OTHER MOONS
OTHER MOONS
Vietnamese Short Stories of the American War and Its Aftermath
Translated and edited by
Quan Manh Ha and Joseph Babcock
Foreword by Bao Ninh
Columbia University Press / New York
Columbia University Press wishes to express its appreciation for assistance given by the Pushkin Fund in the publication of this book.
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E-ISBN 978-0-231-55163-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ha, Quan Manh, translator. | Babcock, Joseph, 1985- translator. | Bảo Ninh, writer of foreword.
Title: Other moons : Vietnamese short stories of the American War and its aftermath / translated and edited by Quan Manh Ha and Joseph Babcock.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2020]
Identifiers: LCCN 2019055643 (print) | LCCN 2019055644 (ebook) | ISBN 9780231196086 (cloth) | ISBN 9780231196093 (paperback) | ISBN 9780231551632 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Vietnam War, 1961-1975—Vietnam—Fiction. | Vietnam War, 1961-1975—Influence—Fiction. | Short stories, Vietnamese—Translations into English. | LCGFT: Short stories.
Classification: LCC PL4378.82.E5 O84 2020 (print) | LCC PL4378.82.E5 (ebook) | DDC 895.9/223340803581—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019055643
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019055644
A Columbia University Press E-book.
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Cover image: © Tran Tuan Viet / Gettyimages
Cover design: Lisa Hamm
CONTENTS
Foreword: Writing About War Is Writing About Peace / Bao Ninh
Acknowledgments
Introduction: A Note on the Selection and Translation of Stories / Quan Manh Ha and Joseph Babcock
1. UNSUNG HERO / Nguyen Van Tho
2. WHITE CLOUDS FLYING / Bao Ninh
3. LOUSE CRAB SEASON / Mai Tien Nghi
4. BIRDS IN FORMATION / Nguyen Ngoc Tu
5. A CRESCENT MOON IN THE WOODS / Nguyen Minh Chau
6. MS. THOAI / Hanh Le
7. THE CORPORAL / Nguyen Trong Luan
8. RED APPLES / Vuong Tam
9. THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE VILLAGE / Ta Duy Anh
10. BROTHER, WHEN WILL YOU COME HOME? / Truong Van Ngoc
11. WAR / Thai Ba Tan
12. THE CHAU RIVER PIER / Suong Nguyet Minh
13. STORMS / Nguyen Thi Mai Phuong
14. THEY BECAME MEN / Pham Ngoc Tien
15. AN AMERICAN SERVICE HAMLET / Nguyen Thi Thu Tran
16. LOVE AND WAR / Nguyen Ngoc Thuan
17. THE PERSON COMING FROM THE WOODS / Nguyen Thi Am
18. OUT OF THE LAUGHING WOODS / Vo Thi Hao
19. THE SORROW WASN’T ONLY OURS / Luong Liem
20. A MORAL MURDERER / Lai Van Long
Permissions and Acknowledgments
FOREWORD
Writing About War Is Writing About Peace
BAO NINH
Since 1995, when the United States normalized diplomatic relations with Vietnam, Americans have been visiting Hanoi, and many of them are veterans who fought in the American War. A veteran myself, I am able to have open conservations with them. I like the way American veterans talk about the war because they are sincere and straightforward, always saying what they think.
Although individual Americans may perceive Vietnam and the Vietnamese people differently, they are usually all surprised by the fact that they encounter no hatred from their “former enemy” in postwar Vietnam. Even two decades after the end of the war, it was hardly a forgotten past in 1995, when Americans first started visiting our country, because the remnants and catastrophic consequences of the conflict were ubiquitous throughout Vietnam. So why did most Vietnamese people treat American veterans as friends rather than enemies? Australian and South Korean veterans—U.S. allies during the war—whom I met were also astonished by the Vietnamese people’s peaceful attitude, and they wondered how the Vietnamese could possibly change their attitude toward their former enemy so quickly and easily; they found this difficult to comprehend. But if one reads the history of Vietnam, one will realize that this is by no means incomprehensible.
From its birth over two thousand years ago up through the last few decades of the twentieth century, Vietnam has continuously fought against foreign invaders, all of whom were far more powerful than the Vietnamese, militarily. Therefore, whenever Vietnam was invaded, the country had to bear great calamities: the land was reduced to ashes; death was everywhere. After each war ended, in order to survive, the Vietnamese not only had to work hard to rebuild houses and villages but also had to try their best to free themselves from the nightmares and catastrophic psychological devastation caused by war.
That meant we had to learn to quickly “close down the past.” In order to achieve this goal, we needed to reconcile with our former enemies and hold no hatred toward them, because hatred is poisonous. If we kept holding resentment in our hearts, we would be killing ourselves, our fellow citizens, and, more broadly, our country. Resentment or hatred would make the country sink permanently under the weight of the horrifying and tragic memories of the war. Hatred would make us unable to live a normal life: we would be devastated physically and psychologically, and we, as well as our children, would never be able to live happily. This is a valuable lesson that the Vietnamese have learned throughout centuries. Generations have been practicing this philosophy—a philosophy of loving peace and harboring no xenophobia. These are defining characteristics of the Vietnamese people.
Antixenophobia might seem to be paradoxical in the Vietnamese people, but I think it is an admirable trait. The Vietnamese have fought several wars, but they love peace and are essentially peaceful people. We are neither militant nor vainglorious about our victories. We are courageous in fighting against foreign invaders, but we treat foreign people with respect. We are known for our nationalism, but we do not practice the narrow form of nationalism prevalent elsewhere in Asia.
It is our love for peace and antixenophobia that make us more open-minded and eager to learn new and useful things, especially from other cultures, even from our invaders. This is evidenced in the relations between France and Vietnam from the nineteenth through the first half of the twentieth century.
From 1858 to 1954, France invaded and colonized Indochina—Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. That was one hundred years of hatred, violence, and exploitation. The Vietnamese rebelled against the French
