Real clearity

In this interview, Ocean Vuong reveals something that goes beyond success. It’s about vulnerability, pain, and the search for meaning. As someone moved by his poetry for years, I immediately recognize that distinct Vuong tone: honest, gentle, but razor-sharp. Once a refugee on the margins of society, he’s now a writer who not only looks back on his journey, but also asks himself: What does it mean to be a good person?

He speaks openly about poverty, his desire to do something good for his mother, and how he tries to understand ‘goodness’ through suffering. These questions make his story feel deeply familiar. Vuong isn’t afraid to name his darkest thoughts, like the moment he wanted to murder someone out of pure rage. Or his struggles with identity. What keeps him going, he says, is this question: what would I write if it were truly just for myself?

What makes this conversation so powerful isn’t just what he says, but how honestly he talks about his struggles. His idea of ‘satori’, those flashes of insight that suddenly turn everything upside down……

Vuong shows that pain is sometimes the only way to real clarity.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/03/magazine/ocean-vuong-interview.html?searchResultPosition=1

Photo: Celeste Sloman for The New York Times