U.S and now back in Hanoi I am also friends with a writer living in Stockholm, Sweden Do you ever come back Vietnam? If have, can you tell about your literary activities in Vietnam? Yes, I’ve been back to Vietnam a few times I’ve used the time to just absorb the place I did research for my new novel because it’s set in Vietnam during the height of American involvement in the War between 1968-1975 In terms of literary events, I visited the University in HCMC and gave a talk for a literature course I also gave talks at the U.S Embassy both in Hanoi and HCMC about my book and writing and my career in the U.S I was blown away by the audience’s excitement and curiosity about life in the West Thinking about Vietnamese American literature, you feel optimistic or pessimistic? I am a glass half full person and therefore optimistic There are more Vietnamese young people pursuing the arts than ever before and I am excited about what they are capable of producing In your idea, which aspects does Vietnamese literature in the US need for better development? We need more Vietnamese authors to write books and get them published to add different points of views and different stories to the mix Do you think, Vietnamese American literature is part of American literature? Compare to Chinese American, Japan American, Indian American literature, we are better or worse? 226 I think that Vietnamese American literature should be part of American literature Whether we have arrived there yet or not is still to be determined Compared to Chinese American, Japan American, Indian American literature, and whether we’re better or worse isn’t a fair question because if you think about it, Vietnamese only started arriving in the U.S in the 1970s as a result of the war I’ve got friends who are Chinese or Japanese who have been here for five generations Their ancestors arrive in the U.S in the mid 1800s- they’ve got more authors and books to choose from