Inheriting the War: Poetry and Prose by Descendants of Vietnam Veterans and Refugees

by Laren McClung (Editor), Yusef Komunyakaa (Foreword by)

Overview

Descendants of Vietnam veterans and refugees confront the aftermath of war and, in verse and prose, deliver another kind of war story.

Fifty years after the Vietnam War, this anthology by descendants of Vietnam veterans and refugees—American, Vietnamese, Vietnamese Diaspora, Hmong, Australian, and others—confronts war and its aftermath. What emerges is an affecting portrait of the effects of war and family—an intercultural, generational dialogue on silence, memory, landscape, imagination, Agent Orange, displacement, postwar trauma, and the severe realities that are carried home. Including such acclaimed voices as Viet Thanh Nguyen, Karen Russell, Terrance Hayes, Suzan-Lori Parks, Nick Flynn, and Ocean Vuong, Inheriting the War enriches the discourse of the Vietnam War and provides a collective conversation that attempts to transcend the recursion of history.

“Each unique work in Inheriting the War embraces a collective that aims to engage through some daring and passionate truths calibrated by bravery.” —Yusef Komunyakaa, from the foreword

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393354294
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	11/07/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
File size:	607 KB

About the Author

Laren McClung is a poet and the author of Between Here and Monkey Mountain. She teaches at New York University.

Editorial Reviews

12/18/2017
The physical and emotional aftereffects of the Vietnam War continue to ripple through families, as this comprehensive anthology shows, as the stories and traumas of those involved are passed down like genetic traits. The work includes both poetry and prose (with several category-defying pieces) and features such literary luminaries as Suzan-Lori Parks, Ocean Vuong, and Nick Flynn. Tom Bissell elucidates childhood with a veteran father: “At every meal Vietnam sat down, invisibly, with our families.” For poet Brandon Courtney, the specter was violent: “the same ashen hand/ that formed his fist/ that christened drywall,/ my mother’s lip.” In a stirring essay, poet Terrance Hayes describes meeting his biological father and learning of his grandfather’s actions during the war. Not all of the authors are descendants; Andrew X. Pham chillingly recounts his attempt to flee Saigon with his family as the city fell. Ben Quick’s informative essay on Agent Orange veers into the personal, explaining that the likely cause of his birth defect was his father’s exposure to the chemical. This penetrating and powerful collection brings together some of the most talented, haunted voices of those affected by the Vietnam War. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"A perspective that is essential for all Americans to ingest. Everything in its pages…displays unflinching eloquence. There is no doubt of the importance of Inheriting the War."

The Rumpus - Barbara Berman

" Inheriting the War mines…how we pursue the soul of those we love who are torn by war, and how those wounds weather our own hands and hearts."

The Millions

"Dense with confrontation, desperation, suffering, this volume also resonates with agency, empathy, even forgiveness."

Booklist

10/15/2017
McClung (writing, New York Univ.; Between Here and Monkey Mountain) serves as editor of this poignant collection of poems and short stories by 61 descendants of soldiers and refugees of the Vietnam War. Although these writers did not experience the war directly, the profound impact it had on their lives is palpable. A variety of viewpoints are represented by this diverse group of authors. However, some common themes are found in many of the writings: an emotional distance between descendant and ancestor, and traveling to Vietnam in an attempt to understand their parent better. Stories reveal childhoods involving neglect, abuse, and learning about the horrors of war at a young age. Taken as a whole, this work reveals how psychological trauma can have ripple effects through later generations. VERDICT This book intersects history, literature, and psychology and will appeal to readers interested in those subjects; those wishing to learn more about the Vietnam War, poetry, or transgenerational trauma will also find this an engrossing read. See In Country, edited by John Prados, for an anthology by individuals who experienced the war firsthand.—Joshua Wallace, Tarleton State Univ. Lib. Stephenville, TX

Library Journal