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cover of episode Viet Thanh Nguyen on the Lasting Impact of the Vietnam War 50 Years Later

Viet Thanh Nguyen on the Lasting Impact of the Vietnam War 50 Years Later

2025/4/10
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Viet Thanh Nguyen
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Viet Thanh Nguyen: 我在童年时期目睹了父母作为难民的艰辛生活，这给我留下了深刻的印象。在越南杂货店的工作经历让我感到格格不入，也加剧了我身份认同的困境。图书馆和电视成了我童年的避难所，让我沉浸在书籍和流行文化中，缓解了身为难民的痛苦。我的家人在越南战争期间经历了两次逃亡，我本人也成为了难民，这段经历给我带来了巨大的心理冲击。在逃亡过程中，我们与家人分离，这段经历给我带来了巨大的心理冲击。“赤裸生命”指的是在集中营或难民营中，人们被剥夺了尊严和人性，处于极度脆弱的状态。难民在逃亡过程中经历了非人化待遇，即使获得救援，也失去了公民身份和民族认同的保护。越南难民在重建生活时，努力重建社区机构和文化传统，以恢复自身的人性。许多越南难民最初相信能够返回越南，但最终都意识到他们将在美国定居。越南战争对越南难民的影响是持久而深刻的，它并未随着战争的结束而结束。对于越南难民来说，战争的结束并没有带来情感上的终结，他们仍然承受着战争带来的创伤和痛苦。越南难民社区内部存在许多问题，例如暴力、贫困和身份认同的危机。美国从越战中吸取了错误的教训，继续干涉其他国家的战争，这让我感到疲惫和绝望。对于越战的反思是周期性的，新一代人对越战的了解主要来自教科书和电影，而非亲身经历。越战对第二代和第三代越南裔美国人的影响较小，他们更多地将其视为历史事件而非个人经历。越战给我的父母带来了巨大的创伤和损失，而我的孩子只能从我的讲述中了解这段历史，无法体会我所承受的情感重量。不同背景的难民有着相似的经历，而越战与阿富汗战争之间也存在相似之处，例如美国干涉他国事务，以及战争结束后对盟友的指责。美国在越南战争和阿富汗战争中的失败，部分原因在于其对当地情况的误判和对盟友的低估。许多逃离越南的难民是亲战的，与美国的反战抗议者立场不同。好莱坞对越南战争的刻画存在种族主义和性别歧视问题，但我仍然认为将我的作品改编成电视剧是一个值得冒险的机会。好莱坞在刻画其他文化方面进步缓慢，对非白人种族的刻画仍然存在严重问题。回到越南的经历因人而异，取决于个人的情况和时间。我回到越南后，并没有感到完全融入，仍然感觉自己并非完全的越南人。我对英语的掌握，与我童年时期在不同语境下接触越南语和英语的经历有关。作为难民子女，我很难从父母那里了解他们的经历和创伤，这导致了我们之间的隔阂。越战的创伤会影响几代人，但后代对这段历史的理解和感受会因成长环境的不同而有所差异。我创立“散居越南艺术家网络”（D-VAN）的初衷是为了让越南裔艺术家的声音被听到，并促进越南裔艺术社群的发展。 Alexis Madrigal: 对谈中引导话题，并与嘉宾进行互动讨论。 Brian Vo: 作为年轻一代的越南裔美国人，分享了他对家庭历史和移民经历的理解和感受，以及与父母之间存在的隔阂。 听众: 分享了他们各自的经历和对越战的看法，包括对美国政策的批评，以及对越南难民的同情。 supporting_evidences Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'It was a dark and depressing place for me. It was an alien place. Everything was in Vietnamese...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'Yes, that was my salvation. I would go to the library...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'So when South Vietnam lost the war in 1975, my parents became refugees for a second time, and I became a refugee for the first and so far only time...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'And we left my 16 year old sister behind...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'That term comes from the philosopher George Agamben, and he was describing what happens to people in, first of all, Nazi death camps, but he also extends that to concentration camps and refugee camps...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'And that's a common theme in a lot of, obviously, in literature of concentration camp divisors, but also refugee camps, people who have been to refugee camps talk about the dehumanization...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'Well, I think for a lot of people, they tried to put that experience of bare life behind them...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'besides trying to find jobs obviously and survive that way, they rebuilt all of these community institutions like the Catholic Church...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'I think a lot of people... did not think they would be in exile forever...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'No, that's absolutely true. I mean, I think for Americans, the war didn't really end either in an emotional sense...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'and melancholy in the community. And I think some of that was expressed very explicitly through this idea of a nation in exile...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'My feelings are pretty similar. I mean, besides the grief, I just have a sense of exhaustion...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'Oh, I'm very cynical at this point. I really do think that it's more cyclical...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'it's hard to generalize because obviously it's a very diverse community, but I think that for the second and the third generation, it is history...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'Inevitably, it has to be. Again, I just saw the devastating impact of the war and its losses on my parents...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'Well, I think that refugees share a lot of common experiences in Jephthah...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'And when the war went badly for the United States, but also obviously the Vietnamese and the Afghans, what did the United States do? They blamed the Vietnamese and the Afghans...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'Well, that is the irony, right? I mean, a lot of the Vietnamese refugees who came to the United States were pro-war...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'Sure, but first let me say Robert Downey Jr. is a great guy...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'Oh, I think the answer is it hasn't done very well...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'I'm so glad for our caller that she had that experience...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'So when I came back to Vietnam, it was with a certain kind of optimism but also cynicism that I would not become fully Vietnamese just by returning...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'Absolutely. I felt like I had to make a choice about who I was...' Brian Vo: 'Yeah, thanks, Alexis. Well, with my story, it gets quite complicated because as the children of the refugees, I they don't really want to share their stories or they don't bring up their stories...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'Well, I think for some, there's going to be that secondhand trauma, the secondhand memories that they absorb from their parents...' Viet Thanh Nguyen: 'You know, basically what happened is I was a hungry, young Vietnamese American when I was in college, starving for Vietnamese stories...'

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Shownotes Transcript

Viet Thanh Nguyen came to the United States as a 4-year-old refugee after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. His family eventually settled in San Jose. Nguyen went on to become a Pulitzer Prize-Winning novelist and memoirist whose books center the experience of Vietnamese people. As we approach the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, we’ll reflect on the war’s lasting impact and what we have – and have not – learned from it. And we’ll talk about his new book of essays, “To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other,” which explores the role of artists in political discourse.

Guests:

Viet Thanh Nguyen, author and professor at USC. His latest book is a collection of essays, "To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other." His previous books include the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Sympathizer," "The Committed," and the memoir, “A Man of Two Faces."

Bryan Vo, Forum intern

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