Joseph,
Just to point out that this is the third installment of what are regular
reports on Vietnam lit/culture scene from Linh Dinh for Possum Pouch. You
might want to write him for the first two, which focused specifically on the
bizarre poetry scene there (you want bohemia? Go to Vietnam, it would seem).
You might know some of hte folks he talks about.
Kent
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Joe D. said,
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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