Ocean Vuong: "When I write, I feel larger than the limits of my body." | Louisiana Channel
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2022
- "When I write, I feel much larger than the limits of my body. There is a mystery you tap into that is much bigger. And the poem becomes just a glimpse into what you reveal to yourself", says Ocean Vuong, one of the most celebrated poets to emerge in America.
Vuong began to study marketing without completing his first term. He dropped out of business school and enrolled at Brooklyn College, where he studied literature and where the American writer Ben Lerner was crucial for Vuong's development as a young writer. Today Vuong serves as a tenured Professor in the Creative Writing MFA Program at NYU.
"I think being a teacher has been one of the most transformative experiences of my life. The idea of handing over knowledge in order to share and bond is something our species has done not only to sustain and bolster each other but to survive," Vuong says. "I'm a better thinker because I teach, and I realize that my ideas are stronger when they are in service of other pieces of knowledge. I don't see my career as a writer, but I see teaching as a career."
"When you publish a book, it doesn't mean that you should or even can write another book. What I can assume is that I can keep teaching until my brain doesn't work anymore".
"I do not believe in style as a static phenomenon. I do not believe style is even an ontological truth. I think we have modes in the same way we have modes of speech when we talk to our mother in different modes of speech. You're not any more authentic with your mother than you are with your lover or your friend. You are who you are."
"I think no one saves us in this world, but people give us the tools so that we can transform towards our own rescue. And I think that is true of poems. We write them, and they're good enough, and then we let them go. Part of the act of writing is, is abandonment."
"There's so much that is still in debate, but for me, what's most important is the alternative queerness demands of me, another route. It can't just be 'route 1' or 'route 2'. There has to be another path. And often, I have to make that path myself. And this goes to the rules of writing. There are so many writing rules. And I think for so many queer folks, after a while, you realize that this road was never made with me in mind. And I have to stop the car, get out of it and climb over this guardrail. And now I'm wandering far away from everything that I've known, so far away from anything that has a name or a sign or a road signal. And I'm in the middle of the forest or the meadow, and I'm terrified. I'm washed with confusion and fear. And it's almost electric, an ecstatic terror that comes over me because I'm truly lost. But I'm also perhaps the most free I've ever been. In everything I feel, every step I take is something new to me. It is a discovery."
"And I realize that I don't really know what I'm doing. I'm just following the curiosity that the work of the writer is to not so much nail anything down, but to make space for the endeavor of curiosity, to widen the theater of wonder, and that to me is a very queer thing."
Ocean Vuong was born in 1988 in Saigon, Vietnam, and raised in Hartford, Connecticut, in a working-class family of nail salon and factory laborers. He was educated at nearby Manchester Community College before transferring to Pace University to study International Marketing. Without completing his first term, he dropped out of Business school and enrolled at Brooklyn College, where he graduated with a BA in Nineteenth-Century American Literature. He subsequently received his MFA in Poetry from NYU. He currently lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, and serves as a tenured Professor in the Creative Writing MFA Program at NYU. He published the bestselling novel, 'On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous' in 2019, and it has been translated into 37 languages. His first collection of poetry, 'Night Sky with Exit Wounds' appeared in 2016. Vuong is a recipient of a 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant and the winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. In 2022 Vuong published the collection of poetry' Time is a Mother'
Ocean Vuong was interviewed by his Danish translator, the poet Caspar Eric, in connection with the Louisiana Literature festival, at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, in August 2022.
Camera: Simon Weyhe
Edit: Jarl Therkelsen Kaldan
Produced by Christian Lund
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2022
Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet, C.L. Davids Fond og Samling and Fritz Hansen.
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📚 *Ocean Vuong shares his advice for aspiring writers in our video right here:*
th-cam.com/video/mG7JpAg1mrw/w-d-xo.html
Lj😅😅😅QAat
"no one really saves us in this world but people give us the tools so that we can transform towards our own rescue"
Ocean Vuong
I screen recorded that part lol
absolutely
Just wow, i feel like he is one of the rare writer to speak the way he writes, he's answers are full of images and carefully picked words
My Goodness!!!
10 minutes in I thought toy self "he is painting" I could listen to him all day.
yes!!!
yes
Exactly!
Vulnerability is the most normal human condition, and we spend our entire adulthood hiding it. Such a beautiful interview, thank you for sharing this.
Not everyone.
He's not being abstract for the sake of being abstract, he is trying to communicate, or more precisely, using "flow" or "water" to teach you to be a better writer/self. Almost a zen-like quality if you will. Ocean Vuong is indeed, an American treasure.
