ABSTRACT

The Sympathizer is a theoretically sophisticated response to the narratives concerning the Vietnam War in the context of U.S. imperialism through the wars in Iraqi, Afghanistan, and the context of more currently terrorist attacks. What Viet Thanh Nguyen has undertaken in this fierce and bold debut is not an attempt at an authentic delineation of the war in Viet Nam, but a critical reflection on the knowledge production regarding the Vietnam War in particular, and all the other wars in general. With an ambitious and disturbing gesture, The Sympathizer confronts the “frames of war” and endeavors to circulate beyond the limits of the “frames” in order to shed light on an unresolved entanglement encoded in the war narratives. By stitching together conflicting voices and standpoints, The Sympathizer makes visible a complex web of war narratives and the ill-conceived logic that previously undiagnosed. This essay eventually discusses the way in which Nguyen’s post-Apocalyptic sentiments give The Sympathizer an intricate touch and a narrative reenactment that echoes the practice of pacificism.

摘要

“同情者”是对美帝国主义，伊拉克战争，阿富汗战争以及目前更多恐怖袭击的背景下有关越战的叙述的理论上复杂的回应。越南阮阮在这场猛烈而大胆的首次亮相中所做的一切，并不是要对越南战争进行真实的划定，而是对尤其是越战以及其他所有战争的知识生产的批判性反思。“同情者”以一种雄心勃勃且令人不安的姿态面对“战争框架”，并努力超越“框架”的界限进行流通，以阐明战争叙述中未解决的纠缠。通过将相互矛盾的声音和观点融合在一起，“同情者”使战争叙事和以前无法诊断的思想不周的逻辑变得复杂。这篇文章最终讨论了阮的世界末日后的情感如何赋予《同情者》一种复杂的触感和叙述性的再现，以呼应和平主义的作法。