VIET Thanh Nguyen is a writer who has masterfully explored the complexities of identity, displacement and the human cost of war. His work, spanning fiction and non-fiction, delves into the lives of individuals shaped by historical and cultural upheaval. Born in Vietnam and raised in the United States, Nguyen's perspective is informed by his dual heritage, and his writing often bridges the chasm between these two worlds.
Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize-winning debut novel, "The Sympathizer," was published in 2015. It's a tour de force of literary innovation and political critique. The novel begins in the waning days of the Vietnam War, following a narrator who is a communist double agent embedded in the South Vietnamese government. As the story unfolds, the narrator flees to the United States, where he grapples with his fractured identity and the moral ambiguity of his work as a spy.
Continue reading with one of these options:
Ad-free access
P 80 per month
(billed annually at P 960)
- Unlimited ad-free access to website articles
- Limited offer: Subscribe today and get digital edition access for free (accessible with up to 3 devices)