Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War (52 page)

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Authors: Viet Thanh Nguyen

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  • Herr, Michael, 35–36, 103, 117, 122
  • Hirsch, Marianne, 268
  • Hmong people: films about, 123–25, 126; psychological trauma of, 234–35; transformation of trauma for, 281–83; in war stories, 242–43, 244–45
  • Ho Chi Minh: art of, 160–62; characterization of, 28–29; mausoleum of, 157–60; memorial to, 24; Vietnamese people’s view of, 158
  • Ho Chi Minh City.
    See
    Saigon
  • Ho Chi Minh Museum, 159
  • Ho Chi Minh Trail, 25
  • Hoi An, 154
  • Holden, William, 130
  • Hollywood, 13–14
  • Holocaust, 87, 258
  • Hong, Cathy Park, 215
  • Hudson, Rock, 130
  • Human waste, 243–45
  • Hussein, Saddam, 49
  • Hwang Suk-Yong, 139–41
  • Hyde, Lewis, 296
  • Ieng Sary, 299
  • Imperial powers, 139
  • Industry of memory: casualties of war and, 156–57; components of, 107–8; ghosts of war and, 183–87; inequities in, 183–84; vs. memory industry, 106; power and, 107, 108; prisoners of war and, 172–73; propaganda in, 114–15; of small country vs. superpower, 157–89; structures of feeling in, 107; in the United States, 108–28; weapons and, 166–67
  • In Every Neighborhood
    (
    O moi xom;
    Sinh), 175, 177
  • In the Year of the Pig
    (film), 119
  • Invisible Man
    (Ellison), 63
  • Iraq War, 2, 6–7, 14, 42, 83
  • Irish Americans, 201
  • Islamists, 95
  • Iyer, Pico, 109
  • Jager, Sheila Miyoshi, 135
  • James, William, 232
  • Japanese army, 227–28
  • Japanese goods, 140
  • Jarhead
    (film), 118
  • Jeffords, Susan, 145
  • Jewish Americans, 201
  • Jin, Ha, 244
  • Johnson, Chalmers, 115–16
  • Jo Sung Mo, 151
  • Journey from the Fall
    (Tran), 233–34
  • Just forgetting: art in, 286–87; capitalism and, 285, 295–96; vs. forgetting, 279, 297; forgiveness and, 279–80, 286–95; gift giving in, 296–97; imagining utopia in, 285–86; just memory in, 297; path toward, 283; rarity of, 284; reconciliation and, 295–96; release of suffering for, 280–83; vs. unjust forgetting, 284
  • Just memory: description of, 17; ethics of recognition in, 19; importance of, 16–17; for just forgiveness, 297; methods of dealing with excessive memories in, 17–18; moral priority of, 68; prerequisites for, 283; requirements for, 18
  • Kant, Immanuel, 291
  • Karlin, Wayne, 119, 295
  • Kar Savuth, 85
  • Kennedy, John F., 125
  • Khieu Samphan, 299
  • Khmer Rouge, 254, 255, 268–69; Cambodian casualties of, 7; ethics of recognition and, 83–93; good vs. evil and, 95–96; humanity vs. inhumanity and, 97–100; as laughing matter, 93–94; length of regime of, 129; monuments to, 297–99; prosecution of, 289–90; vs. terrorists, 95
  • “Khong Khoc O California” (“Don’t Cry in California”; Thiep), 280
  • Kim, Kyung Hyun, 145
  • King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1–3, 50, 62, 153, 273, 291
  • Kingsolver, Barbara, 273
  • Kingston, Maxine Hong, 194–95, 225, 277
  • Kinnell, Galway, 213
  • Kipling, Rudyard, 251
  • Kissinger, Henry, 26
