The Emperor of Gladness

The Emperor of Gladness is widely acclaimed poet, essayist, and novelist Ocean Vuong’s second novel. Vuong is Vietnamese American—his family arrived in Connecticut when Vuong was just two years old. His maternal grandfather was American, having met Vuong’s grandmother in Vietnam during the war; she and her daughters, with their respective children, fled to the United States because Vuong’s mother and aunts were banned from working in Vietnam due to their mixed heritage. Vuong was raised in Hartford, Connecticut, eventually completing a degree in English from Brooklyn College and an MFA from New York University (Wong, Henry. “Ocean Vuong on Why ‘the Emperor of Gladness’ is His ‘Slump Book’ (and Why That’s No Bad Thing).” Esquire, 16 May 2025).

In keeping with the rest of his oeuvre, The Emperor of Gladness draws deeply from Vuong’s own life and experiences. For instance, his debut novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (2019), is written from the first-person perspective by a narrator named “Little Dog” whose life experiences entirely mirror Vuong’s own. Little Dog also explores his sexuality, eventually forming a romantic relationship with Trevor, a boy he meets while working in a tobacco farm. Trevor tragically dies of an overdose when Little Dog is away at university.

For those who have On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, The Emperor of Gladness offers a familiar context and setting: The story is once again set in Connecticut; the protagonist, Hai, is a young man who struggles with substance addiction (Little Dog frequently used drugs) and has a difficult relationship with his mother. Like Little Dog, Hai is still grieving the death of an old lover, Noah, who died of an overdose when Hai was in college. This loss prompts Hai to drop out of college, and later lie to his mother that he is enrolled in medical school—details that stem from Vuong’s own life. Vuong himself has struggled with drug addiction, and hid from his mother that he had dropped out of a marketing course at Pace University in New York to begin an English degree at Brooklyn College “that set the course for his life as a writer” (Needham, Alex. “‘Buddhism and Björk Help Me Handle Fame’: Novelist Ocean Vuong.” The Guardian, 10 May 2025).

As a writer, Vuong confesses to being “deeply invested in autofiction” (Wong), and both of his novels read like fictionalized autobiographies. Like Hai, Vuong has experience working in fast food restaurants and mentions his own “Grazina” at the end of the book, noting that he penned the novel in her memory (399). The name “Hai” means “ocean” or “sea” in Vietnamese. However, it is not only personal autobiographical details that are incorporated into Vuong’s second novel—his experiences are reflected in the themes of the book, and his political consciousness and ideologies are woven into the storytelling as well.

For instance, Vuong’s thematic interest in Circumstantial Kinship and Found Family remains central throughout the story, with Hai finding community both with Grazina and the workers at HomeMarket. This connection with a chosen family is common among those who have experienced rejection from their biological families due to their sexuality or gender identity—not an unfamiliar experience to Vuong, who, like Hai, identifies as gay (Needham). Similarly, Vuong purposefully sets the story in 2009, during the Obama administration in the United States. Vuong describes how this era was a time that encapsulated the “the height of supposed Obama hope” (Wong) in America, something he was quickly disillusioned by when he saw little change despite the administration’s promises. The disenfranchisement and lack of material change in circumstances that Vuong saw around him are reflected in the plot of his novel—there is no “arc of improvement” (Wong) for the characters and their lives. The story simply plods forward until it eventually concludes.