Short stories
Mưa đêm cuối năm
Not translated into English
Võ Phiến · 1958
Synopsis
Short stories about ordinary people of the Centre: a former prisoner, an unhappily married woman, brothers who no longer understand each other. The author looks very closely at what his characters hide from themselves, and the plot matters less than the detour by which each explains his own conduct. One of the pieces, a story told in the middle of the night, is the only text the author gave to the review that was then leading the letters of the South.
Context
The first two books had appeared in Quy Nhơn, at their author's expense, and had hardly left the province; this one appeared in Saigon from Tự Do and determined what followed. Its author was then contributing texts to the two major journals of the South, and he obtained his transfer to the capital soon afterwards. The official distinction came in 1960. After 1975, the entire body of his work was banned in his country, and its author continued it in California.
Who it is for
Brief, in Central Vietnamese, whose speech colours the dialogues. The texts are taken one by one; the plot counts for less than the examination of motifs.
Prizes and reception
National Literature Prize of the South in 1960; the book that brought its author out of the provinces, and the first of a body of work erased after 1975.