He is also our Vietnam treasure. I am, a Vietnamese person, very proud of him.
Sorry but I claim him for non-American, non-Vietnamese too... LOLx - this man is amazing
This goes beyond just writing. When you learn to master anything ANYTHING at all and you're able to turn off your thinking, judgemental mind and just go at this one single task, you find peace in the flow, you find peace in your work.
You just had to sneak the "American" in there
እሱ የቡድሂስት እምነት ተከታይ ነው ስለዚህ ለዚህ ነው የምታስበው።
Never in my life I've stopped an interview so often to capture these precious words and reflect on them.
'Care is anger grown up.'
Wow! Love it.
1. “Every word is almost a citizen in this collective hope toward clarity and expansion”
2. “No one really saves us in this world. But people give us the tools so that we can transform toward our own rescue.”
3. “….And I think, for so many queer folks, after a while you realize that this road was never made for me in mind. And I have to stop the car, get out of it, and climb over this guardrail. And now Im wandering, far away from everything that I’ve known. Far away from anything that has a name. Or a sign. Or a road signal. And Im in the middle of the forest or the meadow, and I’m terrified. Im washed with confusion and fear and there’s almost this electric, ecstatic terror that comes over me because I am truly lost; but I’m also perhaps the most free I’ve ever been. And everything I feel, every step I take is something new to me. It is a discovery. And from here, I have to make a life. And I think that to me is queerness. Its this-- finding the courage, or having no choice but to get off the road and explore & I think that’s where I am now as a practitioner.”
4. “ The minutiae and the grand all have room on one stage.”
5. “It’s not lost on me that it’s a great privilege to read a book.”
6. “I think we don’t talk enough about vulnerability as a normal condition. We often see vulnerability as weakness. But when you talk to somebody, even just for half hour, you realize that all sorts of people, in every category, every identity marker, are vulnerable. That vulnerability is the most normal human condition I’ve ever encountered as a person spending thirty-three years on Earth. And I think we build barriers to hide it. We build mechanisms out of the shame of the vulnerable. But the vulnerable is actually more normal, more human than bravado, or even irony, or you know, the masculinous mask of power. That is very brief. Those are brief performances. But vulnerability is actually the most pervasive. Out of 24 hours out of the day I would argue that the majority of those hours are spent feeling vulnerable; and we do everything we can to hide that because we have relegated that out of what is acceptable.”
7. “So I tell my students; to bring down the shield, that you have been taught since you were in kindergarten. To fortify that shield and to take down the armor & to step out into your work and your world and to collaborate with your vulnerability is the most powerful and strengthening thing you can ever do as an artist. Is to say that my vulnerability is my power because it is where all care comes from. It is where all the desire for improvement & my connection to others, my compassion comes from my understanding that I am a very, as a species, I am a very soft species. Im a very weak species physically, perhaps even mentally.”
8. “Vulnerability ironically is the strongest thing. It can never be destroyed, it is always there. And the more we allow it to come forward and the more we are forgiving of each other for expressing vulnerability I think the stronger you can be both as a writer, a student, and a human being.”
Thank you for the recap! Words of gold by Ocean!
Thank you so much!
Thank you for the recap!
Thank you so much for this
This is my first encounter with Vuong, and what a gift. His voice has a beauty that resonates so deeply. Thank you for introducing me. The world needs more voices like this.
i was glued to his words the entire time. each word is somehow so intentional and so well thought out even though he’s digesting the question and expressing the idea on the spot. ocean is truly a conduit of the divine
i've never cried while watching an interview but somehow this one made me cry, in the best way possible. thank you ocean for existing in this world.
Same here, this was so cathartic
It's a rare case to see someone that introvert to articulate his thoughts so magnificently. I wish he was my teacher.
I think the word 'poet' should be used sparingly. I agree with Seamus Heaney that it's one of the few words in English retaining a sense of wonder. But when you hear Vuong reel off these improvised remarks (eg 'every word is a citizen in this collective hope') which are more beautiful than most could conjure after months of effort, then you know he really is deserving of the apellation.
When he began talking about how queer folks have to get out of the car and start again l almost cried. What an eloquent speaker, such clarity!
I've never felt more astounded and enriched by a single interview....I'm overflowing with gratitude ✨
I'm only 5 minutes in but it feels like he's been pouring out a half hour's worth of wisdom and insight.
I could listen forever... the most eloquent, lucid interview I've ever heard: "Collaborate with your Vulnerability is the strongest thing you can do as an Artist"
The way he expresses himself is absolutely admirable. It moves me to express myself, unafraid.
Undoubtedly the most powerful interview I’ve ever listened to. His wisdom is far beyond his years.
