{"id":3673,"date":"2017-10-05T00:07:40","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T07:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietnguyen.info\/?p=3673"},"modified":"2017-11-01T16:08:27","modified_gmt":"2017-11-01T23:08:27","slug":"3673","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vietnguyen.info\/2017\/3673","title":{"rendered":"Le Figaro Magazine Reviews The Sympathizer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following is a\u00a0review<\/a> of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer, originally published in the French-language newspaper,\u00a0Le Figaro Magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Le
Le Figaro Litt\u00e9raire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LA GUERRE DU VIETNAM est finie. Et avec elle, son cort\u00e8ge de romans sur l\u2019offensive du T\u00eat, l\u2019\u00e9vacuation dramatique de Sa\u00efgon, autant d\u2019images de fer et de feu abondamment diffus\u00e9es par le cin\u00e9ma. L\u2019auteur du Sympathisant, Viet Thanh Nguyen, est d\u2019une autre g\u00e9n\u00e9ration, celle des enfants boat people r\u00e9fugi\u00e9s en Occident, en l\u2019occurrence aux \u00c9tats-Unis. Celle qui consent \u00e0 aborder le pass\u00e9 d\u2019un autre point de vue, quitte \u00e0 jouer dangereusement avec les souvenirs et les f\u00ealures de ses a\u00een\u00e9s. C\u2019est ce que fait le narrateur du Sympathisant.<\/p>\n

Ce jeune officier dans l\u2019arm\u00e9e du Sud-Vietnam vit les derniers jours de Sa\u00efgon, quittant la ville in extremis, par avion, avec les autorit\u00e9s militaires. Le voil\u00e0 r\u00e9fugi\u00e9 aux \u00c9tats-Unis, en Californie o\u00f9 sa communaut\u00e9 en exil tente de recr\u00e9er un petit Vietnam hors les murs. La plupart souffrent d\u00e9j\u00e0 du syndrome de l\u2019\u00e9migr\u00e9, craignant autant qu\u2019ils l\u2019adulent le pays qui les a accueillis. Ils redoutent de perdre leur \u00e2me, leur culture et leurs racines, et entretiennent l\u2019espoir st\u00e9rile d\u2019un retour \u00e0 \u00ab avant \u00bb\u2026 De quoi le narrateur est-il sympathisant? Du nouveau r\u00e9gime ? Ce serait trop simple. On d\u00e9couvre vite que cet homme est perp\u00e9tuellement entre deux rives. N\u00e9 d\u2019une mis\u00e9rable union franco-vietnamienne, il est<\/p>\n

Par g\u00e8ne un agent double. \u00c9tudiant, il a \u00e9crit un m\u00e9moire sur Mythe et symbole dans<\/p>\n

La litt\u00e9rature de Graham Greene, ce qui montre ses dispositions. Tout chez lui h\u00e9site: l\u2019Am\u00e9rique l\u2019a sauv\u00e9 mais l\u2019\u00e9coeure par son arrogance, sa d\u00e9bauche d\u2019argent et de lumi\u00e8re. Il tombe sous le charme de Lana, la fille de son g\u00e9n\u00e9ral, qui est devenue une chanteuse \u00e0 la mode ; elle le fascine, et pourtant elle incarne justement une g\u00e9n\u00e9ration pass\u00e9e \u00e0 autre chose et, partant, fortement \u00ab am\u00e9ricanis\u00e9e \u00bb. Au nom des id\u00e9aux anticommunistes pr\u00f4n\u00e9s par ses amis, notre homme est conduit \u00e0 \u00e9liminer des r\u00e9fugi\u00e9s suspects ou encombrants, mais c\u2019est le m\u00eame qui transmet au nouveau pouvoir vietnamien des informations par lettre cod\u00e9e sur la vie des dissidents de Los Angeles. Il participera d\u2019ailleurs \u00e0 une op\u00e9ration destin\u00e9e \u00e0 installer un maquis contre-r\u00e9volutionnaire en Tha\u00eflande, sans se faire d\u2019illusion sur le succ\u00e8s de l\u2019entreprise. Alors ? \u00c9crivain virtuose, Viet Than Nguyen oscille entre la grande fresque et le monologue int\u00e9rieur. Le sommet du roman: le narrateur devient conseiller d\u2019un film sur la guerre. Il s\u2019agit pour lui de donner chair, corps et \u00e2me aux soldats du Vietc\u00f4ng, la plupart des figurants, que les sc\u00e9naristes yankees ont n\u00e9glig\u00e9s, pour ne c\u00e9l\u00e9brer que la plus grande gloire de l\u2019Am\u00e9rique. Il d\u00e9couvre ainsi que son histoire, celle de son peuple, est devenue une vulgaire fiction en Technicolor. Jamais l\u2019auteur ne se d\u00e9part de sa voix, \u00e0 la fois narrative et sarcastique. On apprend, \u00e0 un stade du livre, que ce r\u00e9cit serait sa confession. Cela n\u2019\u00f4te rien \u00e0 la ferveur avec laquelle on lit cette incroyable \u00e9pop\u00e9e, mais on s\u2019interroge : qui est-il vraiment, cet homme fait d\u2019ombres et de lumi\u00e8res ? Et ce qu\u2019il dit de lui, est-ce la v\u00e9rit\u00e9 ? C\u2019est de cette incertitude que na\u00eet et cro\u00eet ce roman, le plus ambitieux et le plus abouti qui soit. Hypnotis\u00e9, le lecteur consent \u00e0 devenir lui aussi, de cette histoire terrible, de ses ambigu\u00eft\u00e9s et de ses ressorts intimes, le sympathisant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is a\u00a0review of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer, originally published in the French-language newspaper,\u00a0Le Figaro Magazine. LA GUERRE DU VIETNAM est finie. Et avec elle, son cort\u00e8ge de romans sur l\u2019offensive du T\u00eat, l\u2019\u00e9vacuation dramatique de Sa\u00efgon, autant d\u2019images de fer et de feu abondamment diffus\u00e9es par le cin\u00e9ma. L\u2019auteur du Sympathisant, Viet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[208],"tags":[662,131,123,10,120],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLe Figaro Magazine Reviews The Sympathizer - Viet Thanh Nguyen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The following is a\u00a0review of Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Sympathizer, originally published in the French-language newspaper,\u00a0Le Figaro Magazine.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/vietnguyen.info\/2017\/3673\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Viet\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/vietnguyen.info\/2017\/3673\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vietnguyen.info\/2017\/3673\",\"name\":\"Le Figaro Magazine Reviews The Sympathizer - 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