New Releases by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen''s To Save and to Destroy is a deeply personal reflection on outsiders in literature and in US society. Across six essays, first delivered as the Norton Lectures, Nguyen offers insightful readings of authors who shaped his craft, culminating in a poignant and vigorous call for a solidarity of the devastated.

From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen and illustrator Minnie Phan comes an unforgettable story of a Vietnamese American girl whose life is transformed by a wildfire. When Simone is awakened by her mom as a wildfire threatens their home, it is the beginning of a life-changing journey. On their way to take shelter in a high school gym, the family passes firefighters from a prison unit battling the fire. Simone’s mom tells her that when she was a girl in Viet Nam, she was forced to evacuate her home after a flood. Joined by other children sheltering in the gym, Simone, a budding artist, encourages everyone to draw as a way to process their situation. After a few days, Simone and her mom are able to return to their home, which is fortunately still standing, and her outlook has changed. As Simone begins creating a piece of art with one of her new friends, she realizes that even though they are young, they can dream and work together for a more sustainable future. With a poetic, haunting family story by esteemed author Viet Thanh Nguyen and gorgeous art from illustrator Minnie Phan, this powerful tale introduces an unforgettable young heroine who awakens to a new role fighting for her community and for the future of the planet.

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD The highly original, blistering, and unconventional memoir by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer, which has now sold over one million copies worldwide With insight, humor, formal invention, and lyricism, in A Man of Two Faces Viet Thanh Nguyen rewinds the film of his own life. He expands the genre of personal memoir by acknowledging larger stories of refugeehood, colonization, and ideas about Vietnam and America, writing with his trademark sardonic wit and incisive analysis, as well as a deep emotional openness about his life as a father and a son. At the age of four, Nguyen and his family are forced to flee his hometown of Ban Mê Thuột and come to the USA as refugees. After being removed from his brother and parents and homed with a family on his own, Nguyen is later allowed to resettle into his own family in suburban San José. But there is violence hidden behind the sunny façade of what he calls AMERICATM. One Christmas Eve, when Nguyen is nine, while watching cartoons at home, he learns that his parents have been shot while working at their grocery store, the SàiGòn Mới, a place where he sometimes helps price tins of fruit with a sticker gun. Years later, as a teenager, the blood-stirring drama of the films of the Vietnam War such as Apocalypse Now throw Nguyen into an existential crisis: how can he be both American and Vietnamese, both the killer and the person being killed? When he learns about an adopted sister who has stayed back in Vietnam, and ultimately visits her, he grows to understand just how much his parents have left behind. And as his parents age, he worries increasingly about their comfort and care, and realizes that some of their older wounds are reopening. Profound in its emotions and brilliant in its thinking about cultural power, A Man of Two Faces explores the necessity of both forgetting and of memory, the promises America so readily makes and breaks, and the exceptional life story of one of the most original and important writers working today.

Traditional Chinese edition of Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War

La esperada secuela de El simpatizante, premio Pulitzer de ficción. Un trepidante thriller político heredero del mejor John le Carré, pero con el humor y la violencia de Quentin Tarantino. «Una obra maestra.» Marlon James «Nguyen en su forma más valiente y ambiciosa. Una novela feroz, inteligente, portentosa y profundamente documentada.» Ocean Vuong «Uno de nuestros grandes cronistas de la inmigración.» Joyce Carol Oates, The New Yorker París, principio de los años ochenta. Tras escapar de Vietnam y de su paso como inmigrante por Estados Unidos, el protagonista sin nombre de esta historia llega a la capital francesa para intentar labrarse un futuro valiéndose del capitalismo en una de sus formas más puras: el tráfico de drogas. Aunque su vida ya no corre peligro físico, sigue torturándose por su pasado como agente doble y luchando por asimilar la cultura dominante occidental europea. A medida que se une a un grupo de intelectuales y políticos de izquierda, encuentra no solo un estímulo para pasar página, sino también clientes para su negocio. Con lo que no cuenta es con la presencia de otros peligros no previstos, desde la opresión del gobierno a la adicción a las drogas, pasando por un problema aparentemente irresoluble: cómo puede reunir a sus dos amigos más cercanos, Bon y Man, dos hombres cuyas visiones del mundo e ideales son completamente opuestos. La esperada secuela de El simpatizante, que le valió a Viet Thanh Nguyen el premio Pulitzer de ficción y el reconocimiento mundial de crítica y publico, es a la vez un thriller político repleto de humor y violencia y una inteligente novela de ideas con agudas reflexiones sobre el racismo, el colonialismo y la hipocresía.

