Vietnamese American memoirs : writing to mourn, reading to remember

This thesis critically examines three Vietnamese American memoirs: Kien Nguyen???s\ud The Unwanted (2001), Jade Huynh???s South Wind Changing (1994), and Lac Su???s I Love Yous\ud are for White People (2009). Applying theories from autobiographical studies, I argue\ud that the healing of the memoirists is contingent on the relationship between the writer and\ud the reader. The author writes a life narrative to bear witness to his/her experiences with\ud the Viet Nam War, but healing does not ensue until the audience recognizes the\ud memoirists??? claims. In addition, this thesis includes an appendix which uses these three\ud texts as exempla for a pedagogical framework to integrate Vietnamese American\ud memoirs in the literature classroom