JULY 28, 2005
Vietnam Novels Make Great Summer Read
As a friend of Vietnam and frequent traveler to the country, I have found that literature offers a excellent prism into the soul of the nation. Modern Vietnamese literature has evolved from romanticism to realism, from heroism in wartime to the revelations offered in ordinary and hardscrabble Vietnamese lives.
Fortunately, Vietnam has exported its writers and literature, and I have written about this in Asia Times. There are two must read titles for the end of the summer- Duong Thu Huong’s "No Man’s Land", beautifully translated by Nina McPherson and Phan Huy and the new memoir/novel by Uyen Nicole Duong, "Daughters of the River Huong".
Although Duong Thu Huong’s novels are banned in Vietnam because of her bold criticism of her country, she remains one of Vietnam’s brightest literary stars.
Kudos goes to her editor, Will Schwalbe at Hyperion Books in New York. Someone I have known for over a decade and who has tirelessly championed Asian literature in translation, including the important work of Nobel shorted listed, Indonesia author,Toer Pramoedya.
Hyperion East is an imprint dedicated to publishing works of literature in translation from Asian countries.Schwalbe regards “Duong Thu Huong as one of the world's great writers.”
Uyen Nicole (Wendy) Duong is an overseas Vietnamese, who is a distinguished professor of law at the University of Denver. Her richly textured and narrated book. spanning four generations, is an astonishly powerful and haunting tale of a woman’s journey to freedom. She’s an excellent sylist and I consider her book, " Daughters of the River Huong," an epic and compelling story of love and surrender.
What does the future hold for the Vietnam novel? It is bright and shining.
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