Um thriller literário brilhante e existencialista que retrata com virulência a opressão e a alteridade, o compromisso e a traição, tendo como pano de fundo a Guerra do Vietname e as consequências nefastas das ideologias. Autor vencedor do Prémio Pulitzer «Ali estava eu, um homem de duas caras. Qual delas estaria naquele momento a mostrar a mim mesmo e a eles? O que era eu, um revolucionário ou um reacionário? E, sendo um revolucionário, qual era a minha luta? Com que credo estava comprometido?» Vo Danh, ou Anónimo, antigo espião tornado refugiado, simpatizante comunista que sobreviveu a um campo de reeducação, filho de uma mãe vietnamita pobre e de um pai francês ausente, chega a Paris no início dos anos 80, para começar mais uma vida nova. Na Cidade das Luzes, aguarda-o o Patrão, a quem prestará serviço como passador de droga, e uma «tia» editora que lhe dará guarida, estímulo intelectual e incentivo à escrita. Carregando consigo os fantasmas da guerra e dos seus crimes, e a sua herança euro-asiática, as centenas de páginas da sua confissão procuram responder à mais importante questão do século XX: «O que fazer?». Nesta sua última descida ao Inferno, Vo Danh enceta uma busca conturbada pela sua identidade, enquanto tenta integrar-se à força numa cultura ocidental dominante que o perturba e seduz. O Comprometido é um thriller literário brilhante e existencialista que retrata com virulência a opressão e a alteridade, o compromisso e a traição, tendo como pano de fundo a Guerra do Vietname e as consequências nefastas das ideologias. Os elogios da crítica: « O Comprometido prolonga esse livro de estreia ( O Simpatizante), pondo o acento tónico em questões de identidade e género. Radicado nos Estados Unidos desde a queda de Saigão, o autor não esquece as humilhações sofridas pelo seu povo. De certo modo, um ajuste de contas pós-colonial. E Nguyen faz isso muito bem.» Eduardo Pitta, Sábado «Nguyen é um escritor perspicaz, cáustico e extraordinariamente divertido.» Los Angeles Review of Books «Uma criação literária única, verdadeiramente original.» The New York Review of Books

La suite très attendue du Sympathisant, Prix Pulitzer 2016 ! Où l''on retrouve Vo Danh, le fameux agent double, plongé dans le Paris des années 80, sa faune interlope, ses philosophes marxistes et sa Place de la Bastille... Chef d''œuvre d''inventivité et de drôlerie, Le Dévoué est aussi un grand roman politique sur l''identité et sur l''Histoire qui n''en finit pas de nous rattraper. Paris, été 1981 Après avoir réchappé d''un camp de rééducation, Vo Danh (l''homme sans nom, l''espion, l''agent double à la solde des communistes, héros et narrateur du Sympathisant) atterrit à Paris en même temps qu''une cohorte de réfugiés vietnamiens. Il est accompagné de Bon, son frère de sang, toujours aussi résolument anti-communiste (et ignorant de la double identité de Vo Danh). Tous deux logés dans le 11ème arrondissement de Paris, ils se lancent à l''assaut de la capitale bien décidés à faire leur trou et surtout à se remettre de leurs émotions. Hélas, Le Boss, leur seul contact à Paris, n''est autre qu''un trafiquant notoire qui leur offre en guise de job, de devenir ses hommes de main, chargés de régler leur compte aux mauvais payeurs et autres resquilleurs.ÂÂÂ Bien trop sensible pour supporter toute cette violence, Vo Danh propose au Boss de se lancer dans un trafic de cannabis auprès des intellectuels de gauche et autres philosophes marxistes. Un business plus tranquille et plus lucratif. Du moins le croit-il, car très vite, il se retrouve au cœur d''une brutale lutte de territoire entre dealers algériens. Et comme si tout cela ne suffisait pas, Bon et lui apprennent une incroyable nouvelle : l''homme masqué, leur tortionnaire au camp de rééducation, serait lui aussi à Paris et occuperait un poste important à l''ambassade du Vietnam. Pour Vo Danh qui pensait couler des jours heureux à Paris, boire des crèmes en terrasse tout en se goinfrant de croissant, les ennuis ne font que commencer... Â