  • Korea: antiwar memories of, 139–49; criticism of United States by, 151; culture of, 132–33, 151–52; economy of, 130–31, 149–50, 151–52; film industry of, 144–49; number of Vietnam casualties from, 156; subimperial power of, 139, 152; U.S. patriotism and, 152–53; vs. Vietnam, 133–34; Vietnamese brides in, 143; Vietnamese people’s memories of, 150–51; Vietnam soldiers from, 136–55, 150–51; Vietnam War memorials in, 136–39; war machine of, 135–36
  • Korean immigrants, 130–32
  • Korean War: division of Korea and, 129; films about, 130; memorials to, 134–39, 152; memories of, 6; novels about, 141–43; number of casualties of, 129; South Koreans’ view of, 129–30; television shows about, 133
  • Korean War Memorial, 152
  • Koreatown, 130, 131–32, 153
  • Kubrick, Stanley, 179
  • Kundera, Milan, 10, 26, 94, 182
  • Kuras, Ellen, 292–93
  • Kuwait, 6, 51–52
  • Kwon, Heonik, 151
  • Lam, Andrew, 205
  • Land Mine Museum, 172
  • Language: in industrial memories, 15
  • Lao Hmong American War Memorial, 152
  • Lao People’s Army History Museum, 186
  • Laos: acknowledgment of conflict in, 7; apology for war atrocities by, 288; caves in, 186–87; commodification of war in, 15; extension of war into, 6; leader of, 44; memorials for, 152; movies about, 123; recognition of veterans in, 66–67; Vietnam’s presence in, 186; war casualties in, 7, 8, 156, 157; weapon displays of, 162–66
  • Larsen, Wendy Wilder, 209
  • Last Night I Dreamed of Peace
    (Tram), 212, 274–75
  • The Last Parallel
    (Russ), 130
  • The Latehomecomer
    (Yang), 237, 241–42, 245–46
  • Latino Americans, 153, 200, 219
  • Laughter, 93–94
  • Lê, An-My, 262–63, 266–67, 270
  • Lê, Dinh Q., 233, 268–69, 270
  • Le Duan, 24
  • Le Duc Tho, 26
  • Lê Minh Khuê, 119
  • Le, Nam, 201–2
  • le thi diem thuy, 194
  • Lee, Chang-Rae, 248–49, 250
  • Lessing, Doris, 286
  • Levinas, Emmanuel, 84, 95, 99, 227, 272
  • Lieux de memoire, 42
  • Life
    magazine, 101
  • Lighters, 177–78
  • Lincoln, Abraham, 24–25
  • Lin, Maya, 47, 52–53, 55, 66
  • Literature: about mourning the dead, 194; authenticity of, 210–11; collaboration and betrayal in, 211–13; education related to writing, 206–7; of ethnic minorities, 197–222; mourning the dead in, 194–98; mythical immigrant story in, 220–21; as part of war machine, 111; prizes for, 208, 209; purpose of, 253; of war, 30–32, 51, 61, 139–43.
    See also
    War stories
  • Little Saigon: citizens’ war memories in, 42–44; description of, 40–42
  • Living in Fear
    (film), 171–72
  • The Lotus and the Storm
    (Cao), 203, 212
  • “Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice” (Le), 201–2
  • Love like Hate
    (Dinh), 215
  • Lucas, George, 109
  • MacArthur Foundation, 262
  • Mai Dich Martyrs Cemetery, 26–27
  • Majority people: in films and books about war, 56; genocide and, 92; minority myths of, 131; power of, 43, 60–61; as saviors in films, 124–25
  • Mang Satire, 87
  • Margalit, Avishai, 27, 55, 56, 59, 292
  • Marker, Chris, 302, 303
  • Marx, Karl, 107, 164, 294
  • Masculinity, 145
  • M*A*S*H
    (television series), 133
  • Mbembe, Achille, 158, 180
  • McCain, John, 173
  • McCarthy, Mary, 113
  • McGurl, Mark, 208
  • McNamara, Robert, 83
  • Media: in industrialization of war, 13–14; influence of authorities over, 11; Korean culture in, 132.
    See also specific media
  • Memory industry, 106, 175, 177–79
  • “Me So Horny” (2 Live Crew), 179–80
  • Mexican people, 59
  • Military History Museum, 163, 165
  • Military-industrial complex.
