Short stories
Chiếc thuyền ngoài xa
Not translated into English
Nguyễn Minh Châu · 1985
Synopsis
Sent to a stretch of coast in the Centre where he once fought, a photographer waits for days for the image that will open a calendar. At last he captures it: a fishing boat emerging from the morning mist, a perfect composition. Then the boat lands, and he sees a man step down who beats his wife without her defending herself, in front of their son. The photographer intervenes, appeals to the district court, and discovers that the woman refuses to be separated from her husband.
Context
The story was finished in August 1983, and it took two years to appear, in a volume that bore a different title; in 1987 the author placed it at the head of a second collection, to which he gave its name. The coast where it is set is that of the Centre, where the author had fought in the war. It belongs to the turning point his work took once peace had returned, when he left the war narrative for ordinary life and its contradictions.
Who it is for
About thirty pages, in Vietnamese. Nothing to know beforehand: the text is short and reads in one sitting, but it rests entirely on a reversal that one must let come.
Prizes and reception
Included on the syllabus of the final-year classes, it is today one of the most discussed stories in the country.