Paris, 1981: Die Hauptstadt der ehemaligen Kolonialmacht ist für viele vietnamesische Flüchtlinge der rettende Hafen nach einer langen Irrfahrt über die Weltmeere. Auch der namenlose Ich-Erzähler und sein bester Freund Bon haben es aus ihrer Heimat nach Europa geschafft. Auf der Suche nach einem Job geraten sie an die vietnamesische Drogenmafia. Als Dealer machen sie ein gutes Geschäft, und der Ich-Erzähler, ein ehemaliger kommunistischer Spion, profitiert von einem Wirtschaftssystem, das er eigentlich ablehnt. Im Konflikt mit sich selbst und ständig konfrontiert mit rassistischen Übergriffen, sucht er nach einem neuen Lebensentwurf. Dabei wird ihm der beste Freund zum größten Widersacher und der sichere Hafen Paris zur tückischen Falle.

The long-awaited follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Sympathizer, which has sold more than one million copies worldwide, The Committed follows the man of two minds as he arrives in Paris in the early 1980s with his blood brother Bon. The pair try to overcome their pasts and ensure their futures by engaging in capitalism in one of its purest forms: drug dealing. Traumatized by his reeducation at the hands of his former best friend, Man, and struggling to assimilate into French culture, the Sympathizer finds Paris both seductive and disturbing. As he falls in with a group of left-wing intellectuals whom he meets at dinner parties given by his French Vietnamese “aunt,” he finds stimulation for his mind but also customers for his narcotic merchandise. But the new life he is making has perils he has not foreseen, whether the self-torture of addiction, the authoritarianism of a state locked in a colonial mindset, or the seeming paradox of how to reunite his two closest friends whose worldviews put them in absolute opposition. The Sympathizer will need all his wits, resourcefulness, and moral flexibility if he is to prevail. Both highly suspenseful and existential, The Committed is a blistering portrayal of commitment and betrayal that will cement Viet Thanh Nguyen’s position in the firmament of American letters.

The American Civil Liberties Union partners with award-winning authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman in this “forceful, beautifully written” (Associated Press) collection that brings together many of our greatest living writers, each contributing an original piece inspired by a historic ACLU case. On January 19, 1920, a small group of idealists and visionaries, including Helen Keller, Jane Addams, Roger Baldwin, and Crystal Eastman, founded the American Civil Liberties Union. A century after its creation, the ACLU remains the nation’s premier defender of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. In collaboration with the ACLU, authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman have curated an anthology of essays “full of struggle, emotion, fear, resilience, hope, and triumph” (Los Angeles Review of Books) about landmark cases in the organization’s one-hundred-year history. Fight of the Century takes you inside the trials and the stories that have shaped modern life. Some of the most prominent cases that the ACLU has been involved in—Brown v. Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, Miranda v. Arizona—need little introduction. Others you may never even have heard of, yet their outcomes quietly defined the world we live in now. Familiar or little-known, each case springs to vivid life in the hands of the acclaimed writers who dive into the history, narrate their personal experiences, and debate the questions at the heart of each issue. Hector Tobar introduces us to Ernesto Miranda, the felon whose wrongful conviction inspired the now-iconic Miranda rights—which the police would later read to the man suspected of killing him. Yaa Gyasi confronts the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education, in which the ACLU submitted a friend of- the-court brief questioning why a nation that has sent men to the moon still has public schools so unequal that they may as well be on different planets. True to the ACLU’s spirit of principled dissent, Scott Turow offers a blistering critique of the ACLU’s stance on campaign finance. These powerful stories, along with essays from Neil Gaiman, Meg Wolitzer, Salman Rushdie, Ann Patchett, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Louise Erdrich, George Saunders, and many more, remind us that the issues the ACLU has engaged over the past one hundred years remain as vital as ever today, and that we can never take our liberties for granted. Chabon and Waldman are donating their advance to the ACLU and the contributors are forgoing payment.

