Treasuring the past, but not bound to it

By: David Pham

Posted: 4/17/08

Andrew Lam, son of a Vietnam War general who has endured the sorrows and nightmares of war, has lived a privileged childhood – he had servants and lived in a villa. If he existed as a teen in our generation, he’d fit in with stereotypical straight-A medical students destined to live the rich life with a dad re-telling a “series of unfortunate events.” But that’s not the case, and Lam isn’t a doctor. His stardom in a literary career began after realizing the essential element to human life: happiness.

Lam went to UC Berkeley to study biochemistry – partly because his parents paid for tuition and he felt a debt to them – he was doing very well … except he wasn’t happy. He realized he hated laboratory research while concurrently taking creative writing classes. His creative writing teacher enjoyed his short stories and told him to enroll in a creative writing graduate school. Having doubt in himself, he hesitated to apply but did it anyway. He got in and the rest was history.

Lam, now an award-winning syndicated writer, an editor with the Pacific News Service, and a regular commentator on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” continues to write with a passion. His fictional work brought him a career in journalism where he travels the world reporting stories from Hong Kong boat people to the end of the Cold War.

With interests ranging from the cosmos to SARS, Lam writes about Vietnam to add newer perspectives to the country other than the Vietnam War.

“But on the other hand, it was (my father) who first taught me the principle of democracy – that oppositions are allowed, that one has the right to express his opinion, regardless of Confucian ethos. I think without really practicing that democratic principle Vietnam will not have a chance to become a truly expressive, democratic society.”

In an interview with Nha magazine on his recent book, “Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora,” Lam details his past with what current Asian-Americans can relate to, cultural clashes.

“It’s a collection of my personal essays, a compilation of my best work that has to do with identity issues, with boat people, with Vietnam, with the new generation in Vietnam, with the Diaspora, with Vietnamese in America,” Lam said. “And it’s about my relationship with the war, my father, the past, my mother. It’s about me spilling my guts.”

He is no stranger to the literary world; even local writers comment on his stories.

“Andrew Lam writes with the honesty of a true journalist and the feeling of a born storyteller,” said Maxine Hong Kingston, author of “Woman Warrior,” and visiting professor at University of Hawai‘i. “On his many journeys between Vietnam and the U.S., he sees first-hand the global consequences of war. ‘Perfume Dreams’ is a meaningful book for our times.”

Meet the author

Lam will lead a seminar on his practice of literary journalism on April 18 at 1:30 p.m. in Kuykendall Hall 410, as part of the Joseph Keene Chadwick Lecture Series. Readings will be available ahead of time in Kuykendall 402, the English department. For more information, contact the department at 956-3085.
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