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In Whose Eyes
The Memoir of a Vietnamese Filmmaker in War and Peace
by Tran Van Thuy and Thanh Dung Le
Translated by Eric Henry and Nguyen Quang Dy
Edited by Wayne Karlin
Published by: University of Massachusetts Press
Series: Culture and Politics in the Cold War and Beyond
224 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 x 0.90 in, 11 b&w illus.
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Trn Van Thuy is a celebrated Vietnamese filmmaker of more than twenty award-winning documentaries. A cameraman for the People's Army of Vietnam during the Vietnam War, he went on to achieve international fame as the director of films that address the human costs of the war and its aftermath.
Thuy's memoir, when published in Vietnam in 2013, immediately sold out. In this translation, English-language readers are now able to learn in rich detail about the life and work of this preeminent artist. Written in a gentle and charming style, the memoir is filled with reflections on war, peace, history, freedom of expression, and filmmaking. Thuy also offers a firsthand account of the war in Vietnam and its aftermath from a Vietnamese perspective, adding a dimension rarely encountered in English-language literature.
Thuy's memoir, when published in Vietnam in 2013, immediately sold out. In this translation, English-language readers are now able to learn in rich detail about the life and work of this preeminent artist. Written in a gentle and charming style, the memoir is filled with reflections on war, peace, history, freedom of expression, and filmmaking. Thuy also offers a firsthand account of the war in Vietnam and its aftermath from a Vietnamese perspective, adding a dimension rarely encountered in English-language literature.
Trn Van Thuy is a filmmaker and director. Lê Thanh Dung is a writer and translator. Wayne Karlin is an author and professor of languages and literature at the College of Southern Maryland. Eric Henry is former senior lecturer in the Asian Studies Department at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Nguyên Quang Dy is a former Harvard Nieman Fellow and independent journalist in Hanoi.
"Tran Van Thuy is a filmmaker of talent and conscience. I will never forget the honesty and the pain found in the films he made, from The Story of Kindness to The Sound of the Violin in My Lai. Read this memoir and listen to a gentle voice for peace, truth, and reconciliation."—Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Sympathizer
"A significant and poignant memoir that offers a dramatic glimpse into the politics of making films during the country's wartime and postwar periods."—Lan P. Duong, author of Treacherous Subjects: Gender, Culture, and Trans-Vietnamese Feminism
"In Whose Eyes is the story of one man's devotion to truth in the face of enormous pressures to conform and enormous dangers in refusing to conform. It is a story of patriotism in the truest sense of that word: love for one's country. But it is also a window into postwar Vietnam's struggles with itself and who, as a people and a nation, the Vietnamese want to be. Tran Van Thuy's courage and commitment to artistic integrity are both inspiring and humbling."—W. D. Ehrhart, author of Vietnam-Perkasie: A Combat Marine Memoir
"From the remaining fog of the American war in Vietnam emerges this remarkable memoir of war, peace and reconciliation. In Whose Eyes should be a must read for those seeking fresh understanding and new perspective on a war that ravaged so many, yet left us with survivors like Tran Van Thuy, war photographer, filmmaker and ultimately philosopher. I am enriched from reading this memoir."—Larry Berman, author of Perfect Spy: The Incredible Double Life of Pham Xuan An, Time Magazine Reporter and Vietnamese Communist Agent
"Tran Van Thuy records the life of the artist working under terrible conditions--war and censorship. Filming all the while, he has brought back eye-witness truths. In Whose Eyes tells the stories of the many people Thuy encounters. Miraculously, he finds kindness in each one, even those on 'the other side.'"—Maxine Hong Kingston, author of The Fifth Book of Peace, and editor of Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace
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