A band of intrepid chickens leave behind the boredom of farm life, joining the crew of the pirate ship Pitiless to seek fortune and glory on the high seas. Led by a grizzled captain into the territory of the Dog Knights, they soon learn what it means to be courageous, merciful, and not seasick quite so much of the time. A whimsical and unexpected adventure tale, Chicken of the Sea originated in the five-year-old mind of Ellison Nguyen, son of Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen; father and son committed the story to the page, then enlisted the artistic talents of Caldecott Honor winner Thi Bui and her thirteen-year-old son, Hien Bui-Stafford, to illustrate it. This unique collaboration between two generations of artists and storytellers invites you aboard for adventure, even if you''re chicken. Maybe especially if you''re chicken.

Auteur du retentissant Sympathisant, Viet Thanh Nguyen livre un recueil de nouvelles d''une justesse, d''une acuité et d''une élégance peu communes, et offre sa voix à tous les déracinés. Dans un pays où tout était affaire de possessions, nous ne possédions rien d''autre que nos histoires. Vietnamiens, ils ont fui le communisme à la fin des années 1970 pour s''exiler de l''autre côté du Pacifique, en Californie. Ils vivent entre deux rives, entre pays d''adoption et pays de naissance, pas encore Américains, plus tout à fait Vietnamiens. Certains sont figés dans le passé, hantés par les fantômes, effarés par l''hédonisme occidental ; d''autres veulent aller de l''avant, pour eux, pour les enfants, pour la possibilité d''une autre vie. Pour n''être plus simplement des réfugiés.

Toutes les guerres sont livrées deux fois, la première sur les champs de bataille et la seconde dans les mémoires. Après le retentissement international du Sympathisant, Viet Thanh Nguyen revient avec un essai remarquable et érudit sur la guerre, la mémoire et l''identité. Puisant dans sa propre histoire, celle d''un intellectuel vietnamien ayant vécu l''exil et grandi aux États-Unis, l''auteur s''interroge sur cette guerre que les Vietnamiens nomment " américaine " et que les Américains nomment " du Vietnam ". De quelle manière est-elle remémorée, commémorée, industrialisée ? Quels sont les enjeux de la bataille du souvenir ? Analysant de nombreuses formes de témoignage, dont essais, romans, photographies, films, monuments commémoratifs, Viet Thanh Nguyen dépasse l''interprétation binaire du conflit pour tenter de restituer une mémoire juste, globale, qui prendrait aussi en considération d''autres points de vue, notamment ceux des civils, des ennemis, des vaincus et des populations alentour. Chercher à restituer la vérité pour que jamais rien ne meure. Reconnaître la part d''humanité et d''inhumanité de chacun. Permettre la réconciliation et, ainsi, éviter que l''Histoire ne se répète.

«Vet du hva jeg likte best med den tiden?» Han ristet på hodet. Vi satt i sofaen i kjellerkontoret, som var varmere enn stuen i november. «Etter bombingen gikk vi ut, og du holdt meg i hånden mens vi sto og blunket mot solen. Jeg likte så godt at det kom lys etter mørket når vi gjemte oss. Og stillhet etter tordenbrakene.» Flyktningene er en samling korte fortellinger om livene til vietnamesiske flyktninger i USA, og om de utfordringer alle immigranter står overfor i møte med en annen og helt ny virkelighet. Gjennom samlingens åtte noveller møter vi menn og kvinner på flukt fra sitt hjemland, sin arv og seg selv. Novellenes hovedpersoner befinner seg ofte i brutte familierelasjoner og ødelagte forhold, og kjemper med motstridende følelser omkring individualitet og tilhørighet. Kommunikasjon mellom mennesker er et gjennomgående tema i disse historiene, hvor språk – eller mangel på språk – både binder mennesker sammen og separerer dem, spesielt på tvers av generasjoner. Viet Thanh Nguyen (f. 1971) er født i Vietnam og oppvokst i Amerika. Han er professor og forfatter, og har tittelen Arnold Chair of English og Professor of English and American Studies and Ethnicity ved University of Southern California. For sin debutroman, The Sympathizer (2015), ble han belønnet med åtte litterære priser, inkludert Edgar Award og den høythengende Pulitzer-prisen. I 2017 mottok han The MacArthur «Genius Grant», som tildeles individer som viser ekstraordinær originalitet og dedikasjon innenfor sitt fag. «En kraftig motgift til all løgnen og fremmedfrykten der ute.» - Independent «Viet Thanh Nguyens nye novellesamling er like upåklagelig skrevet som den er betimelig.» - Washington Post «Presis uten å være kynisk, humoristisk uten å være nedlatende, og full av forståelse; flere av novellene kunne like gjerne vært skrevet av en moderne Flaubert, hadde han tilbrakt tid i San Jose eller Ho Chi Minh City.» - Kirkus Review «Vinneren av Pulitzer-prisen 2016 er tilbake med en nydelig utformet novelle-amling ... Nguyen skildrer vietnamesiske flykt-ningers underverden, deres liv og kulturelle annerledeshet med presisjon og eleganse.» - O, The Oprah Magazine «En rik skildring av identitet, familiebånd, kjærlighet og tap – aldri har en novellesamling vært så tidsriktig.» - Independent «Svært lite i disse historiene vil kunne glemmes lett.» - Los Angeles Times «Suveren.» - The New York Times Flyktningene er den første av Viet Thanh Nguyens bøker som er oversatt til norsk.

