VietNamNet Bridge – With the novel entitled O Dat Ke Thu (In the land of the enemy), business woman Le Lan Anh became known in Vietnamese literary circles. Born and raised in the north of Vietnam during the wartime, she was driven to write O Dat Ke Thu.

O Dat Ke Thu in French and Vietnamese

She granted Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper an interview to share her thoughts on the novel.

Has the novel been translated into English after being published by L'Hamarttan, one of France's leading publishing houses?

Yes, my novel is now translated into English by the poet and language and literature professor Neal Dwyer, along with the writer and Southeast Asian literature professor Wayne Karlin, who is the author of many books on the French war in Vietnam.

My book has gone to the US thanks to translator Phan Thanh Hao, the first person to translate Noi buon chien tranh (The War’s Sadness) by Bao Ninh into English. After reading my story, she contacted Neal Dwyer and Wayne Karlin. Initially, they refused, but Hao sent a chapter of the book to them via email and they were persuaded.

You used to be a successful businesswoman but you left your business to go to the US to study English, learn about the American culture and write O Dat Ke Thu. What made you do this?

I was one of the best students of literature in the North. Although I did business, stories about the wartime were always on my mind and I wanted to write about them. At over 50 years old, I assigned the business to my son, so I could focus on finding materials for my book.

To write about the US pilot Jim, a main character in my book, it took several years staying in America to learn about this country’s culture.

Your book is considered as therapy to soothe the wounds of war, bringing Vietnam and the US closer together. Do you think that you brought Vietnamese culture to the world, at least in France and the US?

I once met Professor Tran Van Khe and he said he was very proud of me because he had always wished there would be many books by Vietnamese writers published by L’Hmarmattan.

O Dat Ke Thu is my gift to the country, especially to women who helped my sisters during the American war in Vietnam.

It took 40 years for me to think, seven years to find materials and three months to write the novel in a closed room in New York as well as three months to make corrections in Tam Dao tourist area in the northern province of Vinh Phuc.

Do you think it was necessary to go to the US to write the book?

For me, genuine emotion is the most important factor to create a valuable literary work. A book written with the author’s true emotion can capture the hearts of readers; therefore I decided to produce O Dat Ke Thu in New York.

Living far from the country, I wrote with deep nostalgia for my homeland and family; so the book’s manuscripts were imbued with my own tears. Writing about women and children living in rural areas during the war, I was crying.

Do you think you are a special writer to have spent much time and effort to produce just a few hundred pages?

I have never considered myself to be a writer. I am just the author of the novel O Dat Ke Thu.

In the domestic literary world, I am only a ‘wild tree’. ‘Writer’ is a very noble word for me.

Are you worried by the criticism of the book?

No, I’m not. I can balance and harmoise everything in my life. I’m not excited when people praise me and not sad when criticised.

Thank you so much for the interview.

Source: Nhan Dan