Showing results by author "Ocean Vuong" in All Categories

In this deeply intimate second poetry collection, Ocean Vuong searches for life among the aftershocks of his mother's death, embodying the paradox of sitting within grief while being determined to survive beyond it. Shifting through memory, and in concert with the themes of his novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, Vuong contends with personal loss, the meaning of family and the cost of being the product of an American war in America. At once vivid, brave and propulsive, Vuong's poems circle fragmented lives to find both restoration as well as the epicentre of the break.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late 20s, the letter unearths a family's history that began before he was born - a history whose epicentre is rooted in Vietnam - and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class and masculinity.

The Emperor of Gladness follows a wayward young man in New England who, out of sheer chance, becomes the caretaker for an 82-year-old widow living with dementia. Hallmarks of Vuong's writing - formal innovation, syntactic dexterity, and the ability to twin grit with grace through tenderness - are on full display in this masterful story of friendship and how much we’re willing to risk to possess one of life’s most treasured mercies: a second chance.

Ocean Vuongs neues, atemberaubendes Werk nach dem Welterfolg von Auf Erden sind wir kurz grandios. Der queere Hai, Sohn einer vietnamesischen Mutter, lebt in East Gladness, einer heruntergekommenen Industriestadt in New England. Überall hängen die Schilder der Obama-Kampagne "Yes, we can", doch Hai schluckt Pillen und denkt an Selbstmord. Bis er Grazina aus Litauen kennenlernt, eine Überlebende des Zweiten Weltkriegs, in deren Kopf noch die Stimmen der Opfer schwirren. Beide verbindet eine innere Verwundung.

"Lass mich von vorn anfangen. Ma ..." Der Brief eines Sohnes an die vietnamesische Mutter, die ihn nie lesen wird. Die Tochter eines amerikanischen Soldaten und eines vietnamesischen Bauernmädchens ist Analphabetin, kann kaum Englisch und arbeitet in einem Nagelstudio. Sie ist das Produkt eines vergessenen Krieges. Der Sohn, ein schmächtiger Außenseiter, erzählt – von der Schizophrenie der Großmutter, den geschundenen Händen der prügelnden Mutter und seiner tragischen ersten Liebe zu einem amerikanischen Jungen.

La guerra, l'amore per una madre e per la lingua d'adozione, l'emigrazione, la violenza, l'identità, la scoperta del corpo e della perdita, una vita intera a capire cosa significa diventare cittadini di un altro paese: il romanzo d'esordio del poeta Ocean Vuong (T.S. Eliot Prize 2017) è la rivelazione dell'ultima stagione editoriale negli Stati Uniti, considerato dalla critica l'emblema di cosa può essere il romanzo americano. Little Dog, la voce di questo romanzo di esordio tradotto in tutto il mondo, ricostruisce in una lettera alla madre la storia della sua famiglia.

Un joven que se descubre a sí mismo en su doble condición de inmigrante y homosexual. Un libro valiente y conmovedor. Un hijo le escribe una larga carta a su madre, que no sabe leer. La carta es en realidad un examen de conciencia, un repaso a los elementos clave que han ido conformando su identidad: como hijo de una familia de vietnamitas que huyeron de su país rumbo a Estados Unidos y como joven que descubre y asume su homosexualidad.