Écriture de la modernité dans le contexte vietnamien

Abstract

During the 1990s, a new tendency could be recognized in Vietnamese literature. It was born out of the reform process (Doi Moi), that is, the diplomatic and economic opening inaugurated by the Vietnamese Communist Perty in 1986. Two novels, The sorrow of war ( Thân phân tinh yêu, 1990) by Bao Ninh, The Old Kho (Lao Khô, 1992) by Ta Duy Anh and the short story There is no king (Không co vua, 1989) by Nguyên Huy Thiêp stand for this revival of Vietnamese literature. The latter is characterized, at the one hand, by the critical assessment of the country’s history and the official attitude towards history during the last decades; on the other, literary and artistic creation is under scrutiny, especially with regard to ‘socialist realism’. The innovations in the content and form of these works are illustrated by a new narrative style, combining the narrative techniques of the European novel, the Chinese historical novel and some characteristics of the Vietnamese folklore (tales and popular theatre).