VIETNAMESE LITERATURE

w Rich, varied expressing over the centuries.

w Depicts hunuor, realism, and irony of the Vietnamese people
w Genres
w Anonynous Literature (Oral)
• Legends
• Proverbs
• Songs that depicts aspects of traditional society
w Folk Literature (17th and 18th century)
• Fables
• Satirical and narrative poems
• Verse Novels
• Verse Novels
w first verse has 6 feet
w 2nd verse has 8 feet
w 6th character of the second verse rhymes with the last
character of the first verse
w these novels are recited and sung from village to village

Modern Literature
• texts are evidence of realism as a repurcussion of 30+ of war
• it also shows a literary dichotomy created by the partition of
Vietnam in 1954
w “Through literature, writers hoped to bring the spirit of reform
into all spheres of Vietnamese life
w AUTHORS

Andrew Lam
w Vietnamese-American writer at the Huffington Post, editor of New America
Media, author of Birds of Paradise Lost, and PEN/Open Book Award winner.
w · Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong (Poetry, US, Contemporary)*
· Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao (Novel, US, Contemporary)*
· The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui (Graphic memoir, US, Contemporary)
· Enfer rouge mon amour by Lucien Trong (Novel, France, Contemporary)
· Riz Noir by Anna Moï (Novel, France, Contemporary)
· Such A Lovely Little War: Saigon 1961–63 by Marcelino Truong,
translated by David Homel
w Hoang Hung

w Hanoi-based Vietnamese poet, translator, and former teacher and

journalist.

w · The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh, translated by Phan Thanh Hao, edited
by Frank Palmos (Novel, Vietnam, Contemporary)*
· Behind the Red Mist by Ho Anh Thai, translated by Nguyen Qui Duc,
edited by Wayne Karlin (Short story, Vietnam, Contemporary)*
· Crossing The River by Nguyen Huy Thiep, translated and edited by Dana
Sachs and Nguyen Nguyet Cam (Short stories, Vietnam, Contemporary)
· No Man’s Land by Duong Thu Huong, translated by Nina McPherson
and Phan Huy Duong (Novel, Vietnam, Contemporary)
· Dumb Luck by Vu Trong Phung, translated by Peter Zinoman and
Nguyen Nguyet Cam (Novel, Vietnam, Contemporary)
· Black Dog, Black Night: Contemporary Vietnamese Poetry, edited by Paul
Hoover and Nguyen Do (Poetry, Vietnam, Contemporary)
· Distant Road—Selected Poems of Nguyen Duy by Nguyen Duy, translated
by Ba Chung Nguyen and Kevin Bowen (Poetry, Vietnam, Contemporary)
 wSusan Bayly
w Researcher on Vietnamese culture, and professor at the University
of Cambridge.
w · The Tale of Kieu by Nguyen Du, translated by Huynh Sanh
Thong (Poetry, Vietnam, Classic)*
· Selected writings of Ho Chi
Minh(Anthology, Vietnam, Contemporary)
Other themes:
w Loyalty
w Wheels of Fortune
w Fortune Telling
w Karma, Justice, Responsibility and Retribution
w Nature, Society, and Humanity unite with one another in a
harmony of beauty

w Sadness of life
w poignancy of love relationship
w struggle between humanity and poverty
w strength in human character
w River is life and society
w the will to love
w reference to nature