Menschen im Transitzustand Ein junger vietnamesischer Geflüchteter gerät in den späten Siebzigerjahren in eine Schwulen-WG in San Francisco und erleidet einen profunden Kulturschock; ein dementer Physikprofessor beginnt, seine Frau mit einer Geliebten aus der alten Heimat zu verwechseln; eine junge Frau besucht ihre Halbgeschwister in Ho-Chi-Minh-Stadt und gibt vor im Einwanderungsland Amerika erfolgreicher zu sein, als sie eigentlich ist. Dieser Band versammelt acht Erzählungen über Menschen, die in den Monaten und Jahren nach dem Fall von Saigon aus Vietnam geflüchtet sind und versuchen, in Amerika eine neue Heimat zu finden. Ein fesselndes Zeugnis der universellen Erfahrung von Verlust, Flucht, Vertreibung und der Suche nach der eigenen Identität.

Traditional Chinese edition of The Refugees

In De vluchtelingen geeft Viet Thanh Nguyen een stem aan alle mensen die zich tussen twee werelden bevinden, tussen het geadopteerde vaderland en het geboorteland. Nguyen vertelt ons onder meer over een jonge Vietnamese vluchteling die een ernstige cultuurschok oploopt als hij met twee homoseksuele mannen in San Francisco gaat wonen, over een vrouw wier man aan dementie lijdt en haar begint te verwarren met een vroegere geliefde, en over een meisje in Ho Chi Minh Stad van wie het oudere halfzusje terugkomt uit Amerika en schijnbaar alles heeft bereikt wat zij nooit zal doen.

Vietnam asıllı Amerikalı yazar Nguyen’den edebiyat dünyasında büyük yankı uyandıran, hakları otuza yakın ülkeye satılan ve yirmiden fazla yılın kitabı seçkisinde yer alan sarsıcı bir ilk roman. Pek çok prestijli ödüle layık görülen Sempatizan, bir gerilim romanının heyecanı ve Saul Bellow’la karşılaştırılan tarzıyla insanın ayaklarını yerden kesen bir dostluk ve ihanet destanı. Çift taraflı çalışan komünist bir ajan, kendi deyimiyle “çifte akıllı” bir adam olan hikâyenin anlatıcısı, Saygon’un düşüşünden sonra Amerika’ya gelerek Los Angeles’taki diğer sürgün Vietnamlılarla birlikte yeni bir yaşam kurmaya çalışırken, bir yandan da Vietnam’daki komünist üstlerine gizlice raporlar gönderen Yarı Fransız yarı Vietnamlı bir istihbarat subayıdır. Sempatizan, hem kimlik ve göçmenlik üzerine çok yoğun bir keşif yolculuğu, hem insanı esir alan bir casusluk romanı, hem de güçlü bir aşk ve dostluk hikâyesi. 2016 Edgar En İyi İlk Roman Ödülü 2016 PEN/Faulkner Ödülü Finalisti 2016 Dayton Edebiyat Barış Ödülü 2015 Kurmaca Merkezi İlk Roman Ödülü 2015-2016 Asya/Pasifik Amerikası Edebiyat Ödülü 2016 California İlk Kurmaca Kitap Ödülü 2017 Asya Amerika Çalışmaları Birliği Yaratıcı Yazıda En İyi Kitap Ödülü MacArthur ve Guggenheim Fellowship Ödülleri New York Times Çok Satanı

