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    1 5 Generation Compressed

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    136 CHIVU The 1.5 Generation Vietnamese-American Writer as Post-Colonial Translator INTRODUCTION This essay explores contemporary transnationalism through ahe creative texts written by Viemamese-bom 1,3 Generation authors residing in the USA, in order to define the generational impact on this emerging literatare. | use post-colonial translation theary to 2xamine haw the process of migration produces 2 caltaral and linguistic gap for these authors ja telatior to their readership, and to identify the creative strategies used by these authors in response to it The 1.5 Generatica is a cultural construct that has become increasingly used Within a variety of academic disciplines. This diesporic generation is comprised of those who have memeries of their birth country, are conscious of being bicultara! and are at least conversationally bilingual (Danieo 6). ‘They are technically part of the firs: gencration, in that they were bom overseas and are immigrants themsleves. using the specific tern, as the concept of the 1.5 Generation it has therefore yet te develop agreed-upon parameters (Bartley & Spoorley 67). Different theorisis have applied the concepr to those who migrated before the age of twelve, middle te date adolesvenes, or even to young adults; many theorists consider very young children vého migraied before school age to be second generation (Park 141), Given the significance of Hngnistic and cultural knowledge involved in literary produetion, theterm *1.5 Generation’ in this essay refers to auhors who experienced migration as children aged between, six and sixteen yoats, including experiencing some of their formative socialisation, and therefore language acquisition, in the country of origin. Conversely, members of this Generation need to have arrived in the country of setifement at a young. enough age te attead school and te experience non-work related sociatisation- In tho first section of this essay, | propose thar the Vietnamese diaspora is not only dispersed geograghically but also Knguistically; each generation internatises the dominant language to a different extent, anc this results ina linguistic dispersat across gtnerations in cach country of setilercent, | explore how 9 cultural end Unguistic gap exists for diasporic writers. Strikingly, the cultural and linguistic gap experienced by first generation authors differs to thai experienced by te 15 Generation, In subsequent sections, Fexamine was by 1.3 Generation authers Lan Cao and Link Dinh to identify the creative strategies they use to resist invisibil:ty, stereotyping or linguistic colonisation, and propose that these strategies change Fhe 1.5 Gengration Vie American Weiter i as the cultural and linguistic gap shifts over dine and in diverse circumstances of cultural production. 1 suggest that |S Generation authors do, indeed. have to redefine their positionitg with each new ereative work, to (re}transhate thenselves along a shifting contiquum of othertiess, The essay couckides by way of thearising the 1.5 Gencration’s relationship to language itself. The Vietnamese diaspora is said fo have emerged in 1975 affer the Viemam War,’ in which the Cormunist North defeated the pro-westeet South Vietnamys government and unified Viet Nam after 1975. Vietnam's post-colonial status is contextualised by Freach colouialism, American neo-colonialise dgring, modern times, and nearly a thousund years of Chinese domination in pre-mocem times. As with otber post-colonial nations, structures of inequity and oppression remain in place after Vietnam: achieved independence from foreign powers. By the late 1970s and 1980s. over one million people fed South Viet Nama tosettle in countries soch as the USA, Aastealia, France and Canada. The résalt is a Vietnamese dHaspora as social fore which reniains “an identified group characterised by their relationship-despite-dispersal’ (Vertovec 3}, The Viemamese diaspora is not only dispersed geographically but also linguistically. Adter scttlement, Vietnamese migrant eounmuntties increasingly adopt the dominant lauguage of the host country, Generally. first generation migrants do not become as assimilated as their second generation children. The linguistic disspora therefore occars both geograpbically, as well as across the geacrttions Within sack country of settlement. tn between the first and second Beneration is the 1.3 Generation. Lacustic Disrersat Post-colonial theory describes bow the process of migration ‘translates’ the subject into object; first- and 1.5 Generation authors weuld have been mierabers ef ihe dominant culture if they had remained in Vietnam, bet post migration and settlement they becume menibers of. minority culture. Untike the first generation, however, the 1.5 Gencration authors do re-orientaie thomselves linguistically after migration te produce Anglophone creative kt These texts are therefore consumed by a readership that is partially or primarily Gam a different culture, j suggest these authors are faced with a cultural and linguistic gap that requires iheir performance as “iranslators® bebwsen the mainstream and minority cultures. i reapprepriating and reassessing the term translation ilself, ad recognisiug the role that translation played during eolonisation. “Who translates