Thanh Nguyen on ‘To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other’ with Hua Hsu

Born in war-ravaged Vietnam, Viet Thanh Nguyen arrived in the United States as a child refugee in 1975. The essays in his new book, To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other, build upon his insights and life experiences to provide possible answers to age-old literary questions: What is a writer’s responsibility in a time of violence? Should we celebrate fiction that gives voice to the voiceless—or do we confront the forces that render millions voiceless in the first place?

Nguyen combines fact, fiction, and history to issue a resounding call to action and galvanize readers into radical solidarity. His essays also examine the many forms of “otherness” in literature through the lens of writers such as Herman Melville, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ralph Ellison, William Carlos Williams, and Maxine Hong Kingston.

Nguyen will be joined in conversation by Hua Hsu, staff writer at the New Yorker and English professor at Bard College, for an exploration of what it means to be a literary, historical, political, and familial outsider.