oreword

A message to readers of Trang Huyet

From Anthony Grey

A young Vietnamese friend of mine now studying in England read the new augmented Vietnamese text of Trang Huyet during the summer of 2004. She compared parts of it to my original English novel SAIGON, which forms the core and essence of this new expanded work by fellow co-author Nguyen Uoc. Since I do not speak or read Vietnamese, I had no idea then what Uoc had done to my text. He did not consult me before he did the work nor seek my permission until after he had finished. Even as I write this message I still do not know in great detail what is contained in the extra 400 pages he has added — except that there are more changes in the period after 1945 than in the first half of the story.

I knew from his own explanation to me that Uoc passionately believed that my novel with his added passages of information and interpretation was ‘the War and Peace novel that the people of Vietnam have been waiting for.’ He told me in his first communication that he felt it had the power to ‘reconcile and free’ Vietnamese people from the conflicts of their past. I found myself moved by this conviction and decided on an impulse not to oppose or take any immediate exception to what Uoc had done.

I was, however, relieved when the young Vietnamese student in England told me she was very moved by what she had read. ‘I would like to thank you for writing this book,’ she said. ‘ I have learned so much about my country and its people that I never knew before. The story’s greatest value, I think, is that it preserves historical memories in a rapidly changing world for new generations of Vietnamese. I think it is a very important novel for the people of Vietnam – and everybody else too.’

In the year 2005, thirty years after the fall of Saigon, our world seems to be a more dangerous place than ever before. The bitter warfare in Iraq triggered by the American inspired invasion of early 2003 is being compared increasingly with the Vietnam war of the 1960s and 1970s. In any event terrorism and killing for political and religious reasons is more widespread globally than ever before.

The whole planet, it seems, now lives daily in anticipation of some new massive ‘terrorist’ outrage. In these circumstances it is vital that the growing number of people around the world who are wishing fervently for a permanent end to all warfare and carnage should believe there are reasons to feel encouraged. It is important for us all to have grounds for trusting in a better future and not become haunted by fear.

The purpose at the highest level of republishing this expanded novel about the long and bitter wars in Vietnam in the second part of the twentieth century is to remind us of the terrible and futile tragedy of all wars, particularly ill-judged wars. Both Vietnam and Iraq fall into that sad category. Everybody suffers in such tragic times and nobody truly triumphs. War makes us all victims. Now it is vital for our world to move forward to a state of being in which we can solve all problems among peoples and nations without recourse to violence and killing. It is equally vital to heal the terrible physical and psychological wounds of the past to help create a better peaceful future for us all.

SAIGON when first published in 1982 to my surprise and delight became an international bestseller in 15 countries and nine languages. Very gratifyingly it has already been used in classrooms in Vietnam and in the United States for educating young army and navy officer cadets – The Peoples Army Defence University in Hanoi and the American Naval Academy at Annapolis. Nguyen Uoc first read the novel in English when he found himself in an Indonesian refugee camp after fleeing by boat from Vietnam in the late 1980s. He said he wept on reading parts of it. Much later, he decided to translate and expand the novel on his own initiative because he felt that the story with the additions of historical fact and some fiction that he could make as ‘an insider’ would cause Vietnamese readers to realise that ‘the truth frees us and reconciles us.’

As I have already indicated, I have decided to take on trust Uoc’s written assurance to me that he has not ‘betrayed’ the form and intent of my original novel. I must reserve a full and measured judgement until such time as I know precisely word by word what he has written. Meantime I am pursuing my own course for SAIGON to be translated separately into Vietnamese exactly as I wrote it without any additions — and for it to be published openly by a Vietnamese publisher in Vietnam. As I write in December 2004, there have been some initial inconclusive discussions in Hanoi about this on my behalf. I do not yet know whether this will happen sooner or later — or indeed ever.

What is beyond doubt is that Nguyen Uoc has applied himself with passion, idealism and energy to produce Trang Huyet. If he is right and a book can contribute significantly to healing and reconciling past wounds, a more harmonious future will begin in small ways to emerge for the people of Vietnam – and this must also eventually touch people of other nations. Then all of Uoc’s diligent efforts will have been worthwhile. In any event I commend his ambition and his spontaneous and dedicated labours and wish him well.

My admiration and affection for Vietnam and its courageous and highly distinctive people have grown constantly from the moment I began to research and write SAIGON. Renewed involvement with Vietnam which has been triggered by the emergence of Trang Huyet and the republication in Britain of a new 2005 English edition of SAIGON has therefore been a source of great pleasure to me. So may I thank all concerned and wish those who read these pages enduring peace and growing harmony in their daily lives.