I’ve promised (or threatened) to give y’all a primer on Nam Cao, so here it is. Viet literature is still a void in the emptied out West. The best Vietnamese writer of recent years, Nguyễn Huy Thiệp, is available in two English editions. The better one, Crossing the River, has just nine ratings on Amazon! It’s rated five stars, so that’s encouraging. I’m proud to be the translator of Thiệp’s most significant stories, “Without a King” and “The Retired General.”
Given another lifespan, I’d tackle Nam Cao, but even a discussion of writing you can’t or won’t read is fruitful. First, let’s meet the man. Born in 1917, Nam Cao was executed by the French at age 34 and tossed into a mass grave. During his short life, he did manage to write six novels. Four are lost. Only one came out during his life. He’s best known for short fiction. Sixty-five stories have survived.