Asian/other : life, poems, and the problem of memoir / Vidyan Ravinthiran.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ravinthiran, Vidyan, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Poetry--History and criticism.

Poetry.

Identity (Philosophical concept).

Racism.

Immigrants--United States.

Immigrants.

identity.

Ravinthiran, Vidyan.

Genre:

poetry.

Autobiographies.

Poetry.

Physical Description:

259 pages ; 21 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : W.W. Norton & Company, [2025]

Summary:

Vidyan Ravinthiran was born in England to Sri Lankan Tamils and moved to the United States in January 2020. Considering identity in both political and psychological senses, he moves between memoir and criticism, understanding his life through poetry, and vice versa. Using the poetry of Andrew Marvell and Divya Victor, Ravinthiran discusses: Sri Lanka; experiences of racism and resilience; intergenerational trauma; pandemic parenting in an autism family; relationships shaped by the internet; growing up with a speech impediment and being sent by one's aspirational brown parents to elocution lessons; and the relative invisibility of South Asians in Western media. This hybrid memoir creates a new perspective from which to write about the self and literature.

Contents:

Opening

Because you were there

Start thinking and stop living

Victim and accused

Pandemic

To be Frank

Impediment

Tsunami

Love in the Bush years

Aerial roots.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-256).

ISBN:

9781324021322

1324021322

OCLC:

1472492455

Publisher Number:

90101956393