Symphony Space

“It’s hot! Ethnic literature’s hot ... You could totally exploit the Vietnamese thing!”
That’s what author Nam Le’s friends tell him in “Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice,” an autobiographical short story about Le’s struggle to reconcile with his Vietnamese father. Though initially motivated by the need to write something that would actually sell, Le turned out a story that explores not only life during the Vietnam War but also parental estrangement, feelings of dislocation, and other experiences that transcend ethnicity.