Duong Thu Huong in France

From: Stephen Denney

Date: Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 5:44 PM

Would anyone know if the writer Duong Thu Huong is currently living in France or Vietnam, and if she is in France, is she living in exile, not allowed to return to Vietnam? I am a bit confused from some reports I have read recently.

Barbara Crossette reports that Huong has written a "new book, just published in Paris and titled in French 'Au Zenith,' is a thinly veiled and not complimentary novel about the national hero, Ho Chi Minh, the founding father of modern Vietnam and an off-limits subject here. Newspapers have been warned not to touch the story, but copies or excerpts of Huong's book in French and Vietnamese began to circulate on the Internet even before its publication."

Crossette's article is also interesting in her discussion of incresingly vocal dissent from students, academics, journalists and bloggers. See:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/14/opinion/edcrossette.php

- Steve Denney

library assistant, UC Berkeley

------------------------

From: Nina McPherson

Date: 2009/1/20

Steve,

Duong Thu Huong is living in Paris and has been here since 2006. She has chosen exile here in France, but does not have political asylum, nor has she sought it. Her novel, Au Zenith, has just been published in France (editions Sabine Wespieser, 2009)

All the best,

Nina McPherson

----------

From: Daniel C. Tsang

Date: Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 8:34 AM

Here is the link to the bibliographic information on the book from Amazon.fr:

http://www.amazon.fr/Au-z%C3%A9nith-Thu-Huong-Duong/dp/2848050683/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232468970&sr=1-1

dan

Daniel C. Tsang

Social Science Data Librarian

Bibliographer for Asian American Studies, Economics, Political Science & Business (acting)

468 Langson Library

University of California, Irvine

----------

From: Stephen Denney <sdenney@ocf.berkeley.edu>

Date: 2009/1/21

To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>

As a followup to this discussion, here are two news stories on Duong Thu Huong's new novel, from Agence France Presse and the London Telegraph, respectively:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iRjhcNdhdMs6nwj6P5Tm4Jt55DYg

and

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/vietnam/4307137/Ho-Chi-Minh-mistress-murdered-by-his-comrades.html

Steve Denney

--------------------

From: Daniel C. Tsang

Date: 2009/1/22