Linda Lê: Migrant Writer M/other

Abstract

This chapter considers what we mean when we call Linda Lê an author of the Vietnamese diaspora, and explores the overlapping and conflicting identities of migrant, writer and m/other in her work. It also asks how framing her writing in this way might encourage a broader understanding of the term ‘diaspora’ as a transnational, transtemporal, transtextual space in which to create communion where there is no community. In engaging with other displaced writers across what we might consider major-minor and minor-minor cultural axes, Lê transforms the diasporic gesture of preservation into one of proliferation, creating a form of kinship that transcends blood ties and shared history. Show more