Introduction: Transdiasporic Rencontres in Việt Kiều Literature

Alexandra Kurmann; Tess Do

doi:10.5130/portal.v15i1-2.6174

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Published: Jul 4, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5130/portal.v15i1-2.6174

Keywords:

Vietnamese literature, Vietnamese diaspora, French literature, Viet Kieu Literature, transdiasporic literature, Việt Kiều literature, Linda Lê, Anna Moï, Kim Thúy

Alexandra Kurmann

Macquarie University

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6782-7545

Tess Do

University of Melbourne

Abstract

This special issue follows a conference entitled ‘Rencontres: A Gathering of Voices of the Vietnamese Diaspora’ that was held at the University of Melbourne, December 1-2 in 2016 and which sought to enable, for the first time, the titular transdiasporic rencontres or encounters between international authors of the Vietnamese diaspora. The present amalgam of previously unpublished texts written by celebrated Francophone and Anglophone authors of Vietnamese descent writing in France, New Caledonia and Australia today is the result of the intercultural exchanges that took place during that event. Literary texts by Linda Lê, Anna Moï and Thanh-Van Tran-Nhut are followed by writerly reflections on the theme of transdiasporic encounters from Hoai Huong Nguyen, Jean Vanmai and Hoa Pham. Framing and enriching these texts, scholarly contributions by established experts in the field consider the literary, cultural and linguistic transfers that characterize contemporary writing by authors of Vietnamese origin across the Francophone world.

Ce volume spécial réunit les Actes du colloque ‘Rencontres : A Gathering of Voices of the Vietnamese Diaspora’ qui s’est tenue à l’Université de Melbourne les 1er et 2 décembre 2016 et qui visait à faciliter, pour la première fois, les rencontres entre les auteurs, chercheurs et universitaires internationaux de la diaspora vietnamienne. Les fruits de leurs échanges interculturels y sont réunis dans ce présent recueil sous deux formes complémentaires : d’un côté, les articles d’experts en littérature francophone comparée ; de l’autre, les contributions créatives de célèbres auteurs francophones et anglophones d’origine vietnamienne basés aujourd’hui en France, en Nouvelle Calédonie et en Australie. Les textes littéraires de Linda Lê, Anna Moï et Thanh-Van Tran-Nhut, suivis de réflexions d’auteurs par Hoai Huong Nguyen, Hoa Pham et Jean Vanmai sur le thème des rencontres transdiasporiques, se retrouvent enrichis par les études savantes menées sur les transferts littéraires, culturelles et linguistiques qui caractérisent l’écriture contemporaine des écrivains d’origine vietnamienne dans le monde francophone.

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 1-2 (2018): Rencontres: Transdiasporic Encounters in Việt Kiều Literature (Double Issue)

Section

Rencontres: Transdiasporic Encounters in Viet Kieu Literature Special Issue 2018 (Peer-reviewed)

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Author Biographies

Alexandra Kurmann, Macquarie University

Dr Alexandra Kurmann is a Lecturer in French and Francophone Studies at Macquarie University, Sydney. She completed her doctoral thesis in Comparative Literature at the University of Melbourne in 2014. Her first book entitled Intertextual Weaving in the Work of Linda Lê: Imagining the Ideal Reader was published in 2016 and concerns the literary connections between Linda Lê, a major Vietnamese-French author, and the European exile writing tradition. Alexandra Kurmann has published widely on Diaspora Literatures in journals such as Comparative Literature, The Australian Journal of French Studies and the Women in German Yearbook. Her current research draws literatures by contemporary Vietnamese refugee and migrant writers across the Francophone, Anglophone and Germanophone worlds into transdiasporic dialogue. Dr Alexandra Kurmman est maître de conférence en études françaises et francophones à l’Université Macquarie, Sydney. Elle a soutenu avec succès sa thèse de doctorat en littérature comparée à l’Université de Melbourne en 2014. Son premier livre intitulé Intertextual Weaving in the Work of Linda Lê: Imagining the Ideal Reader a été publié en 2016 et porte sur les connexions littéraires entre Linda Lê, une auteure majeure franco-vietnamienne, et la tradition européenne de l’écriture de l’exil. Alexandra Kurmann a publié de nombreuses études sur les littératures de la diaspora dans les revues telles que Comparative Literature, The Australian Journal of French Studies et Women in German Yearbook. Ses recherches actuelles engagent dans un dialogue transdiasporique les littératures des écrivains vietnamiens réfugiés et migrants dans les mondes francophones, anglophones et germanophones.

Tess Do, University of Melbourne

Tess Do est maître de conférence en études françaises à l’Université de Melbourne. Spécialiste de littérature francophone, notamment de l’Indochine, elle s’intéresse à la question de l’exil et l’identité et aux rapports entre guerre et mémoire, patrie et diaspora, culture et alimentation. Ses publications scientifiques sur des auteurs du Vietnam et de la diaspora vietnamienne dont Linda Lê, Thanh-Van Tran-Nhut, Nguyen Van Vinh ont été publiées dans les revues telles que French Cultural Studies, Contemporary French Civilization et PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies. Tess Do travaille actuellement sur la mémoire transocéanique des travailleurs coloniaux indochinois et la traduction en anglais du roman historique Chan Dang de l’auteur néo-calédonien Jean Vanmai. Tess Do is Lecturer in French at the University of Melbourne. Her research interests lay in the field of Francophone literature, in particular, Indochina, and deal with issues related to war, exile and identity and the relations between the migrants and their homeland through the prism of food, memory and cultural heritage. Her research articles on authors from Vietnam and the Vietnamese diaspora, among others, Linda Lê, Thanh-Van Tran-Nhut, Nguyen Van Vinh, have been published in journals such as French Cultural Studies, Contemporary French Civilization and PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies. Tess Do is currently working on the transoceanic memory of the Indochinese indentured workers and the translation into English of Chan Dang, a historical novel by New-Caledonian author Jean Vanmai.

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Alexandra Kurmann, Macquarie University

Tess Do, University of Melbourne