    See
    War machine
  • Mines, 25, 45, 172
  • Minority people: cultural sensitivity toward, 83; double consciousness of, 53–54; in films and books about war, 56; lack of power of, 43, 60–61; literature authored by, 197–222; majority’s myth about, 131; memorials to, 56; notable histories of, 200–201; power of, 196–97; riots involving, 130; as veterans of war, 44, 56–59; as victims, 196–97, 221; war on, 219; war stories by, 248–49
  • Mishra, Pankaj, 240
  • The Missing Picture
    (film), 86–88, 99–100
  • Moon, Seungsook, 136
  • Morrison, Toni, 65, 269
  • Moua, Mai Neng, 67, 68, 244–45
  • Movie industry: in commodification of war, 13–15
  • MTV Cribs
    (television show), 104
  • Museum of Contemporary Art, 165
  • Museum of the Boat People and the Republic of Vietnam, 39–40
  • Museum of the Revolution, 29–30
  • Museum of the Son My Massacre, 150
  • Musical scores, 117
  • Music videos, 151
  • My Lai massacre, 30, 141, 150, 177
  • Nabokov, Vladimir, 43
  • National Cemetery of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, 37
  • Native Americans, 200
  • Native Speaker
    (Lee), 248–49
  • Necropolitical regimes, 158–59, 180
  • Nerakhoon
    (
    The Betrayal;
    film), 292–93
  • New Year Baby
    (film), 89
  • Ngo Dinh Diem, 105
  • Nguyen, Bich Minh, 213
  • Nguyen Cao Ky, 150
  • Nguyen, Hien Trong, 45
  • Nguyen Huy Thiep, 238–41, 280
  • Nguyen Ngoc Loan, 105
  • Nguyen Phu Cuong, 175
  • Nguyen, Phuong, 204
  • Nguyen Quang Sang, 119
  • Nguyen Qui Duc, 212
  • Nguyen Thi Hien, 185
  • Nguyen Van Lem, 105
  • Nguyen-Vo Thu-Huong, 194
  • Nhat Ky Dang Thuy Tram
    (
    The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram;
    Tram), 274–75
  • Nietzsche, Friedrich, 17, 103
  • Night of the Living Dead
    (film), 174
  • Nora, Pierre, 42
  • North Korea, 129
  • Novel without a Name
    (Huong), 61
  • Nussbaum, Martha, 273, 275–76
  • Obama, Barack, 56–59
  • O’Brien, Tim, 116, 225–26, 229, 233, 244, 247, 248
  • O’Connor, Flannery, 207
  • Ode to My Father
    (film), 145, 148–49
  • Okinawa Prefectural Peace Museum, 260–61
  • O moi xom
    (
    In Every Neighborhood;
    Sinh), 175, 177
  • Ondaatje, Michael, 276–77
  • Paco’s Story
    (Heinemann), 235–36
  • Page, Tim, 183
  • Palumbo-Liu, David, 211
  • Panama, 6
  • Panh, Rithy, 83, 84–88, 92–93, 97, 99–100, 255, 262
  • Papageorge, Tod, 231–32, 235, 263
  • Paradise of the Blind
    (Huong), 61
  • Paris Peace Accords, 26
  • Park, Jinim, 140
  • Peace movements, 265–66
  • Pelaud, Isabelle Thuy, 200
  • People’s Cemetery of Binh An, 35–39
  • Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora
    (Lam), 205
  • Pham, Andrew X., 206, 212
  • Phan, Aimee, 206
  • Phan Thi Kim Phuc, 105
  • Phi, Bao, 217, 218
  • Philippine-American War: memory of, 5–6
  • Philippines, 251; American expansion in, 7
  • Phnom Penh, 83, 95
  • Photographers, 183–84
  • Photographs: of ancestors, 193–94; of death camp victims, 255; of Ho Chi Minh’s body, 158, 159; most famous, 105; as part of war machine, 105–6; powerful memory and, 262–63, 266–67; power of, 105, 108; as presence that invokes absence, 183–85; in shock of recognition, 112; of U.S. homeland during war, 231–32
  • Phrasavath, Thavisouk, 292
  • Poeuv, Socheata, 89
  • Pol Pot, 297–99
  • Postcards from the End of America
    (Dinh), 216–17
  • Postmemory, 268

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