Duong Thu Huong's A Novel Without a Name-A Critique of War

The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. More than 3 million people were killed in the Vietnam War, and more than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians. Duong Thu Huong, a Vietnamese author and political dissident who was temporarily imprisoned for her writings and outspoken criticism of corruption in the Vietnamese government, spins a poignant and convincing narrative in A Novel Without a Name which unfolds the meaninglessness of war. Like a skilful artist she weaves intricate socio-politico and psychological patterns and essays a probing leap into the psyche of various characters. The present paper analyses the novel from the perspective of incidents, situations and personas which symbolise the miseries, misfortunes and traumatic shocks that war brings in its train. I propose to draw heavily from the text in order to focus on the symbols related to futility of war, social ideology, sense of humanity, national identity, atrocity, the value of life and the state o insanity.