[ndlr] Le Prix Pulitzer de la fiction 2016 a été décerné à l’écrivain et chercheur Viet Thanh Nguyen (Nguyễn Thanh Việt) pour son premier roman The Sympathizer (publié chez Grove Press, 2015) lors de la cérémonie de remise des prix à New York le 18 avril 2016.

A profound, startling, and beautifully crafted debut novel, The Sympathizer is the story of a man of two minds, someone whose political beliefs clash with his individual loyalties. In dialogue with but diametrically opposed to the narratives of the Vietnam War that have preceded it, this novel offers an important and unfamiliar new perspective on the war: that of a conflicted communist sympathizer.

It is April 1975, and Saigon is in chaos. At his villa, a general of the South Vietnamese army is drinking whiskey and, with the help of his trusted captain, drawing up a list of those who will be given passage aboard the last flights out of the country. The general and his compatriots start a new life in Los Angeles, unaware that one among their number, the captain, is secretly observing and reporting on the group to a higher-up in the Viet Cong. The Sympathizer is the story of this captain: a man brought up by an absent French father and a poor Vietnamese mother, a man who went to university in America, but returned to Vietnam to fight for the Communist cause. Viet Thanh Nguyen’s astonishing novel takes us inside the mind of this double agent, a man whose lofty ideals necessitate his betrayal of the people closest to him. A gripping spy novel, an astute exploration of extreme politics, and a moving love story, The Sympathizer explores a life between two worlds and examines the legacy of the Vietnam War in literature, film, and the wars we fight today.

Viet Thanh Nguyen was born in Vietnam and raised in America. His stories have appeared in Best New American Voices, TriQuarterly, Narrative, and the Chicago Tribune and he is the author of the academic book Race and Resistance. He teaches English and American Studies at the University of Southern California and lives in Los Angeles.

Source : Pulitzer Price

Voir également :

• Michelle Dean, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer: from overlooked to Pulitzer winner, The Guardian, 18/04/2016.

• Carolyn Kellog, Viet Thanh Nguyen wins the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for ‘The Sympathizer’, LA Times, 18/04/2016.

• CTV Danlamabao, Nhà văn Nguyễn Thanh Việt đoạt giải Pulitzer thể loại tiểu thuyết 2016, Dân Làm Báo, 19/04/2016.

• Lê Quỳnh, Người Mỹ ‘phải nhìn khác về chiến tranh VN’, BBC Vietnamese, 19/04/2016.

• Site personnel de l’auteur

Photo “à la une”  : Viet Thanh Nguyen © Pulitzer board / handout / EPA

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