Podcasts religion Israel in Translation Vaan Nguyens Poetry Collection: The Truffle Eye

Vaan Nguyens Poetry Collection: The Truffle Eye

Published: Dec. 16, 2020, 6 a.m.

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In her introduction to Vaan Nguyen\\u2019s collection, Adriana X. Jacobs writes, \\u201cNguyen\\u2019s poetry may circulate in the Anglophone literary market as part of an increasingly visible Vietnamese literary diaspora\\u2026 And yet, introducing Nguyen\\u2019s poetry to the Anglophone reader needs to account for the particularities of the Vietnamese experience in Israel without letting it entirely overshadow her work.\\u201d

Between 1977 and 1979, approximately 360 Vietnamese refugees entered Israel, and of that number, about half left for the United States or Europe. Those who stayed were able to apply for Israeli citizenship, take on jobs, start families, and continue with their lives.\\xa0

Nguyen\\u2019s parents were among these refugees. She was born in Ashkelon, Israel in 1982, one of five daughters. The family moved around and eventually settled in Jaffa Dalet, a working-class\\u2014and largely immigrant and Arab\\u2014neighborhood that is part of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality, \\u201cnot the pastoral tourist part, but the section that is far from the sea,\\u201d Nguyen explains.

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The Truffle Eye,\\xa0Vaan Nguyen. Translated by Adriana X. Jacobs. Zephyr Press; Nov. 2020

Previous Episode on Vaan Nguyen\\u2019s Work

https://tlv1.fm/israel-in-translation/2017/04/26/sitting-with-strangeness-a-conversation-with-adriana-x-jacobs/

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