Robin

Robin asked Viet Thanh Nguyen:

I'm still working my way through The Sympathizer and I'm enjoying it thoroughly, but it's the message that the book is conveying (or that I think it is) which is really hitting home. My question is; did you write this knowing that societies issues of representation and acceptance are such important talking points at the moment? Was this your way of using past events to illustrate current struggles? Or am I way off?

Viet Thanh Nguyen thanks for the question, Robin. I'm a scholar, and issues of representation and acceptance are critical in my work. Things haven't changed that much from the 1960s and 1970s when it comes to how "differences" and minorities, or others, are represented or accepted (or not) by dominant society. So I could write about the past and be aware that those events could comment on the present.

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Steven

Steven asked Viet Thanh Nguyen:

I found your book by accident, and I am so glad that I did! It was just prior to our visit to Vietnam, so the timing was also perfect. When are you going to publish another book, and will you continue to mine the Vietnamese/US/French history or go another direction? The self-reflection perspective of the book was such a great perspective to read this from. Thank you.

Lg asked Viet Thanh Nguyen:

I am deeply amazed by this book, while only on page 131. Coincidentally, last night I heard Allan Johnson speak on race and the concept of systemic perpetuations of power over/exclusion of "the other," including the example of films that diminish the characters of "non-whites" - so precisely depicted in your interchange between the narrator and the film director. Are you aware of Johnson's writings?

Steve

Steve asked Viet Thanh Nguyen:

Have you ever visited Lowell, Massachusetts where there's a large Vietnamese population? I've recently read your book and, in growing up in a town near Lowell, and have memories from my early years when the first large influx of Vietnamese immigrants started to migrate to Lowell; your novel has put some of these memories in a different perspective! Steve

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Viet Thanh Nguyen

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