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From War Diaries to Poetry: Pham Quang Nghi's Literary Journey
๐Ÿ‡ป๐Ÿ‡ณ Vietnam /Culture & Society

From War Diaries to Poetry: Pham Quang Nghi's Literary Journey

From Thanh Niรชn · () Vietnamese

Translated from Vietnamese, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Sources not specified Context piece
  • Former Vietnamese Politburo member Pham Quang Nghi has published over a dozen books since retiring, including a war diary and an autobiography.
  • His latest work, a collection of war diaries titled "That Place Was the Battlefield," details his five years on the southern front during the Vietnam War.
  • Nghi's diaries, written in challenging conditions, include vivid accounts of combat and personal hardship, with some pages still bearing bloodstains.

Pham Quang Nghi, a former Politburo member and Hanoi Party Secretary, has embraced a prolific writing career in retirement, publishing more than ten books. His literary output includes a 500-page war diary, a 650-page autobiography, and a collection of poetry.

His latest published work, "That Place Was the Battlefield," compiles his wartime diaries from his five years on the southern front of Vietnam. These entries, meticulously recorded in notebooks during his service, capture the immense difficulties and trials he faced. The book was published with encouragement from fellow writers Thanh Thแบฃo and Nguyแป…n Thแบฟ Khoa, and has been met with support from friends and former comrades.

Nghi shared that the diary entries were written during "unusual moments," sometimes on the move, during lulls in fighting, or amidst the chaos of battle. He described writing in his dugout while tracer fire illuminated the night sky, or while suffering from a severe fever. Some pages, he revealed, still bear the physical marks of war, with bloodstains visible even today.

Before heading to the southern front in 1971, Nghi participated in a training course for young writers destined for the battlefield, alongside notable figures like ฤแป— Nam Cao and Lรช Quang Trang. Taught by renowned Vietnamese literary masters such as Nguyแป…n Tuรขn and Nguyรชn Hแป“ng, this course prepared them for the realities of war. Nghi recounted an experience in ฤแป“ng Thรกp Mฦฐแปi where he and poet Thanh Thแบฃo narrowly escaped death during a clash with Saigon forces, enduring three days of hunger before reaching safety.

The diary pages were written by me quite regularly during moments that were somewhat unusual. Some pages were written on the march. Some pages were written during quiet moments of gunfire. But many pages were written amidst the flashes of gunfire in the night that streaked over the dugout roof or while a malaria fever was tormenting myself. And there are even a few pages that, when opened now, are still stained with bloodโ€ฆ

โ€” Pham Quang NghiPham Quang Nghi describes the conditions under which he wrote his war diaries.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Thanh Niรชn in Vietnamese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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