Fresque épique, reconstitution historique et œuvre politique, un premier roman à l''ampleur exceptionnelle, qui nous mène du Saigon de 1975 au Los Angeles des années 1980. Saisissant de réalisme et souvent profondément drôle, porté par une prose électrique, un véritable chef-d''œuvre psychologique, couronné par le prix Pulitzer, et aujourd''hui une série HBO. Je suis un espion, une taupe, un agent secret, un homme au visage double. Ainsi commence l''hallucinante confession de cet homme qui ne dit jamais son nom. Un homme sans racines, bâtard né en Indochine coloniale d''un Français et d''une Vietnamienne, élevé à Saigon mais parti faire ses études aux États-Unis. Un capitaine au service d''un général de l''armée du Sud Vietnam, un aide de camp précieux et réputé d''une loyauté à toute épreuve. Et, en secret, un agent double au service des communistes. Un homme déchiré, en lutte pour ne pas dévoiler sa véritable identité. Un homme en exil dans un petit Vietnam reconstitué sous le soleil de L.A., qui transmet des informations brûlantes dans des lettres codées à ses camarades restés au pays. Un homme seul, que même l''amour d''une femme ne saurait détourner de son idéal politique... SYMPATHISANT n. m. : personne qui approuve les idées et les actions d''un parti sans y adhérer.

Im Jahr 1975 werden Offiziere aus Süd-Vietnam in die USA ausgeflogen. Unter ihnen befindet sich auch ein kommunistischer Spion, der die Gruppe weiterhin überwachen soll. Dieser hadert jedoch bald mit seinem Doppelleben und gerät in einen Identitätskonflikt.

Neste brilhante thriller de espionagem, Viet Thanh Nguyen nos coloca na mente de um agente duplo, um homem cujos nobres ideais o farão trair até as pessoas mais próximas. Romance vencedor do prêmio Pulitzer, O simpatizante deu origem à série original da HBO, disponível na Max. Eleito um dos melhores livros do século XXI pelo The New York Times. O simpatizante é um épico de amor e traição. O leitor acompanha um agente duplo comunista sem nome, que se infiltrou no exército sul-vietnamita e conseguiu se refugiar nos Estados Unidos depois da Queda de Saigon. Pessoa de confiança de um general que se recusa a admitir a derrota para os vietcongues, esse "homem de duas mentes" observa o esforço dos refugiados vietnamitas para sobreviver em uma melancólica Los Angeles enquanto secretamente reporta a seus superiores comunistas no Vietnã. É um romance arrebatador, uma audaciosa reflexão sobre o extremismo político.

Het is april 1975 en in Saigon heerst chaos. In zijn villa zit een generaal van het Zuid Vietnamese leger whiskey te drinken en hij is samen zijn getrouwe kapitein een lijst aan het opstellen van mensen die een plaats krijgen op een van de laatste vluchten het land uit. De generaal en zijn landgenoten gaan een nieuw leven beginnen in Los Angeles. Ze zijn zich er niet van bewust dat een van hen, de kapitein, in het geheim de groep observeert en verslag uitbrengt aan een meerdere in de Vietcong. De sympathisant is het verhaal van deze kapitein, een man grootgebracht door een afwezige Franse vader en een arme Vietnamese moeder, een man die in Amerika ging studeren aan de universiteit, maar terugkeerde naar Vietnam om te vechten voor de communistische zaak. Viet Thanh Nguyens verbazingwekkende roman biedt een kijkje in de ziel van deze dubbelagent, een man wiens hooggestemde idealen vereisen dat hij de mensen die hem het meest nabij zijn moet verraden. Winnaar van: Pulitzerprize, Edgar Allan Poe Award, Andrew Carnegie Medal, Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Center for Fiction first novel prize, California Book Award, Asian/Pacific American Literature Award Viet Thanh Nguyen is geboren in Vietnam en opgegroeid in de Verenigde Staten. Verhalen van zijn hand zijn verschenen in Best American Voices, TriQuarterly, Narrative en de Chicago Tribune. Ook is hij de auteur van het academische boek Race and Résistance. Hij doceert Engelse en Amerikaanse Studies aan de Universiteit van Zuid-Californië en woont in Los Angeles. De sympathisant is zijn, alom geprezen, debuut. In De sympathisant vertelt Nguyen het verhaal van een man met twee zielen, iemand wiens politieke overtuigingen botsen met zijn individuele loyaliteiten. In dialoog met, maar diametraal tegenovergesteld aan de verhalen over de Vietnamese oorlog die eerder zijn verschenen, biedt deze roman een belangrijk en onbekend nieuw perspectief op de oorlog: die van een communistische sympathisant in gewetensnood.

