This episode of Fresh Air features Tonya Mosley interviewing writer and poet Ocean Vuong about his new novel, "The Emperor of Gladness," which explores working-class life, caregiving, and survival in a fictional post-industrial Connecticut town. Vuong discusses his motivations for writing the book, his own experiences growing up in poverty as a Vietnamese-American refugee, and the themes of kindness, loss, and the American dream. The conversation also delves into Vuong's personal experiences with death and suicide, his thoughts on class mobility, and his unique perspective as an artist straddling elite circles and his working-class roots. The second part of the conversation, recorded in front of a live audience, further explores the themes of suicide and the importance of death meditation. Vuong shares his plans to limit his published works and his approach to teaching writing, emphasizing the need for a new generation of writers to create inclusive narratives.
