Phung Quan

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Phùng Quán (1932–1995) was a poet, fiction writer.
Phung Quan.jpg

He was born in Huế and died in Hanoi. He joined the resistance against the French at age 13, then the Viet Minh, then the army of the newly-formed Democratic Republic of Vietnam. He is best remembered as a member of the Nhân Văn Giai Phẩm dissident literary movement. His biting, fearless poems, such as "Chống tham ô lãng phí" and "Lời mẹ dặn," were dubbed "atomic bombs" by the public. He was banned from publishing from 1958 until 1987, and jailed or sent to hard labor for much of this time. When not in prison, he survived by fishing clandestinely, since one needed a license, and writing about 50 books, published under different pseudonyms.

Works

  • Vượt Côn Đảo (1955), novel, awarded a Writers Union Prize in 1956, then the National Prize in 2007
  • Tiếng hát trên địa ngục Côn Đảo (1955), poetry, 2007 National Prize
  • Tuổi thơ dữ dội (1988), novel, 2007 National Prize, reissued nine times and made into a prize-winning film by director Vinh Sơn
  • Trăng Hoàng Cung, a novel in prose and verse (California: Thanh Văn, 1993)
  • Ba phút sự thật, a collection of his memoirs (Ho Chi Minh City: Văn Nghệ, 2006)

Phùng Quán online