Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, "This Is All I Choose to Tell: History and Hybridity in Vietnamese American Literature"
Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, "This Is All I Choose to Tell: History and Hybridity in Vietnamese American Literature"
Publisher: Temple Univ Pr | 2010 | ISBN: 143990216X/1439902178 | English | PDF | 216 pages | 0.9 Mb
Publisher: Temple Univ Pr | 2010 | ISBN: 143990216X/1439902178 | English | PDF | 216 pages | 0.9 Mb
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's Catfish and Mandala and Lan Cao's Monkey Bridge show how trauma, racism, class and gender play a role in shaping the identities of Vietnamese American characters and narrators.
"This Is All I Choose to Tell is timely, arriving at a moment when the interest in literature from a global perspective has taken as a top priority the relationship between minor and major literatures… This Is All I Choose to Tell establishes a starting point for defining Vietnamese American literature as a field with a history, and compels us to think about how to maintain its specificity and autonomy while understanding its contingent nature." Journal of Vietnamese Studies, Summer 2012
"[T]his is a groundbreaking book regarding Vietnamese American issues in their emerging literature." Journal of Southeast Asian American Education & Advancement "[A] sensitive study of Vietnamese American literature… This Is All I Choose to Tell [is a] critically valuable intervention within the field of Vietnamese American studies, not merely within contexts of the Vietnam War and its memorial afterlife, but also within larger debates in Asian American representations related to ethnicity, immigration, gender, class, and the continual reconfiguration of recently (dis)integrated individual, political, and national selves." Journal of American Studies, August 2012
"The first book-length study of Vietnamese American literature, This Is All I Choose to Tell is unquestionably an essential contribution to the field of Asian American studies… Pelaud provides scholars and teachers alike with an impressive road map to this burgeoning body of literature, expanding on rigorous literary surveys… As evidenced by her faithful, meticulous readings, Pelaud is adamant we appreciate the personal commitment needed to transform contradictory positions into artistic products." Journal of Asian American Studies, October 2012
"This Is All I Choose to Tell represents the first book-length study of Vietnamese American literature to date, providing in the first half of the book an overview of the historical-political context of Vietnamese American literature and, in the second half, close readings and theoretical interpretations of specific literary texts… The title of Pelaud's book…beautifully encapsulates the way in which Vietnamese American writers have found ways to navigate the complex ethical terrain of disclosure and nondisclosure, of historical witnessing and appropriation, of therapeutic telling and articulate silence."–Contemporary Women's Writing, March 2013
"Pelaud provides the first comprehensive introduction and overview of Vietnamese American literature, a largely ignored and under-studied area within the larger field of Asian American literature…. Throughout, Pelaud's writing is clear and her analysis sharp. This accessible book is a must read. Summing Up: Highly recommended."
— Choice
"[T]his is a groundbreaking book regarding Vietnamese American issues in their emerging literature." Journal of Southeast Asian American Education & Advancement "[A] sensitive study of Vietnamese American literature… This Is All I Choose to Tell [is a] critically valuable intervention within the field of Vietnamese American studies, not merely within contexts of the Vietnam War and its memorial afterlife, but also within larger debates in Asian American representations related to ethnicity, immigration, gender, class, and the continual reconfiguration of recently (dis)integrated individual, political, and national selves." Journal of American Studies, August 2012
"The first book-length study of Vietnamese American literature, This Is All I Choose to Tell is unquestionably an essential contribution to the field of Asian American studies… Pelaud provides scholars and teachers alike with an impressive road map to this burgeoning body of literature, expanding on rigorous literary surveys… As evidenced by her faithful, meticulous readings, Pelaud is adamant we appreciate the personal commitment needed to transform contradictory positions into artistic products." Journal of Asian American Studies, October 2012
"This Is All I Choose to Tell represents the first book-length study of Vietnamese American literature to date, providing in the first half of the book an overview of the historical-political context of Vietnamese American literature and, in the second half, close readings and theoretical interpretations of specific literary texts… The title of Pelaud's book…beautifully encapsulates the way in which Vietnamese American writers have found ways to navigate the complex ethical terrain of disclosure and nondisclosure, of historical witnessing and appropriation, of therapeutic telling and articulate silence."–Contemporary Women's Writing, March 2013
"Pelaud provides the first comprehensive introduction and overview of Vietnamese American literature, a largely ignored and under-studied area within the larger field of Asian American literature…. Throughout, Pelaud's writing is clear and her analysis sharp. This accessible book is a must read. Summing Up: Highly recommended."
— Choice
Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, "This Is All I Choose to Tell: History and Hybridity in Vietnamese American Literature"
