Khanh Ho is writing the first Vietnamese American Detective Fiction ever. Why? Because being the first is a power trip. In this installment, he discusses the genesis of his Vietnamese American protagonist–a twisted road that moves from an attempted suicide to rehab to recovery. Like what you read? Share, comment, subscribe.
I have a confession. I didn’t set out to start writing a Vietnamese American mystery writer. I just started out to write—fiddle, play, invent. Some writers often compare this to masturbation: an aimless activity whose only point is self-pleasuring. Yes, when I write, I often feel that I will get hairy palms…
I actually started writing about a friend who was neither Vietnamese nor Asian. He was a Columbia grad who had just gone through rehab and was now a member of AA. I did it to cheer him up, because that is one of the few things I can do with my writing. In this regard, I am an excellent Thank You Card writer.
Robert—let’s call him that, after my protagonist—is an ethnic mix of people: Louisiana Creole, Filipino, Southern black, Irish, Puerto Rican—you name it. So, my acts of entertainment, which were for him alone, were about a mixed black detective in a hardboiled adventure. Robert loves detective novels. In the month that he was in the loony bin, the time he was in rehab and, much later, the year that he resided in a sober-living facility, he devoured detective fiction.
But it was Robert who encouraged me to write, not about a mixed race black detective from the South but a Vietnamese American. Without his permission, these stories would not have become what they now are: a novel that, I can say, is no longer just a pointless act of self-pleasuring, an entertainment for a sick friend but a Vietnamese American Detective Story.
This is a long way of saying that I’m at the point in my project where I wonder about its genesis: a nostalgic moment that is also wonderful because that means I am the eagle, bourne aloft by a window and I can survey the world I had a hand in creating. It’s a lofty feeling—a feeling of security. But it does open up interesting questions.
How does literature—low or high, poetry or prose—get born? Did a Vietnamese man, then, come out of the egg of suffering, hatched by a black man?
Did you like this? Make Khanh’s day: Share on Facebook. Tweet your friends. Leave a comment. Here’s a question to get you started: Is this Vietnamese American detective truly Vietnamese American if he was born of the suffering of a black man?
I love hearing about how characters and stories arise from the primordial soup of experience, emotion, and random brain firings. It’s such a strange and spooky process. (It’s also cool to see that your character is descended from such noble beginnings!)
I am gratified that you like my character’s origins. Every character is a found object–something you encounter on the street, dust off and put on a special shelf…for contemplation. What I love about discovering something to write about–write about obsessively–is the way in which you encounter it casually. It is just like the way you find a new best friend. All my best friends–I just rode up on my bike and said, “hey, you wanna go around the block?” It’s as easy as that!
‘Truly Vietnamese American’ is a very subjective term. The answer to your question is the resounding ‘yes’.
Although he’s aware(maybe not aware) but not constantly mindful that his successful detective career is paved the way by those who came and fought before him, particularly by minorities or the blacks in this country. And this ‘Americanes’ in him allows him to break free from any restriction that might imposed on him by his cultural up bringing. For example he’s not afraid or shameful for digging in the closet and disclosing the community dirty laundry. Some ‘so called’ leaders in the Vietnamese Community who perpetuate and hold the community’s mindset hostage in side of a box.
The proud Vietnamese in him is what makes him a particularly good detective. He’s able to think ‘outside’ of the box, drawing from the experience of (his childhood memories of growing up in Vietnam or hearing stories that passed down from his elders if he was born here in the US).
Not sure if it answers your question or I am just rambling on and have no idea what I am talking about.
What a thoughtful response. And how very very open-minded of you. I am touched. I’ve already gotten some responses that basically said “hey, your hero’s name should be more vietnamese-y…robert is a whitey name”…so I was quite prepared to be spanked! You are right that a Vietnamese American detective has to stand up to the “so called leaders in the Vietnamese Community who perpetuate and hold the community’s mindset hostage inside of a box.” Well put: I am printing this comment out in all bold letters. I will pin this to the cork board at my writing desk.
Thank you for your inspiration!