AI ToolsNew
Tools to make learning and teaching easier
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Part 1
Explanation and Analysis—Barthes:
At several points in the novel, Little Dog alludes to the work of French philosopher Roland Barthes. The two following excerpt is from Part 1:
I reread Roland Barthes’s Mourning Diary yesterday, the book he wrote each day for a year after his mother’s death. I have known the body of my mother, he writes, sick and then dying. And that’s where I stopped. Where I decided to write to you. You who are still alive.
Little Dog's interest in Barthes is on display in Part 3, too, when he alludes to Barthes alongside other influential figures:
I sit, with all my theories, metaphors, and equations, Shakespeare and Milton, Barthes, Du Fu, and Homer, masters of death who can’t, at last, teach me how to touch my dead.
In the first passage—from Part 1—Little Dog reflects on Barthes's book Mourning Diary, relating it to his own epistolary endeavor. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is both a letter to Rose and an exercise in mourning. Little Dog mourns both the future death of his mother and the current "death" of their relationship: a critical and ever-widening gulf in understanding that separates mother and son.
In the second passage, from Part 3, Little Dog mourns Lan's death, alluding to Barthes yet again. At this stage in the novel, Barthes is no longer a philosopher Little Dog wishes to mine for knowledge or insight. Instead, Little Dog recognizes that when faced with true death, no amount of reading is adequate preparation.
On a broader level: Barthes worked on theories of deconstruction and post-structuralism—essential concepts in 20th century philosophy. Vuong applies both theories in On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, deconstructing established binaries (man/woman, colonizer/colonized, American/Vietnamese) throughout the novel.
Related Themes:
Part 3
Explanation and Analysis—Duchamp:
In the following instance of allegory and allusion from Part 3, Little Dog recalls the French artist Marcel Duchamp's controversial inverted urinal sculpture, entitled "Fountain":
I’m thinking now of Duchamp, his infamous “sculpture.” How by turning a urinal, an object of stable and permanent utility, upside down, he radicalized its reception. By further naming it Fountain, he divested the object of its intended identity, rendering it with an unrecognizable new form. I hate how he proved that the entire existence of a thing could be changed simply by flipping it over [...].
Mostly, I hate him because he was right. Because that’s what was happening to Lan. The cancer had refigured not only her features, but the trajectory of her being.
This sculpture—an inverted urinal—allegorizes Lan's sickness. She has been turned upside down, rendered nearly unrecognizable to Little Dog by the cancerous cells destroying her body. The utility of the urinal used in "Fountain" has been transfigured, morphed into something alien and unlike itself. Similarly, Lan's body has lost its utility and purpose, overwhelmed by cancer cells and no longer capable of functioning as it should.
This allegory may appear odd or abstract on a first read. In reality, Little Dog's allusion to Duchamp is deeply personal and reflects the kinship he feels with fellow writers and artists. In moments of desperation, tragedy, or high emotion, Little Dog filters and synthesizes his feelings using the work of other creatives.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Barthes:
Covered in "Part 1 Explanation and Analysis—Barthes"
At several points in the novel, Little Dog alludes to the work of French philosopher Roland Barthes. The two following excerpt is from Part 1:
I reread Roland Barthes’s Mourning Diary yesterday, the book he wrote each day for a year after his mother’s death. I have known the body of my mother, he writes, sick and then dying. And that’s where I stopped. Where I decided to write to you. You who are still alive.
Little Dog's interest in Barthes is on display in Part 3, too, when he alludes to Barthes alongside other influential figures:
I sit, with all my theories, metaphors, and equations, Shakespeare and Milton, Barthes, Du Fu, and Homer, masters of death who can’t, at last, teach me how to touch my dead.
In the first passage—from Part 1—Little Dog reflects on Barthes's book Mourning Diary, relating it to his own epistolary endeavor. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is both a letter to Rose and an exercise in mourning. Little Dog mourns both the future death of his mother and the current "death" of their relationship: a critical and ever-widening gulf in understanding that separates mother and son.
In the second passage, from Part 3, Little Dog mourns Lan's death, alluding to Barthes yet again. At this stage in the novel, Barthes is no longer a philosopher Little Dog wishes to mine for knowledge or insight. Instead, Little Dog recognizes that when faced with true death, no amount of reading is adequate preparation.
On a broader level: Barthes worked on theories of deconstruction and post-structuralism—essential concepts in 20th century philosophy. Vuong applies both theories in On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, deconstructing established binaries (man/woman, colonizer/colonized, American/Vietnamese) throughout the novel.
Related Themes:
