An Ecology of Morality

Exiled writer Dương Thu Hương is one of the most renowned contemporary female writers of Vietnam, famed also for her criticism of the Communist Party. In her works The Zenith (2007) and Paradise of the Blind (1993), translated and published abroad, she uses the recurring themes of excess and deficit to comment on the political deterioration of the state, a tragic reality that began just years after gaining independence from France. The hunger that ravages the villages is countered by the ironic gluttony of ghosts, and the performative asceticism practiced by party members only masks the actual greed underlying their political decisions. On one level, this article examines how the politics of excess, playing with different human virtues and vices, reveals a deep irony in the governing systems of Vietnam and the rhetoric of independence. On another, it also points out how Duong Thu Huong uses karmic energy as a narrative force which mercilessly punishes, humiliates, and educates, ultimately promising a restoration of equilibrium. The article argues that ecocritical engagements with Southeast Asian literature must take into account both a natural and supernatural understanding of the environment. This leads to new understandings of diaspora and spiritual allegiances to the homeland that are especially pertinent for the Vietnamese community abroad.