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Jana Evans Braziel, Assistant Professor
229B Mc Micken Hall
Department of English and Comparative Literature
University of Cincinnati
ML 210069
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0069
Office # (513) 556-0834
Fax # (513) 556-5960
jana.braziel@uc.edu
evans_braziel@hotmail.com

Christian Nguyen Langworthy

Born Nguyen Van Phuong in Viet Nam in 1967 to a Vietnamese prostitute mother and an unknown father, Christian Nguyen Langworthy was adopted by American parents in April 1975. As a young Vietnamese American poet, Langworthy is completing a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing at Columbia University. Geography of War is his first book of poetry to be published.

Questions:

What is the "geography of war"? Contrast the physical landscape with the psychological landscape. How does use memory to create an interior "geography of war"? Use several poems from the collection to support your ideas.

Like Lê's Slander and the film Indochine, Langworthy's Geography of War expresses a search for genealogical heritage and familial bonds. How do the different texts reveal hybrid genealogical or familial identities? Use specific examples from each of the works.

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