The Emperor of Gladness

A novel examining the complexities of caregiving, immigrant labor, and dignity in the face of hardship.

--- Introduction of the Authur ---

“Language itself is creation… It’s absolutely integral to our species, and even more so when we’re negotiating the language of war and diaspora.”
“Perhaps one day, masculinity might become so myriad, so malleable, it no longer needs a fixed border to recognize itself. It might not need to be itself at all. I wonder if that, too, is the queering of a space?”

Ocean Vuong is a Vietnamese-American poet and novelist. His queer identity and immigrant background give him a unique, sensitive writing style. From the Vietnam War to modern America, his poetic, vulnerable yet resilient writing connects war trauma, family memory, and the exploration of gender and body.

His words are quiet yet can touch the deepest emotions. Writing in English—“the tongue that silenced his mother”—he breaks down sentences, reshapes rhythms, and transforms language into a flexible container, an extension of the body. Vuong’s writing explores the possibilities within language, creating new forms from the edges.