eBook

This Is All I Choose to Tell

Pelaud, Isabelle Thuy

2010,2011

Overview

In the first book-length study of Vietnamese American literature, Isabelle Thuy Pelaud probes the complexities of Vietnamese American identity and politics. She provides an analytical introduction to the literature, showing how generational differences play out in genre and text. In addition, she asks, can the term Vietnamese American be disassociated from representations of the war without erasing its legacy? Pelaud delineates the historical, social, and cultural terrains of the writing as well as the critical receptions and responses to them. She moves beyond the common focus on the Vietnam war to develop an interpretive framework that integrates post-colonialism with the multi-generational refugee, immigrant, and transnational experiences at the center of Vietnamese American narratives. Her readings of key works, such as Andrew Pham'sCatfish and Mandala and Lan Cao's Monkey Bridgeshow how trauma, racism, class and gender play a role in shaping the identities of Vietnamese American characters and narrators.

• Publisher: Temple University Press
• Subject: American / American literature / American literature -- Vietnamese American authors -- History and criticism / Asian American / Cultural fusion in literature / Ethnic identity / History and criticism / History in literature / Language & Literature / LITERARY CRITICISM / Literature and the war / Multiculturalism in literature / Race in literature / Vietnam War, 1961-1975 / Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Literature and the war / Vietnamese American authors / Vietnamese Americans / Vietnamese Americans -- Ethnic identity / Vietnamese Americans in literature
• ISBN: 143990216X, 9781439902165, 1439902178, 9781439902172, 9781439902189, 1439902186