No Man River

by Waugh, Charles; Hu?ng, Duong; Manh Ha, Quan

• ISBN13: 9789815233834
• ISBN10: 9815233831
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2025-05-30
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

One of Vietnam’ s most beloved stories about a northern village during the American War. An injured but idealistic veteran of the war against the French named V?n hopes to create a modern society in which everyone will live in harmony, but first he must overcome his community’ s superstitions and prejudices. He must also keep secret his love for the village beauty, while the war further entangles their complicated family dynamics. As the war wages on, parents long for the return of their sons. Wives and children anxiously await their husbands and fathers. Resisting the socialist revolutionary notion that war is glorious or heroic, Duong Hu?ng’ s No Man River presents an innovative portrait of wartime and post-war village life. Awarded the Vietnam Writers’ Association’ s most prestigious prize in 1991, translated into many languages, and adapted into film twice, Hu?ng’ s pathbreaking work tells the story of the countless Vietnamese who carried not only the burden of war but also all the tribulations of forging a new society during the most tumultuous time in modern Vietnamese history.

Author Biography

Charles Waugh is the co-editor and co-translator of T? Duy Anh’ s novel The Termite Queen with Quan Manh Ha in addition to the story collections Wild Mustard, with Van Giá and Nguy?n Liê n, and Family of Fallen Leaves, with Nguy?n Liê n. A professor of English at Utah State University, USA, he is also the associate editor for fiction at ISLE, the journal of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment. Duong Hu?ng was born in 1948 in the northern province Bì nh and currently lives in Qu?ng Ninh. The author of six books, he is best known for his novel No Man River (B?n khô ng ch?ng), which won Vietnam’ s most prestigious prize for fiction in 1991. Considered one of the three best novels about the American War in Vietnam written in the reform era, it has been widely read, studied, critiqued, translated into French and Italian, reprinted several times, and twice adapted into film. For his outstanding achievements, Duong Hu?ng received the National H? Chí Minh Prize for Literature and Arts in 2017. Quan Manh Ha is professor of American literature and ethnic studies at the University of Montana, USA. He is the co-translator of Other Moons: Vietnamese Short Stories of the American War and Its Aftermath; Hà N?i at Midnight: Stories by B?o Ninh; Luminous Nights: Pioneering Vietnamese Short Stories; The Termite Queen, a novel by T? Duy Anh; and Longings: Contemporary Fiction by Vietnamese Women Writers.