In a highly anticipated sequel to the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen returns with an exhilarating spy thriller that takes on the global aftermath of the Vietnam War. The Committed follows the Sympathizer, the conflicted double agent, as he seeks refuge in Paris in the 1980s. Both charmed and disturbed by the gritty Paris underworld, the Sympathizer struggles to assimilate into a dominant culture. Nguyen, who was born in Vietnam and raised in America, has long been devoted to exploring Vietnamese American history in his acclaimed work. He is the author of the short story collection The Refugees, the nonfiction book Nothing Ever Dies, and is the editor of an anthology of refugee writing, The Displaced. A recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur foundations, Nguyen is a professor of English, American studies, and comparative literature at the University of Southern California. The Library Foundation welcomes Nguyen for a discussion of his fierce, funny, and visionary new novel.

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Transcript

Related