whom becomes a crucial issue. Questions of culteral tamiliarity, the implied constraction of the audience, the probleins of constructing the “other” have particular relevance ia this context’ (Asherott, Griffiths & Titi 204). Unequal power relations between cultuees was supported by centri teanslation as a one-way process for the benefit of the coloniser, rather than as psi of a reeiproeal process of exchange: 132. chi Ve al involves questions of power or seltions, and of firms of deminatin., of transl fon takes place in an euticely neuteal space of absolete equalll is trenstating something or someone. Someone ox something is being trashed, teansTormed 10m a sadfoot Lo un object. (Young 140) The creative writing produced by £,3 Generation writers can be said to be directed toward a scadcrship that is “partially or primarily of people from a different culture’ (Tymoceko 21). For this generation the gap is specifically between the mainstream culture in the country of setiement and the minecity cultare of the Vietnamese diaspora. Posi-colonial transtation theorist Maria Tycieczke compares the task required ef wanskuars with chat mquired of post- colonial writers, Her assertion is that while ttanslators (amspart 2 text, poste colonial writers must (ranspose a culture, which includes the various systems that enable the text ta be grasped by read As background 10 their literary works, they are bansposing 4 culuire —~ to he understood as a languape, a cognitive system, 9 [iteratire ... a material cxlsute, a social system aad legal framework, « hisiory, and sa forth, fn the case of many former colonics. there may even by more than one culture or one language that stand behind a tex, (20) These are the elements tht make up the cultural ane linguistic gap, which members of the 15 Generation must attempt to overcome. Otherwise, their terary production may result in invisibility, stereotyping and linguistic colonisation. While the 1.5 Generation exhibits some characteristics of the first gencration, the cultural and linguistic gap does, however, inipact differently on the first generation as compared to the 1.5 Generation. | spend the remainder of ibis section examining this se as 10 apprehend the publication context thai is the inheritance of the 1.5 Generasion. I propase that dirst generation diaspor:c authors face, simultaneously, a smaller and larger culturalinguistic gap than te 1.5 Generation. The Gist generation face a smaller gap when writing in Vietnamese for the Vietaamese diaspora, because there is generally a shared cognilive system, history, Hterature and social system. Conversely, the first generation face a much wider gap when they write in English tor a mainstream readership in the county of settlement, where a shared culture between audhor and audience docs not yet exist. Researchers note that immediately after the end of the Viemam War and until the. ently 1990s Hiterary production written in Vietnamese by first generation authors, for a. Vietnamese readership, was fiall of “wrath and anger’ (Qui-Phiet Tran qtd in Janette 271). In contrast, works written in English, for a mainstream North American readership, adopted a calmer tone, one that was ‘characterized by pationes and fact’ (Janette 272). The boundary between insiders and outsiders is clearly demarcated for the first generation of writers, For the firsi generation, the fact of displacement also imposes a barrier to Writing ereatively in the country of settlement, irrespective of the language used, < 4 e 4 ce Q 4 % a £33 Writing abaut American eminent first generation author VO Phida, Joha Schafer explains that ‘trying to apply his descriptive powers, ened in Vietnam, to focal scenes and culture in the United States {_.] is not easy for him. In Vietnam he was the insider, reporting on the things be knew well... ie tae United States he is an craisider. trying 40 understand a sange land Iphabtied by a people whose language he barely speaks’ (Schafer 217). Creative veriting relies on, evocation and familiarity with not just the language, but also dhe envircament and context, Even when Vo Phign is impressed by Bis uewly adopted land, it has to resonance for hina; he experiences a sense of aliena-ion trom ptace: iv Vietnant, hc says, “we had se memories of the past’, But in America, whon we stand ‘}n thts field, on that h beside tha: river, we don’t yet bave any memories a all. We fave the scone the feeling’. (V6 Phién qtd in Schafer 219 nery but also feeling. ehe bright present but abso fiside, or Despile tis challenge, V5 Pludn continued his creative output ia the USA, writing for the emerging Vietnamese global diaspora. The essays he wrote during the early period of settlement were aimed at fellow refugees cad take the form of letters 40 2 ‘dear friend”. I suggest that V¢ Phién’s strategy of bighly personalised and intimate writing is a respovse to the sense of dispersal and alienation fromm place. The effectiveness of this stritegy is heightened by the fact that V3 Phién writes ia Vietnamese for first generation migrants, like hiraself, who are surrounded by the dominance of Eaglish. Schafer is aat of Vietnamese heritage but is able to read Vietnamese language lexis, He deseribes his Feelings as an ‘outsider’ reading V6 Phidn’s essays, written nat long afer he settled in America. PWihen semeone like myself reads his works if is ike cavesctapping. on a private