Nguyễn Huy Thiệp: Chronicling Modern Vietnam

Born in 1950 in Hanoi, Nguyễn Huy Thiệp is an author whose works are driven by his underlying preoccupations with the politics, economics and human rights issues faced in Vietnam. Growing up through the turbulent second half of the 20th century, Thiệp’s pre-literary life was defined by the poverty and savage economic hardships of his rural upbringing. In his early adulthood he took up various jobs including teacher to Communist Party officials, black market trader, physical labourer, painter, restaurateur and salesman, before finally following his intellectual and literary passions.
1987 saw Thiệp publish his first short story, The General Retires. The story centres on an ageing military general who returns home to live with his family in Hanoi. The family live in acute poverty and the general’s daughter-in-law is forced to overwork to support and sustain the family’s wellbeing. Offering a daring critique of Socialist ideas, this character is a seemingly successful physician yet she must work an additional job, breeding and training guard dogs, to be able to provide for her household. Insinuating the state’s failure in fulfilling its initial promises, The General Retires highlighted Thiệp’s ability to produce fiction with subtle yet scolding social commentary.

Writing in Vietnamese, some of Nguyễn Huy Thiệp’s works have been translated into French, such as his controversial 2005 novel A nos vingt ans, as well as other English translations that have been published. An author of much international acclaim, with a widely anthologised oeuvre, Thiệp’s reputation as a literary talent of undeniable innovation and progressive scholarship remains strong. Thiệp still writes of a profound vision of Vietnam detached from a history of war; a country whose future is characterised by its prosperous growth, and a country led by a progressive change of direction.
By Lindsay Parnell