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Article In: English Text Construction: Online-First Articles

“I [...] wore my English like a mask”

English as an ambivalent world of possibilities in Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

ORCiD logo with link | Vrije Universiteit Brussel
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Abstract
English as a global lingua franca transcends geographical, cultural, and socio-political boundaries. While it facilitates the integration process of migrants and the articulation of diverse experiences, English also plays an ambivalent role in hegemonic structures. This article examines the role of English in Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, focusing on the protagonist, Little Dog, who writes letters in English to his Vietnamese-speaking mother. Drawing on Homi K. Bhabha’s concept of hybridity, Emily Apter’s notion of the translation zone, and Caroline Levine’s engagement with the affordances of forms, this study explores how the English language affects migrant identity and examines the ambivalent role of translation in this postmigrant bildungsroman. It argues that Vuong’s novel presents the English language itself as a site of ambivalence, in which identity and culture are constantly negotiated through the act of translation.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The ambivalence of form
  • 3.Intergenerational trauma and translation
  • 4.Behind the mask of English: Language as connection and concealment
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • References
References (31)
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