cunversatiant... Reading [ts essays} you deel as if you are perusing a dunulle of oft otters feruad in the attic. When you discever thal the people talking in the letters are gatking about you ~~ abort Americus — the stangeness of your situatioa jacreases, but. of course. so does your curiosity, (Scrafor [4-15) These ‘overheard stories’ confirm haw wide the cultaral and linguistic gap is for first generation Vietnamese writers when eymmunieatirg te a mainstream American readership, The value of such works is that ‘they aliow us to encounter the Feelings and thoughts of @ leading Vietnaniese exile writer before they arc edited to accommodate American sensitivities’ (Schafer 14-15), Those carly works by first generation writers are valuable documents in the dace of North American hegemony; they ptovide a unique opportunity for readers in a powerfid country Eke the USA to see theraselves through gouninely new eyes. if and when these works are eventually translated inte English, In addition lo the sease of displacement caused by migration, first gegeration swritecs found it almost impossible to gaina wider readership. Critic Nguyén Hung Que notes fat works written in Vienamese are wot studied in Asian-American Studies. whies only focus on English language publications (263). Schafersuggests 4 . hive that first generation writers are most often classified under “Asian Studies’ rather than Asian-American stadies, and chat only works written from an American- Asian perspective achieve recognition in mainstzeam North America (9). ‘It’s ns 4 us only, Fhere’s nu way to reach thee [English-language teadersh: every road is blocked, every door is shut’ (Mai Tio gtd in Schafer &-9), Anglophone works by first generation writers are not very well known. Having crossed the linguistic gap by writing and publishing, in English, these first Benemtion pioneers do aot, on the whole, overcome the culturst gap. Michele Janette argues that in practice, many who teach and research in this field have Found obstacles 10 working with Viewamese American literatarc, not least of whlel is dhesiveple lack of khowledge about what is available, Sinve 1963, aver 100 volumes of literature in English have been published by Victameso American axltkors, 2 figure ther may surprise even scholars in the field. (267) ‘When the first generation did write and publish ia English, it did not ensure thar the mainstream scadership rook amy notice. Janctte suggests that ‘obstacles 1 this literature becoming well know have had an ideological as well as practical edge, in that these narratives by Vietnemese Americans wore not heard because: they were not useful io either the American left or right in the years that followed the war in Viet Naw’ (267). The cultural and linguistle gap makes post-coleniat Biigesnt writers invisible, especially these from the first generation. These works profoundly chailenye North American assumptions about inself: Vietnamese American literaeure muddies this picture. Lf what was [ost in the war was. izaocont faith in the Atiovican righ, itis embarrassing to fice the insistent belief in the Amoricas Deeath that i8 present in much of this fiteravare, IC American forces are the primary victims, i is awkward 10 finen io the accusations of beuzyal from Sounh ‘Viemamese soblicrs. And ifthe war wes really al] about Ameriva, then accounts thet center on Victnamsese experience are phosomenolegival impossibitities, Janette 278) ‘hwas this contest of publishing and reading thet the ‘1.5 Generation inherited. Post-colonial migrant Hterature is transformed over time, starting with exifie, to migrant, to diasporic fiterature, with affifiations ‘renegotiated by every generation’ (TrouiHoud 21}. The salient transformation between the generations inthe diaspera is thai the majority of 1.5 Generation writers cannot write in Vietuamese ai a level required to ereate [Herary works.+ For this cohort of writers, the proposal te resist the dominant culture by writing in Vietaamese ig net even an option. By erating Works in English, the 1.5 Generation have the opportunity for exposure to. a world audience, while also being exposed to the dangers of translating themselves. The risk is captered jn the apherisrn ‘iadutere, fraditore —- wansiater, traitor’ (Young HD. Bat who is being betrayed, and by whom? I propose that as the demarcation between insider and outsider is ofien blurred for the 1.5 Generation, these authors may feet as thoogh they are betraying themselves in their performance as cultural Phe 1.3 Gene: American Hriter 7 conned 3S translators, tn the nest section, | examine some of the strategies that 1.5 Generation authors usc to resis: invisibility. stereotyping and liaguistic colonisation, while imaximisiag opporbmities for oreative invention that arise Crom their positioning as translators, STRATEGIES AGAINST ExvrstaLiTy Given that the 1.5 Generation ig usually move Haent in English than the ‘mother-iengue’, thzy would scem to be furnished with opportunities that are denied first generaion writers, But having crossed the linguistic gap. ibese auihors must ensure that they are able to crows the gap of invisibility te reach a muainsiccam readership composed ‘partially or primarily of people from a different culture’ (Tymoerka 21). in Lan Cao's novel. The Monkey Bridge, published in 1997, the young 1.5

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