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The Cleaving

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The first and only book to gather the voices and perspectives of Vietnamese diasporic authors from across the globe.   Edited by Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, Lan P. Duong, and Pulitzer Prize–winning autho...
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  • 15 April 2025
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The first and only book to gather the voices and perspectives of Vietnamese diasporic authors from across the globe.
 
Edited by Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, Lan P. Duong, and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Cleaving brings together Vietnamese artists and writers from around the world in conversation about their craft and how their work has been shaped and received by mainstream culture and their own communities. This collection highlights how Vietnamese diasporic writers speak about having been cleaved—a condition in which they have been separated from, yet still hew to, the country that they have left behind.
 
Composed of eighteen dialogues among thirty-seven writers from France, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Canada, Australia, Israel, and the United States, the book expands on the many lives that Vietnamese writers inhabit. The dialogues touch on family history, legacies of colonialism and militarism, and the writers' own artistic and literary achievements. Taken together, these conversations insist on a deeper reckoning with the conditions of displacement. 

Featured writers: Hoai Huong Aubert-Nguyen, Amy Quan Barry, Doan Bui, Thi Bui, Lan Cao, Cathy Linh Che, André Dao, Duy Đoàn, Lan P. Duong, Dương Vân Mai Elliott, Le Ly Hayslip, Matt Huynh, Violet Kupersmith, Thanhhà Lại, Vincent Lam, T.K. Lê, Tracey Lien, Marcelino Trương Lực , Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, Anna Möi, Beth (Bich) Minh Nguyen, Diana Khoi Nguyen, Hieu Minh Nguyen, Hoa Nguyen, Philip Nguyễn, Thảo Nguyễn, Vaan Nguyen, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, Andrew X. Pham, Aimee Phan, Abbigail Nguyen Rosewood, Bao Phi, Dao Strom, Kim Thúy, Paul Tran, Monique Truong, Minh Huynh Vu, Ocean Vuong

 

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Price: $24.95
Pages: 264
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Series: Critical Refugee Studies
Publication Date: 15 April 2025
ISBN: 9780520410374
Format: eBook
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Contents

Foreword 
Viet Thanh Nguyen
Acknowledgments 

INTRODUCTION:
A CLEAVING, A LEAVING, A HEAVING 
Lan P. Duong

1 • On Violence: There and Here 
Kim Thúy and Ocean Vuong 
Doan Bui and Beth (Bich) Minh Nguyen 
Bao Phi and Dao Strom 
Cathy Linh Che and Diana Khoi Nguyen 

2 • Authorship and Authority: The Americas and Việt Nam 
Monique Truong and Viet Thanh Nguyen 
Lan Cao and Vincent Lam 
Amy Quan Barry and Thanhhà Lại 

3 • Writing Feminism and Disobedience 
Hoai Huong Aubert-Nguyen and Vaan Nguyen 
Abbigail Nguyen Rosewood and Violet Kupersmith 
Thi Bui and Thảo Nguyễn 
Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai and Hoa Nguyen 

4 • Representation, Writing, Reception 
Le Ly Hayslip and Dương Vân Mai Elliott 
Anna Möi and Aimee Phan 
Andrew X. Pham and Marcelino Trương Lực 
Tracey Lien and André Dao 

5 • Form and Future 
T.K. Lê and Duy Đoàn 
Hieu Minh Nguyen and Matt Huynh 
Philip Nguyễn, Paul Tran, and Minh Huynh Vu 

Conclusion: On Being a Writer at the Border 
Isabelle Thuy Pelaud

Coda 
Viet Thanh Nguyen, Lan P. Duong, and Isabelle Thuy Pelaud

Notes 
Works Cited 
About the Contributors 
Index