Una novel·la d''espies trepidant guanyadora del Premi Pulitzer 2016. Comparada per la crítica a les novel·les de Graham Greene, Denis Johnson i George Orwell, El simpatitzant és una novel·la d''espies apassionant que explora la identitat i els Estats Units, i una poderosa història d''amor i amistat. El narrador és un agent doble dividit entre les seves lleialtats. Meitat francès i meitat vietnamita, un "home de dues ments", és un capità de l''exèrcit que aconsegueix fugir als EUA després de la caiguda de Saigon, però mentre intenta construir una nova vida amb altres refugiats vietnamites a L.A., secretament segueix informant els seus superiors comunistes al Vietnam. El simpatitzant examina el llegat de la guerra del Vietnam en la literatura, el cinema i les guerres actuals. Amb la col.laboració de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura.

PREMIO PULITZER DE FICCIÓN 2016 Una brillante novela de espías, un thriller político que ofrece un punto de vista inédito de la guerra de Vietnam. Abril de 1975, Saigón está sumida en el caos. Desde su mansión, el general del ejército de Vietnam del Sur bebe whisky norteamericano mientras los disparos suenan cada vez más cerca y, con la ayuda de un capitán de su máxima confianza, prepara una lista con los nombres de aquellos que recibirán un billete para los últimos aviones que salen del país. El general y sus compatriotas en breve comenzarán una nueva vida en Los Ángeles sin sospechar que uno de ellos, el capitán, observará en secreto e informará sobre las actividades del grupo a un superior del Viet Cong. En esta extraordinaria novela, Viet Thanh Nguyen nos introduce en la mente de este agente doble, un hombre cuyos nobles ideales le exigirán que traicione a su gente más cercana. Una novela de espías que atrapa al lector, una audaz exploración del extremismo político y una conmovedora historia de amor. El simpatizante recorre una vida entre dos mundos y analiza el legado de la guerra de Vietnam en la literatura y el cine, así como las guerras que emprendemos en el presente.

“Beautiful and heartrending” fiction set in Vietnam and America from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sympathizer (Joyce Carol Oates, The New Yorker) In these powerful stories, written over a period of twenty years and set in both Vietnam and America, Viet Thanh Nguyen paints a vivid portrait of the experiences of people leading lives between two worlds, the adopted homeland and the country of birth. This incisive collection by the National Book Award finalist and celebrated author of The Committed gives voice to the hopes and expectations of people making life-changing decisions to leave one country for another, and the rifts in identity, loyalties, romantic relationships, and family that accompany relocation. From a young Vietnamese refugee who suffers profound culture shock when he comes to live with two gay men in San Francisco, to a woman whose husband is suffering from dementia and starts to confuse her with a former lover, to a girl living in Ho Chi Minh City whose older half-sister comes back from America having seemingly accomplished everything she never will, the stories are a captivating testament to the dreams and hardships of migration. “Terrific.” —Chicago Tribune “An important and incisive book.” —The Washington Post “An urgent, wonderful collection.” —NPR

Politický thriller oceněný Pulitzerovou cenou 2016. Jsem špión. Člověk dvou tváří. Proto asi nikoho nepřekvapí, že i mysl mám dvojitou. V románu Sympatizant sledujeme osudy dvojitého agenta sloužícího rozvědce socialistického vietnamského státu i tajné službě jihovietnamského režimu, s jejímiž exponenty se po pádu Saigonu vydá do amerického exilu. Kniha citlivě vnímá nejen politické intriky na vysoké úrovni, ale i jejich dopad na lidské osudy, ať už jde o celý národ nebo jednotlivce vtažené bez své vůle do víru událostí. Snaží se zachovávat objektivní pohled bez předpojatosti vůči jedné či druhé straně, tento pohled však ani náhodou není nezúčastněný.

