I've just been reading Linh Dinh's "Magic Realist Country" & am not sure
what it is supposed to add up to, though it suggests that to Linh the
Vietnamese (except for him) are a silly & unscientific bunch. But having
lived in Viet Nam about a quarter of the time since 1997, I can tell you
that all the things he says are literally true. The Vietnamese, with a
few exceptions, are deeply unscientific & what you might think of as
magic is simply the facts here. It's a sweet relief, I can tell you,
after New York.
The 21st c. is an odd phenomenon in VN--the country was busy resisting
the French & then the Americans during the West's period of High
Modernism & has perhaps skipped irony entirely & moved into something
that doesn't feel quite like "post-modernism," but which can
nevertheless absorb & transform Taoist magic, television & the
teleological myths of Marxism. Go figure.
jd
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Joseph Duemer
School of Liberal Arts-5750
Clarkson University
(On leave 2000 - 2001)
Doan Thi Hanh Guesthouse
172 Pho Ngoc Ha So cu 4
Ba Dinh - Hanoi, Viet Nam
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