Paul Christiansen in Literature
5 Books by Vietnamese Authors Centered on Strong Female Protagonists
Literature, more than any other art form, allows people an intimate vantage point from which to witness the experiences, emotions, and thoughts of individuals drastically different from themselves. Bo...
Vietnamese Creators Teach Kids to Appreciate Rice in 'Con Ăn Hết Rồi' Book Project
If one day, the grains of rice that you frequently put in your mouth suddenly start to move, talk, and give you a rundown on how they were created on the field, would you believe it? This seemingly ab...
Enlightening Misery Under French Rule Explored in 'Light Out and Modern Vietnamese Stories'
Light Out and Modern Vietnamese Stories, 1930–1954 offers the contemporary reader an honest glimpse of a period in Vietnam history characterized by corruption, exploitation, dehumanization, pover...
Paul Christiansen in Loạt Soạt
Within the Shocking Brutality of Queer Novel 'Parallels' Rests Poignant Poetry
Parallels by Vũ Đình Giang shocked me. While I refrain from spoiling its plot, allow me to share my experience when reading this novel, as translated by Khải Q. Nguyễn, to better explain how the ...
A Story of Personal, Political Reckoning in a Singaporean Writer's Fictional Wartime Vietnam
The Immolation first came to me as a bewildering surprise: at a now-relocated bookshop in Singapore, the book caught the eyes of the 17-year-old me. It was not so much the cover’s pale blue background...
Paul Christiansen in Loạt Soạt
A Touch of Magical Realism in ‘The Cemetery of Chua Village’ by Đoàn Lê
Vietnam transitioned to a market economy like an old train lurching to life: momentous shakes and shudders, steam bursting out busted gaskets, disheveled cargo tumbling from luggage racks, sparks shoo...
Paul Christiansen in Loạt Soạt
Sao La, Self, Hmong Identity: The Many Layers of Poetry Collection 'Primordial'
A book of poetry all about sao la?
Paul Christiansen in Loạt Soạt
In Latest Short Story Collection, Andrew Lam Explores Diaspora Drama via Literary Fiction
If you opened an American magazine, literary or otherwise, in the early 2000s and found any Vietnamese American byline, there’s a good chance it was Andrew Lam. The long-time journalist’s essays and s...
Guilt, Mortality, and Hope in 'Khát Vọng Cho Con' by Poet Du Tử Lê
“We are like fruits forcefully ripened, a generation of premature adults, a generation of misery.”— Du Tử Lê.
Paul Christiansen in Literature
Korean Culture Has Stolen Vietnam's Hearts. What About Korean Literature?
If you were a book publisher and saw a sudden spike in sales for a book published years ago, how would you explain it?
'I Wander Alone' and 'Your Shirt Button,' Two Poems by Nguyễn Quang Thân
“You told me not to look at you, it’s silly / Yet I want to gnaw you the way I gnaw bread ... the pack of ravenous dogs looked at me with night sea eyes / I wish they could gnaw me piece by piece.”
Paul Christiansen in Loạt Soạt
'The Colors of April' Invites Numerous Generations of Vietnamese to Reflect on War
“If the rain could wash away everything, maybe we could all find peace. For the third generation after the war, what was left behind wasn’t anger or bitterness, but an enduring sorrow that echoed from...
Thi Nguyễn in Loạt Soạt
Revisiting the Delicious Satirical Society of 'Số Đỏ' by Vũ Trọng Phụng
Published in 1938, Dumb Luck, or Số Đỏ, remains one of Vietnam's most popular and controversial novels. Vũ Trọng Phụng was fined by the French colonial administration in Hanoi in 1932 for his stark po...
Paul Christiansen in Loạt Soạt
Examining the Role of Shame in Building a National Identity via Vietnam's Thinkers
“Shame, rather than pride, can be the basis for national identity… individuals may be motivated to move their country in a desirable direction when national shame outweighs pride.”
Paul Christiansen in Loạt Soạt
In 'Water: A Chronicle,' Nguyễn Ngọc Tư Wades Into the Mekong via Vignettes
“When you’ve lived to a certain age, you don’t ask whether or not something is true, you ask which truth it is.”
Paul Christiansen in Literature
These 5 Vietnamese Poems Pay Homage to the Complexities of Local Fruits
Fruit and poetry: the two things I love most.
Paul Christiansen in Loạt Soạt
'Longings' Brings 22 Stories by Vietnamese Female Writers to the World
Where are all the female writers?
Paul Christiansen in Loạt Soạt
Social Commentary, Empathy in Nguyễn Quang Thân's Short Story Collection
Nguyễn Quang Thân passed away on March 4, 2017, several weeks before I moved to Saigon. So of course I never met him, but I feel like I know him. My first introduction was via An Insignificant Family,...
Paul Christiansen in Literature
How Nam Cao Almost Ruined My Favorite Canal Cafe
Spoilers for an 80-year-old story that every student in the nation is required to read: the dog dies, the old man dies, his son's misfortunes show no sign of abetting. Simply, misery abounds at the en...
A World of Riveting Medically Inspired Magic in Vanessa Le's YA Debut
Captured by Butchers, the “blackmarket bogey men who deal in rare goods,” Nhika Suonyasan is caged and auctioned off to the city’s elite. A figure in a fox mask attempting to purchase her is outbid by...
