Page 71 - Japan’s Cultural Treasures

/`XM 7`NV , 9ZaPW by Trong Phung Vu (Literature) Once banned, the works of Vietnamese
satirist Trong Phung Vu are now seen as masterpieces that were years ahead of their time.
This sarcastic and comedic rags-to-riches story set in Hanoi is particularly popular.

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was on assignment in Vietnam when she became interested in the impact of America’s
participation in the Vietnam War. The resulting book won both the Pulitzer Prize and National
Book Award in 1973, and is still essential reading more than 30 years later.

?SP 7ZaP] by Marguerite Duras (Literature) The bittersweet story of a doomed romance
between a French teenager and an older Chinese man set in 1930s French Indochina (Vietnam).
The novel contains some racy scenes and frank language, but was critically well-received and
won France’s Prix Goncourt for literature.

7L^_ 9TRS_ 4 /]PLXPO ZQ ;PLNP by Dang Thuy Tram (Diary) As a young doctor working for the
North Vietnamese Army, Dang Thuy Tram kept a diary of her experiences until her death at
age 27. Found by an American soldier, the diary was returned to her family and published for
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8L__P]SZ]Y by Karl Marlantes (Literature) This debut novel is about a company of Marines who
build, abandon, and retake an outpost on a remote hilltop in Vietnam. The author, a highly
decorated Vietnam veteran, reportedly spent 30 years writing this book about the folly of war.
He succeeded in coming up with one of the most profound and devastating novels ever to be
written about Vietnam—or any war.

;P]QPN_ >[d by Larry Berman (Biography) Follows the intricate double life of Communist spy
Pham Xuan An, who passed American military secrets to North Vietnam while undercover as a
reporter for Time Magazine in California.

The Quiet American by Graham Greene (Literature) Quite possibly the most famous novel set in
Vietnam, and a classic love triangle too. A knowing British war correspondent and a hopeful
American are caught up in both revolutionary politics and whirlwind romance in 1950s Saigon.
Unfortunately, they both fall for the same Vietnamese woman.

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(Biography/Memoir) A family history following four generations that also reveals the country’s
history over the last 100 years. It’s a rich, marvelously detailed family saga.

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experiences as a soldier for North Vietnam, this novel became a best-seller in Vietnam despite
having been banned by the government (because it does not portray the war as heroic). The
story can be tricky to keep up with—the time period jumps around, sometimes without
warning—but the emotional honesty strikes a cord.

?SP >dX[L_STeP] by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Fiction) The taunt story of a double agent who secretly
sympathizes with the Communist forces during the fall of the South Vietnamese government
in 1975. Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

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