The Viet Nam War/the American war
Subtitle: images and representations in Euro-American and Vietnamese exile narratives
By: Renny Christopher.
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Amherst
Language: eng
Number of pages: 341
Subjects: Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975 -- Literature and the conflict; American literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism; Vietnamese Americans -- Biography -- History and criticism; Vietnamese literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism; Exiles -- Vietnam -- Biography -- History and criticism; Literature, Comparative -- American and Vietnamese; Literature, Comparative -- Vietnamese and American; Soldiers' writings, American -- History and criticism; War stories, American -- History and criticism; Narration (Rhetoric) -- History -- 20th century; Vietnam -- In literature
Description: This book seeks to reformulate the canon of writings on what is called "the Viet Nam War" in America and "the American War" in Viet Nam. Until recently, the accepted canon has consisted almost exclusively of American white male combat narratives, which often reflect and perpetuate Asian stereotypes. Renny Christopher introduces material that displays a bicultural perspective, including works by Vietnamese exile writers and by lesser-known Euro-Americans who attempt to bridge the cultural gap.

Christopher traces the history of American stereotyping of Asians and shows how Euro-American ethnocentricity has limited most American authors' ability to represent fairly the Vietnamese in their stories.

By giving us access to Vietnamese representations of the war, she creates a context for understanding the way the war was experienced from the "other" side, and she offers perceptive, well-documented analyses of how and why Americans have so emphatically excised the Vietnamese from narratives about a war fought in their own country.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [327]-337) and index.