It's minds like these that made my want to stay at college longer. I didn't realize how quickly time went by just being absorbed in Vuong's words, exploring how they made me feel about who I am and my perspectives about the world.
This is incredible. What ocean said about the idea of authenticity being 'dubious' as it limits us into category and reduces experience on paper, and in reality, really was poetic. Also the idea of rage being a precursor of care, that care is the evolution of anger made me cry. So many people are stuck in rage because they cannot care.
Stuck in rage? Haha, I'm not.
His voice is as beautiful as his written works are 😭 makes me want to cry because i feel so much comfort just from his voice and his words. 😭
Truly. One of the Wisest persons that I have ever heard speak. I am moved to tears.
As a white, cis-gender American male, I say unequivocally that Ocean Vuong needs to be heard.
(and as a bonus, my personal book of quotes just grew by at least 30 pages)
Why can't you just be a white male?
What pretentious bollocks.
Every single interview, I cannot stop thinking about how much his speaking voice is similar to that of Toni Morrison. Both are extremely smart and well spoken people and both such a soothing melodic voice when delivering their thoughts. Thank you for the upload
ahhhh .. that didn't come to mind for me , but now that you've said it , i can hear it
both teachers as well
7 min in and I have goosebumps all over my body, "And I think we go to writing to reckon with the DNA of a selfhood imprinted on paper."
...He speaks so prettily... I'm in love with it
The way this person communicates is completely beautiful and inspiring
The way this man speaks moves me to tears.
I love how his name becomes alive as he talks. Wonderful!
I’m constantly looking for art that I resinate with. Hoping to find a piece of myself in someone else’s words or music or painting. It can be beautiful or ugly; I just want it to be the truth. And even if it is ugly it’ll be beautiful. Because that’s the fascination right? These gifted folk that have found a way to externalize themselves and preserve it long enough to be beheld and analyzed. We can’t do that for ourselves. So when we see it in art we gape.
I look for pieces of myself there hoping to find a part of myself I can understand. When I do find something i become emboldened and more awake in my body. The gifted had managed to make something ugly into something beautiful and I see myself in it. I understand a new part of myself.
- I wrote this in my notes last night and then I found this video and it’s just yess that’s what I meant!! He says it so pretty and..coherent Sometimes not knowing the right words feels like a straitjacket. Forever jealous of minds like this. This seems like real freedom.
I really could listen to him speak all day. He's a treasure of a human being.
never cried from watching an interview till this came:,( how fun and enlightening would it be to have him as a teacher, his mind and knowledge about the world are seriously so powerful!!
He is so brilliant and eloquent. This interview really moved me.
"I have failed business school and didn't want to face my family empty handed so I studied literature."
Ocean just like me fr
This is one of the best videos on TH-cam
his words pull tears from my eyes. his mind calls out to mine by gently screaming, "catch up"
Wow man I will listen to this every day . he is so educated , humble , gentle
I hope his writing continues. This world starves for such a worldview as poignant, as poetic, as humble, and as beautiful as his.
Now you know Im gonna order their whole bibliography, cause how does one make every sentence so damn quote worthy. They hit the nail every single time!! Best art teacher I've had in 37 min watch. Im still in art school, and I also write and this is wildly eye opening
I could listen to him all day. He is a deep thinker and his ideas embed something to anyone that listens.
I am so in love with your mind, Ocean. Thank you for being.
A restlessness is a very good condition to have. Thank you Ocean.
Presumption and reality are such distinct things that human beings pass through everyday. When I landed at this interview, I had several ideas of how he would sound, how he wil talk. Having read his work vividly, I always felt that it would be very different. But he is his writing, every word he writes is beautifully imbued in the words he speaks. The way he speaks is lyrical and has the same symphonic feel as his written work.
put it simply. I just love Ocean Vuong. His clarity is astonishing.
Thank you Ocean, for sharing your mind and widening and enriching our humanity.
Absolutely loved this. My only critique is in regards to his point on the pursuit of flattening hierarchies and so forth. It’s not that he’s entirely wrong when it comes to his points on the realities of hierarchies. For instance, it is true that the higher you go on a mountaintop there is less space. It is not as inclusive or as abundant in it’s real estate as the base of the mountain. However, I would postulate that the very pursuit of flattening and dismantling hierarchies is dangerous due to its self contradictory nature for it does take hierarchical perception to actually see a higher value in flattening hierarchies as being a more (higher) worthwhile pursuit and endeavor. It doesn’t integrate the truth of hierarchies perception. It’s an erroneous view to merely see all manifestations of hierarchies as merely tyrannical and as dominator hierarchies and never acknowledge growth hierarchies. It denies the joy and fulfillment that can come from ascending a high mountain peak and bask in the privilege of having gotten to see a view that is absolutely breathtaking that makes you appreciate life in a way a lot of people can’t and in a way you never could otherwise. I certainly don’t dismiss what he says, but rather wish to add and integrate to this otherwise wonderful interview 🙏🏼
Spoken so beautifully
Thank you , Ocean. 🌻
precious! thank you thank you for sharing.