È il mese di aprile del 1975 a Saigon. Il mese nel quale la guerra che va avanti da tempo immemorabile ha cominciato ormai a perdere i pezzi. In una villa dalle mura ricoperte di cocci di vetro e di filo spinato arrugginito, il generale capo della Polizia Nazionale del Vietnam del Sud, colto da improvvisa insonnia, vaga tra le stanze con la faccia di un pallore verdognolo. Il fronte settentrionale ha ceduto dinanzi allavanzata dei Vietcong, gli aerei americani decollano giorno e notte con a bordo donne, bambini e orfani, e lordine ufficiale di evacuazione tarda a venire soltanto per evitare la rivolta in città. A bordo di un C-130, con un volo coperto, il Generale si appresta a raggiungere gli Stati Uniti con la famiglia e parte dei suoi uomini. Ufficiale magro dal portamento impeccabile, il Generale crede in Dio, nella moglie, nei figli, nei francesi, negli americani e nellassoluta fedeltà del suo uomo di fiducia, il solo tra i suoi sottoposti ad abitare a casa sua: il Capitano. Non sa che il Capitano è, in realtà, una spia, un dormiente, un uomo con due facce che fotografa in gran segreto ogni rapporto e dispaccio e li invia a Man, suo addestratore tra le fila Vietcong. Figlio illegittimo di una vietnamita e di un prete cattolico francese, il Capitano ha studiato in un piccolo college della California meridionale, spedito da quelle parti da Man con una borsa di studio e il compito di apprendere la «mentalità degli Stati Uniti», un paese che, ai suoi occhi, si rivela subito cosí scioccamente narcisista da definire tutto «super» (i supermercati, le superstrade, Superman, il Super Bowl ecc.). Animato da unautentica fede nel comunismo, rientrato in patria, ha sostenuto con tale rigore la sua parte di agente doppogiochista da risultare insospettabile agli occhi di tutti, anche a quelli di Bon, lamico di lunga data che è entrato a far parte del famigerato «Phoenix Program» della CIA. In una Saigon in preda alla confusione, al caos e al terrore, il Capitano, il Generale e un nutrito gruppo di fuggiaschi scappano sotto la tempesta di fuoco dei Vietcong, tra una pioggia di razzi e granate che lasciano sulla pista dellaeroporto della città i corpi inerti di moglie e figlio di Bon. Una volta a Los Angeles, nella città del futile mondo del cinema, gli orrori della guerra sembrano lontani. Ma un dilemma atroce attende il Capitano: seguire «le cose che contano», come lideologia e il credo politico, oppure lasciare prevalere le «illusioni della giovinezza», salvando la vita a Bon, lamico con cui ha sigillato un patto di sangue durante ladolescenza? Romanzo che offre il ritratto impareggiabile di un «uomo con due menti diverse», di un «rivoluzionario» che dinanzi al terribile esito dei suoi ideali non cessa per questo di «scrutare loscurità con pensieri scandalosi, speranze eccessive e sogni proibiti», Il simpatizzante ha riscosso, al suo apparire negli Stati Uniti, lentusiasmo di critica e pubblico, vincendo il Premio Pulitzer 2016 per la narrativa e figurando come «libro dellanno» sul New York Times e i maggiori organi di stampa internazionali. «Il simpatizzante non è soltanto un magistrale romanzo di spionaggio, ma unopera che annuncia la nuova letteratura americana del XXI secolo». BookReporter «Un personaggio memorabile con cuore e mente profondamente divisi. La mirabile descrizione che Nguyen avanza della personalità ambivalente del suo eroe ne fa uno scrittore degno di maestri quali Conrad, Greene e le Carré». New York Times «Abbiamo atteso a lungo il grande romanzo sulla guerra del Vietnam, e ora eccolo, è arrivato». Vietnam Veterans of America