The Vietnam War in American Literature: An Introduction
The main purpose of the course is to provide students with an introduction to Vietnam War representations across American literature, with a special emphasis on Vietnamese American narratives and perspectives.
The course will examine the American war in Vietnam and the diasporic Vietnamese experience through a close reading of four major works (Herr, O’Brien, Nguyen, Bui), all the while tackling the socio-historical context behind it. It will begin with a comprehensive overview that unpacks the war’s local roots and aftereffects, firmly centering Vietnamese agency and political actors. The course will then investigate how American literature and cinema have shaped collective memories of the conflict in the following decades, recently giving way to literary and critical perspectives willing to challenge pre-assumed notions.
Students will critically engage with the contested memories of the war through the study of Michael Herr’s Dispatches, Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer and Thi Bui’s The Best We Could Do, with attention to their formal and thematic aspects and through an intermedial approach that will not fail to include discussions of Hollywood depictions of the conflict. Students will develop the ability to discuss critically the themes and issues addressed during the course.
The course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to explore American literature and culture in a transnational way by focusing on a key topic that encompasses war literature, Asian American literature, and Cold War studies. Notions of theoretical frameworks and methodologies such as trauma studies, diaspora studies, and critical refugee studies will also be introduced and discussed.
The main purpose of the course is to provide students with an introduction to Vietnam War representations across American literature, with a special emphasis on Vietnamese American narratives and perspectives.
The course will examine the American war in Vietnam and the diasporic Vietnamese experience through a close reading of four major works (Herr, O’Brien, Nguyen, Bui), all the while tackling the socio-historical context behind it. It will begin with a comprehensive overview that unpacks the war’s local roots and aftereffects, firmly centering Vietnamese agency and political actors. The course will then investigate how American literature and cinema have shaped collective memories of the conflict in the following decades, recently giving way to literary and critical perspectives willing to challenge pre-assumed notions.
Students will critically engage with the contested memories of the war through the study of Michael Herr’s Dispatches, Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer and Thi Bui’s The Best We Could Do, with attention to their formal and thematic aspects and through an intermedial approach that will not fail to include discussions of Hollywood depictions of the conflict. Students will develop the ability to discuss critically the themes and issues addressed during the course.
The course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to explore American literature and culture in a transnational way by focusing on a key topic that encompasses war literature, Asian American literature, and Cold War studies. Notions of theoretical frameworks and methodologies such as trauma studies, diaspora studies, and critical refugee studies will also be introduced and discussed.
- Teacher: GIACOMO TRAINA