Completely blown away by this interview. Can’t wait to get my hands on some of his work.
he is so smart and soft spoken
So he speaks in poetry ❤❤
I greatly appreciate this. Thank you.
That hit me in my soul!
I feel so humble listening to him. What an peace!
I am in awe of this man
So humble! Thank you! 🍀
Thank you for sharing this interview.
love his voice and tone... and everything
Ocean is amazing, so inspiring.
If there is one person or book I think about everyday other then normal people is on earth we are briefly gorgeous , I can never get over it in my whole life.
so grateful to experience this. brilliant and inspiring.
One of the most beautiful talk i have ever listened to and the voice was like velvet, thank you!
thank you Louisiana Channel ♥
Such a brilliant interview and most especially the last few minutes where he speaks about vulnerability.... incredibly moving.
what a miraculous soul.
thank you ocean voung 🖤
So beautiful, so much to think about, thank you!
I love this so much. I learn and experience alot about writing. Thank you for showing me that language, mode and style are keys to writing poetry. I would love to learn more, and luckily I am a teacher too.
incredibly powerful message.
Insights of someone twice his age. I feel astounded and comforted. So much to think about
I could listen and will listen to Vuong speak forever. It’s so beautiful to listen to Vuong speak.
Really beautiful. Thank you, Louisiana Channel and thank you, Ocean Vuong.
I am overflowing with gratitude and appreciation toward this marvelous speaker and other people who joined to create the interview. Here I've begun to literally dive into the most vulnerable and candid element of mine, which has actually been hidden for a while. Other words I'd like to line up are about the privilege of reading that still remains to be such, it is terrifying. What's more, I see it is significant to us to get the space upon self-learning and reflection amidst that flooding working routine. Now I see that the 20 minutes I've spent on the material, I don't regret it and that's why I choose to follow the curiosity rather than predictability. I couldn't know I'd reach out here, but now I am truly more than just happy.
🤍☕
Such a lovely interview, he spoke the words I didn't know I needed to hear
Thank you. So much
Awesome! I totally agree!
This is, perhaps, my favorite video ever. I was hanging on to every second of every word! Thank you Ocean!
for me this is healing a moment from the heart a deep embodied wisdom x thanks
The writer is so thoughtful. Thanks for the reminder, I was intending to read one of his novels and got side tracked from it. In a short time, he covers so many concepts rather eloquently and rather profoundly. Thank you
Phenomenal interview. So many great points made! Went back and listened to it again as soon as I finished it.
Amazing, to listen to this point of view.
Ocean Vuong is definitely one of my favourite contemporary authors now.
I feel so inspired to study creative writing just to be taught by him, such a graceful presence 🤍
What a beautiful soul. I had to transcribe that final piece on vulnerability, print it and stick it on my wall. Thanks Ocean. What a name too. How apt.
Pure enjoyment to listen to this thought-provoking interview. Thank you for sharing.
impactful and thought provoking. thank you
Beautiful. I gained so much from this interview.
So captivating to listen and learn, story and words are full of wisdom, his voice is soft and calm, I could listen to him all day. Looking forward to read all of his books.
Wow, listening Ocean Vuong in this video has altered something in my brain. Thank you.
Brilliant , I can listen to this video everyday , and think of every idea , all his talk and ideas resonate with me , and my way of thinking .
An outstanding and inspiring writer - there's so much to learn about life from this interview.
my tears has been running down with mixed feelings like joy and some kind of personal regret. and i think i truly feel how vulnerability is as a term. thank you so much Ocean Vuong. i needed a teacher like you 10 years ago but i got to know you now. i am so grateful that you exist in any form. Thank you.
I love this stuff.
I love teacher.
This is life-changing stuff.
This is the juice of life.
Such wealth of knowledge, my Goodness!!! How does anyone even speak like this , which realms do you have to enter
Inspiring and beautiful!
What an extremely interesting man to listen to. His clarity of thought is remarkable and his ability to convey information and insights is impressive to say the least. Great talk.
So grateful for this channel platforming such wisdom and beauty
Thank you so so much Vuong. So powerful and authentic
his energy is immensely attractive and calming