In Vietnam, however, the distinctions between private and public spaces, inside and outside, are fudged. You can observe the activities inside a house by simply walking past it. Their doors and windows are wide open. Most eateries also leave their steel gates wide open. An American nurses his beer staring at a shelf of liquor, a mirror, or a television. A Vietnamese drinks facing the street. All of life's dramas are played out right in front of him: destitution, greed, deformity, love, lust, death. But that does not mean he's seeing much, because, as a friend of mine said, "We've lived here all our lives, so none of this jazz fazes us, but you, coming from the outside, are gawking at everything."

      Linh Dinh

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The Literary Review: An International Journal of Contemporary Writing has been published quarterly by Fairleigh Dickinson University since 1957. Its many special issues have introduced new fiction, poetry, and essays from many nations, regions, or languages to English readers. Issues focus on such topics as contemporary fiction in Portugese, Iranian exiles, new Irish writing, North African authors, and Philippine fiction and poetry. Works from issues devoted to writing in English have won awards and been reprinted in many collections.

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