How do you write a ‘Vietnamese’ poem? Nam Le’s defiantly cerebral verses shuffle the deck of identity, belonging and being
- Written by: Michelle Hamadache, Lecturer, Literature and Creative Writing, Macquarie University
Nam Le.Simon & SchusterFlying in the face of much contemporary poetry, Nam Le’s first collection 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem is defiantly cerebral, relishing the polysyllabic, the latinate and the esoteric. This is not to say that there aren’t notes of utter beauty and great feeling, just that Le is not afraid of being...
