Wild Card with Rachel Martin Ocean Vuong doesn’t erase pain from beauty
Aug 28, 2025
Ocean Vuong, a MacArthur Genius Award-winning author and professor at NYU, shares profound insights into the intertwined relationship between beauty and pain. He reflects on his transformative journey, exploring identity, familial connections, and the impact of grief. Vuong discusses the healing power of art and the importance of community in navigating loss. He candidly expresses his hope for a day when he might stop writing, revealing the complexities of creativity as a condition rather than just a skill.
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Writing As A Condition
- Ocean Vuong views being a writer as a condition driven by curiosity rather than just a skill.
- He says curiosity trains you to see more in the world and then develop craft to describe it.
Childhood Tenement And Community
- Vuong describes growing up in a seven-person Salvation Army tenement and the hallway as public living space filled with diverse neighbors.
- He frames the neighborhood's danger and his family's resilience as epigenetic strength paired with trauma.
Mother's Storytelling Shield
- He recalls his mother pointing out imaginary tropical birds to distract him from a trail of blood on the sidewalk.
- That early storytelling taught him beauty can be used to protect and reframe painful reality.
