Tale
Sợ lửa
Not translated into English
Doãn Quốc Sỹ · 1956
Synopsis
Tales written in the manner of ancient narratives, in which undated villages, animals and legendary figures serve to speak of the present time. The language imitates that of stories passed on by word of mouth, the moral surfaces without being stated, and the fear of fire that gives the book its name recurs there as a motif: what burns, what one dares not approach, what one prefers not to see. It is its author's first book.
Context
The author had left the North two years earlier and was teaching in a lycée in the city. The volume appeared from Người Việt, named after the weekly he had launched the previous year, which had lasted only a few issues. The same year, together with Mai Thảo, Thanh Tâm Tuyền, Nguyễn Sỹ Tế, Trần Thanh Hiệp, Duy Thanh and Ngọc Dũng, he founded the publishing house and journal Sáng Tạo, which were to renew the literature of the South. About thirty books followed this one.
Who it is for
Short, in Vietnamese. Brief texts, in a simple language that imitates that of handed-down tales; no prior knowledge is required.
Prizes and reception
First book by an author whose entire work was banned after 1975, and whom reissues have recovered only late.