Two Shores / Deux rives

by Riddick, Thuong

• ISBN13: 9780921870357
• ISBN10: 0921870353
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-09-16
• Publisher: Ronsdale Press

Summary

Two Shores is the first collection of poetry in English by Thuong Vuong-Riddick, a Vietnamese immigrant to the West. Vuong-Riddick recounts life in Vietnam under the influence of the Japanese, the Chinese, the Vietminh, the French, and the Americans, as well as the difficulties of living through "the Big Hunger." In the second part of the book, she deals with her second shore, her life as an immigrant, first in France and then in Canada. Two Shores is a dual language edition. Vuong-Riddick wrote the poems first in English and then recreated them in French. The poems appear en face.

Author Biography

Thuong Vuong-Riddick was born in Hanoi in 1940— during the French regime. Under Ngo-Dinh Diem, she moved to Saigon and obtained her B.A. degree, but was soon caught up in the war of political factions. In 1962, she travelled to Paris where she acquired a second B.A., an M.A. and her Doctorate. She has taught French in both Saigon and in Paris. In 1969, Vuong-Riddick emigrated to Canada where she taught literature at the University of Montreal and at McGill University. In 1981, she moved to Victoria, British Columbia, where she taught at the University of Victoria until 1989. She has also worked in television, specializing in programmes for Vietnamese and French communities. Two Shores / Deux rives is her first collection of poetry. She is presently at work on a prose memoir of her family in Vietnam.

Table of Contents

Black Teeth	p. 2
Itinerant Merchants	p. 4
Games	p. 6
Big Hunger: 1945	p. 8
Motor-rickshaw	p. 10
Remembering My Brother	p. 12
Civil War	p. 16
The Hills of Dalat	p. 18
Unreachable	p. 22
Nightmare I	p. 24
Nap	p. 26
The Mad Uncle	p. 28
The Astrologer	p. 30
My Sister's Piano	p. 32
My Beloved is Dead in Vietnam	p. 36
History	p. 38
Blues	p. 44
A Famous Vietnamese Song	p. 48
Youth	p. 50
The Voice	p. 52
At Dawn	p. 54
Our Cell	p. 56
Steps	p. 58
International Volunteer Service	p. 60
In Greece	p. 64
Labyrinth	p. 66
In the Park	p. 68
Day and Night	p. 70
Night	p. 72
Falling	p. 74
There is no Happy Love	p. 76
"Evangeline"	p. 78
Vision	p. 82
The Whirlwind of History	p. 84
Poudrerie	p. 90
Stress	p. 94
Nightmare II	p. 98
This Infinite Tenderness	p. 100
For Kim	p. 102
For Anne	p. 106
One Hundred Sparrows	p. 108
Spiders Are People Too...	p. 110
Victoria Buses	p. 112
For My Father	p. 114
Above and Under	p. 118
After the Operation	p. 120
Hospital	p. 122
Vigil	p. 126
Each Day	p. 128
Springtime	p. 130
Remembering Spring	p. 132
Pacific	p. 134
Odours	p. 142
Time of Dinosaurs	p. 144
Botanical Beach	p. 146
Across the Country	p. 148
Morning Aikido Lesson	p. 150
Gibsons	p. 154
Pool of Youth	p. 156
He Covered Me With a Blanket	p. 158
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.