“The truth is memory has not forgotten us”: Memory, Identity, and Storytelling in Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

Abstract

Abstract:This article examines the intersection of memory, identity, and storytelling in the highly acclaimed Vietnamese American novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong. The novel challenges the American myths of inclusion and equal opportunity for all by critiquing United States’ historical amnesia and imperialistic historiography. To Vietnamese American members of the 1.5 generations, memory can never be a choice because only through historical remembrance and self-narrativity can they construct their diasporic identity and establish alliance with the previous generations.