When the City Speaks Up: Nature, City, and Identity in Lê Minh Hà’s Phố vẫn gió

Theories of place identity provide a foundation for the analysis of identity in an urban context in the novel Phố vẫn gió by Lê Minh Hà. This essay analyzes the architectural spaces in Hanoi after 1975, paying attention to the spontaneous expansion of living-space in urban residential areas. I argue that this kind of living space not only reveals the residents’ desire for personal spaces apart from their neighbors, it also articulates the self’s position toward the natural environment. The analysis of living space expansion focuses on two aspects: first, individuals’ assertion of identity also functions to assert their powers over others; second, identity is not only portrayed exclusively as human beings’ consciousness, but also as the “awareness of the city.” In the struggle between the old and the new Hanoi, the new Hanoi won, which led to the replacement of French-style architectural spaces in the past with grotesque buildings in the present. Exploring the relationship between nature, urban space, and identity adds a new perspective to the literary representation of nature in Vietnamese diaspora literature.