Narrative Plentitude | Viet Thanh Nguyen and Vu Tran | Talks at Google

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen and moderator Vu Tran discuss the idea “Narrative Plenitude”, around Asian representation in popular culture.
Originally cited in Nguyen’s book Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War, “Narrative Plenitude” is a scenario where stories featuring Asian characters appear in abundance. In this talk, Nguyen cites the film Crazy Rich Asians as a good first step toward achieving Asian American “Narrative Plenitude,” where positive, genuine characterizations of Asians and Asian-Americans become more prevalent in popular culture.
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel The Sympathizer is a New York Times best seller and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2015. His other books are Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War (a finalist for the National Book Award in nonfiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award in General Nonfiction) and Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America.
His current book is the bestselling short story collection, The Refugees. Most recently, he has been the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundations, and le Prix du meilleur livre étranger (Best Foreign Book in France), for The Sympathizer. He’s a critic-at-large for the Los Angeles Times and a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times.
Viet was born in Ban Me Thuot, Viet Nam (now spelled Buon Me Thuot after 1975, a year which brought enormous changes to many things, including the Vietnamese language). He came to the United States as a refugee in 1975 with his family and was initially settled in Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, one of four such camps for Vietnamese refugees. From there, he moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he lived until 1978. Seeking better economic opportunities, his parents moved to San Jose, California, and opened one of the first Vietnamese grocery stores in the city. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, San Jose had not yet been transformed by the Silicon Valley economy, and was in many ways a rough place to live, at least in the downtown area where Viet’s parents worked. He commemorates this time in his short story “The War Years” (TriQuarterly 135/136, 2009).
Viet where he graduated from UC Berkeley with degrees in English and ethnic studies, and stayed at Berkeley for a Ph.D. in English. He currently resides in Los Angeles, where he teaches at the University of Southern California.
Get the book here: goo.gl/kaSF76
#GoogleDigitalCoaches

[@vivekbammi5133]

Humanistic, humorous and deep conversation - a wonderful representation of their culture and of "plenitude"!

[@music.blooming.garden]

I am a fan of Viet Thanh Nguyen! Thank you Vu Tran & Google Talks for this great talk!

[@ccccfkvkvk2779]

Tuyến xet

[@kimm8134]

Love Vu Tran as the interviewer……can someone give more info on his background

[@Klee15]

In response to the call for Asian parents to embrace passions beyond the STEMs, I think part of their fixation on demonstratively lucrative professions is their own experience as first generation immigrants growing up in economic hardship. They envision that, through their own hard work in blue collar jobs, they give their child the opportunity to be a rich doctor or engineer. And I think it creates an unbreachable rift when said child values ideals that cannot be bought by money. So, while a minimum amount of income is desirable, any more than that won't satisfy them because more money can't buy what they want. My family, when they came over, was told America was the "Golden Mountain" where anyone can be rich if they so desired. 1) No. 2) For some people, there are more important things than to be rich. But the fixation on money is a barrier to this understanding. That's particularly salient for me right now as Lunar New Year approaches and the realization that many of our salutations and our taboo behaviors all seem to fixate on wealth. "Kung hei fat choi! Don't eat congee on New Year's, 'cos that's what poor people eat. Don't sweep the house 'cos you're sweeping your wealth out the door." Hell, to the point made here, "Crazy Rich Asians" is an embarrassment of wealth.

[@kimm8134]

Love your perspective and so agree with you

[@hridhiray2591]

good morning!

[@viethuyhoang3778]

i am a vietnamese. and i am pround of two people in this video. Also they are vietnamse -american not vietnamese ;)

[@luandao8874]

Why are you proud of other vietnamese ? I admire them, Im not proud of them.

[@viethuyhoang3778]

@@luandao8874 However, they appear in talk at google. But you have real all of my answer, just a joke. Dont too serious man.haha

[@tuannguyenvan-lp4rc]

them nhan xet khong khai

[@tuannguyenvan-lp4rc]

cong khai

[@chotucho9802]

သင္ဘာေတြေတြးေနလည္း