A new insight on the war with the United States in Vietnamese literature

The article dwells upon publications by Inostrannaya Literatura magazine of two Vietnamese literary works - a short story by Nguyen Thu Tran “The Settlement of Vietnamese Servants” (“Xom so My”) and a short story by Le Van Thao “Mr. Giant with Big Moustache” (“Ong ca ho”), in the translation of I.V. Britov. Based on the content of the story by Nguyen Thu Tran, the author of the article highlights new approaches in covering the war theme by Vietnamese writers and notes new trends that are characteristic of Vietnamese public consciousness, in particular, regarding the U.S. military, former adversaries during the Second Indochina War (Resistance War). The story “The Settlement of American Servants” attempted to whitewash the former enemy. However, against the general background of modern Vietnamese literature, such an attitude to the matter is only an exception. The author tried to compare the Russians’ understanding of the lessons of the Great Patriotic War (of the USSR against Nazi Germany in 1941-1945) with the Vietnamese perception of the lessons of American aggression. It is shown by the example of Le Van Thao’s story how important it is for the reader to know the biography of the author to understand the essence of creativity and the emotional charge of the works of a particular writer.

modern Vietnamese literature, literature about war, the lessons of American aggression, attempts at whitewashing the former enemy