The Committed by Viet Thanh Nguyen
In his new novel, Viet Thanh Nguyen does not allow the reader to forget that fiction traffics in truth.
Welcome to the new Ploughshares website! For answers to commonly asked questions, read here.
Viet Thanh Nguyen
Stories of Displacement
The stories in a new anthology edited by Viet Thanh Nguyen speak not only of estrangements from languages, loved ones, and countries of origin, but also of the pain of being in a new place that is not always accepting.
The Sympathizer and the National Imagination
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer re-situates history. 3 million Vietnamese died, and 58,000 American soldiers. A generation later, Nguyen has given this history an authentic voice—a voice that has been brushed aside, hidden from discourse, from textbooks, from individuals whose identities contain it.
The Refugee Narrative as Ghost Story
Migration, especially for refugees, is a violent crossing. In Viet Thanh Nguyen’s story collection The Refugees and Mai Der Vang’s Afterland, the dead, and all else the living abandoned, refuse to be left behind.
Killing the Messenger: A Dual Interview with Charles Baxter and Viet Thanh Nguyen on the Importance and the Stigma of Didactic (APIA) Fiction
Inside the craft-obsessed, time-warped fiction workshop where literary realism has reigned supreme forever, the Show-Don’t-Tell maxim serves an important function in critique.
Beyond Sympathy: Seeing Myself in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s THE SYMPATHIZER
Jacqueline Woodson, author of the National Book Award-winning Brown Girl Dreaming, said, “I think it’s so important for readers to see mirrors of themselves in books and to see that the people who wrote the books look like them, so that they can understand their own power and ability.”
Round-Up: Historic New Librarian of Congress, 2016 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Long List, and Pokémon Go
From the appointment of the first African American woman to the position of Librarian of Congress, to the Long List for the 2016 First Novel Prize, here are this week’s biggest literary news stories.
Story vs. History: Competing Ambitions in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s THE SYMPATHIZER
Like many Gen-Xers, I don’t know as much as I should about the Vietnam War. Sure I’ve heard stories—from an uncle who cleared land mines, from a middle school teacher ravaged by Agent Orange.