‘Let the Subaltern Speak’: The Postcolonial Subtext in Monique Truong’s The Book of Salt
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Monique Truong, a Vietnamese American writer, probes the representation of the third world subject by letting her subaltern subject speak of his experience with Gertrude Stein in The Book of Salt. Binh, the subaltern chef in the novel, recounts his woeful experiences of living on the fringes of society, marginalized and stigmatized as the colonized. By engaging with the life of Gertrude Stein, Truong rewrites Stein from the perspective of the subaltern. In the process, Stein’s status as a writer is interrogated and challenged to critique western discourse represented by Stein. For much of the story, Stein is depicted as a master who provides a shelter to Binh. Yet, Stein is revealed by her colonial, nonchalant, and unimaginative approach to Binh’s experiences. Food functions as a powerful measure with which Binh navigates the multifaceted postcolonial world, picking his ways around the pitfalls of class, race, and sexuality. Empowered by the culinary techniques, Binh is able to destabilize the power relations and hierarchies which have been imposed on him by society. Binh turns his experiences of abjection into a compelling story of “salt,” through memory and imagination.
Abstract
Monique Truong, a Vietnamese American writer, probes the representation of the third world subject by letting her subaltern subject speak of his experience with Gertrude Stein in The Book of Salt. Binh, the subaltern chef in the novel, recounts his woeful experiences of living on the fringes of society, marginalized and stigmatized as the colonized. By engaging with the life of Gertrude Stein, Truong rewrites Stein from the perspective of the subaltern. In the process, Stein’s status as a writer is interrogated and challenged to critique western discourse represented by Stein. For much of the story, Stein is depicted as a master who provides a shelter to Binh. Yet, Stein is revealed by her colonial, nonchalant, and unimaginative approach to Binh’s experiences. Food functions as a powerful measure with which Binh navigates the multifaceted postcolonial world, picking his ways around the pitfalls of class, race, and sexuality. Empowered by the culinary techniques, Binh is able to destabilize the power relations and hierarchies which have been imposed on him by society. Binh turns his experiences of abjection into a compelling story of “salt,” through memory and imagination.
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