Vietnamese Short Stories: An Introduction

Vietnamese Short Stories, edited and translated into English by James Banerian, is an anthology of modern Vietnamese short stories.

Published in 1985 by Sphinx Publishing (Phoenix, AZ), the anthology brings together ten short stories by ten different modern Vietnamese writers, with a "conscious omission" of "Communist writers," in the words of Banerian. As an introduction, the anthology provides a brief but useful overview of the development of the short story in Vietnamese literature, with particular emphasis on the contribution made by Tự Lực Văn Đoàn, or Self-Reliance Literary Group, of the 1930's and 40's. Banerian also includes helpful author biographies before each story that situate the authors and their works within a literary and historical context.

The anthology includes:

"The Market Girl" by Thạch Lam (1909-1942)

"Monk Tue" by Khái Hưng (1896-1947)

"Good Heart" by Khái Hưng (1896-1947)

"Two Beauties" by Nhất Linh (1906-1963)

"Two Sisters" by Nguyễn Thị Vinh (1924-)

"Love Cherished For a Thousand Years" by Võ Phiến (1925-)

"The Mam Grove" by Bình Nguyên Lộc (1914-1987)

"The Thien Ly Flower" by Duyên Anh (1935-1997)

"A Story for Lovers" by Nhã Ca (1939-

"One-Sixteenth" by Lê Tất Điều (1942-)

"A Pot of Gruel" by Nhật Tiến (1936-)

Hai-Dang Phan started this entry.