LOOKING BACK ON THE SORROW OF WAR: FROM THE REVELATION OF HISTORY TO THE REVELATION OF THE NOVEL

Abstract

Bao Ninh's The Sorrow of War is an outstanding achievement in innovating novel poetics in the late 20th century in Vietnam. Going beyond the expectations of readers familiar with war narratives with epic tendencies and romantic inspiration before Doi Moi (1986), The Sorrow of War presents a microhistory of “a war within a war,” a perspective and personal experience in the depths of the subconsciousness and unconsciousness. In this article, by analyzing Bao Ninh's efforts to re[1]enact the untraceable and tell the unspeakable through The Sorrow of War, we want to demonstrate his efforts to renew and overcome Realism, as well as the unfolding of the novel's endless possibilities in containing the spiritual portrait of humanity in the new age.