UC San Diego

This dissertation identifies one trait it calls Vietnamese irony that helps to build the characteristics of Việt Nam and Vietnamese-ness. Throughout the immensely complex history of Việt Nam that involves colonization, settler colonialism, involuntary cultural assimilation, war, and globalization, a nation-state called Việt Nam was born in 1975 under the rule of the Communist Party of Việt Nam. A young, yet very old, nation seeking to define itself against its pasts and futures, Việt Nam, this dissertation argues, employs irony as one of its methods in nation-building. Used by Việt people, irony also offers itself as a useful method of critique and a crucial strategy of survival. Via a limited selection of literary, visual, and historical texts, including Nguyên Ngọc’s “Rừng Xà Nu,” Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer, The Complete Documents of the Communist Party, Chế Lan Viên’s poetry, Kim Thúy’s Ru, Nguyễn Du’s Tale of Kiều, and Vũ Ngọc Đãng’s film Lost in Paradise, this dissertation attempts to trace some instances of irony as it surfaces in both the official writings and the lifestories of Việt subjects. The dissertation first argues for the usefulness of irony as a critical method in nation-making projects of Việt Nam and in self-making projects of subjects that call themselves Việt people. It then traces the strategic deployment of irony in the survival of Vietnamese refugees and Vietnamese sex workers. While both groups navigate between the borders of nationality and belonging, statelessness and homelessness, they also show their Vietnamese love of beauty and of life in their most ironic earnest ways that deserve attention.