The narrative style of trauma in the “Hoang Tam” by Nguyen Dinh Tu

Abstract

Hoang tam (Paranoia) by Nguyen Dinh Tu is one of the unique works in contemporary Vietnamese trauma literature. With a unique trauma narrative, Nguyen Dinh Tu has realistically recreated the trauma that the war against the genocidal regime of Pol Pot-Ieng Sary caused to the nation. War, death, destruction, etc have left terrible obsessions, becoming painful memories that cannot be erased in the human mind. The mental trauma and serious psychological crisis of the characters (especially Anh) in the novel Hoang tam (Paranoia) have “metastasized” to the body, causing the characters to lose their inherent physiological functions. Those invisible wounds will follow people throughout their lives. Exploring the trauma of the characters in the novel Hoang tam (Paranoia) and Nguyen Dinh Tu’s trauma narrative is the basis for the writer to come to important conclusions about the issue of war and the human condition, as well as talent Nguyen Dinh Tu’s.