In November I had the opportunity to work with Eastwind Books and Thanh attend a talking event with acclaimed Pulitzer prize-winning author Viet Nguyen. With time long enough to hold a conversation but too short to spill my thoughts, I handed him a physical letter. Here are its contents. A slightly humorous addendum lies below once you’ve finished reading it.
Dear Viet Thanh Nguyen,
My name is Quan Minh Phanguyen and I am a Vietnamese-American writer from the idyllic town of San Jose studying English at UC Berkeley. These may form a familiar background for you, but what contrasts is the fact that I am a second-generation immigrant. This is the heartbeat sentence of this letter.
It shouldn’t need to be said that I deeply admire your work. While reading through The Sympathizer, there were several moments in which I had to close the book, look up to the sky, and think to myself:
“This is where the peak of writing lies.”
Your stories contain subject matter I actively attempt to avoid, which means my praise is traversing through twice the distance from neutrality. I write about the fantastical– “I am on the side of the pixies and the dragons,” as Ishiguro says. The purest form of escapism, contrasting the barest grit of life. But this is why I felt compelled to complete your novel and your memoir. I wished to tether myself before falling into magic.
Recently I’ve been contemplating about the circumstances that brought me here. As a second-generation Vietnamese-American, I have the luxury of making my writing fraught with non-historical elements. There is no need for me to publish “ethnic stories,” an issue Nam Le mentions. You, him, and many of the other hard-working, trailblazing immigrant writers in this nation have lit the rope for the fireworks of another generation’s stories to explode dazzlingly. And for that, I personally thank you.
I will continue to keep your works in mind for as long as I live, and I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.
Best Regards, Quan Phanguyen
Sitting in the theatre hall and listening to him conduct his interview, imagine my horror as in one of his talking points he touches on how he dislikes when fans introduce themselves to him as a writer when they have no real works completed yet. Imagine my anguish when he warns the crowd against the term immigrant for Vietnamese citizens coming into America, saying instead that they are refugees. I wrote this before coming and somehow I had hit all of his icks. Tragedy.
