SHORT STORY OF THE TOAD MAN BY NGUYEN THI DIEP MAI FROM A POST-MODERN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Postmodernism is a cultural and spiritual phenomenon that originated in the West in the second half of the twentieth century. Although existing long in the West, it has only attracted more attention in Vietnam over the past decade or so. Postmodernism is basically associated with a crisis of faith, disappointment in reality and human alienation, with "de-delusion", "anti-fantasy", and cultural pluralism; it both denies, accepts and transforms the principles of modernism, and also combines the popularity and democracy with the elite and "scientific" character of literature. The application of postmodern literary theory into the works of Vietnamese writers is remarkably underway. The postmodern spirit has impacted the thinking of many writers, including Nguyen Thi Diep Mai. The short story "The Toad Man" by writer Nguyen Thi Diep Mai is one of the works bearing the imprint of postmodernism manifested in aspects such as non-narrative, intertextual, assembling and dissecting structure and pieces.