Non-fiction work Be Troc, based on writer Pham Viet Long’s experience of war, is still a popular read in Viet Nam. Long spoke about his muse and motivations.

You are still remembered for your work Be Troc (a name given to northern soldiers, who had no dependents to support and subsequently received no Government allowances, when they were dispatched to fight in the south during the American War) one of the first pieces of non-fiction to win the B prize from the Viet Nam Association for Arts and Literature. Were you surprised to be awarded such a prestigious accolade?

I felt a mixture of emotions. On the one hand, I was surprised and on the other, I felt quite ordinary. I didn’t write the work to win the prize. I just wanted to share my memories with readers about the time I spent with my fellow soldiers during the American War.

I feel normal because when I was writing the book, I received so much encouragement from my friends. When I finished it, readers, fellow writers and colleagues persuaded me to submit my work for the prize. They believed it deserved the award.

Be Troc is considered a diary, noting your work as a reporter for the Liberation Agency at the Central Front. Is this an accurate label for it?

Basically it is a diary. I collected other documents and extra material which I added to it, like letters, articles and short stories about the main characters. As well as writing about my own feelings, I wrote about many other soldiers, local people and the leaders of the Central Front over seven years of the American War from 1968 till the South’s liberation in 1975.

A diary is for writing up your own stories and thoughts. When writing it, you don’t pay much attention to conventional writing methods. Why do you think that Be Troc won the highest prize in the literature category?

I think that Be Troc won the prize because it reflected the truth of the nation’s struggle for freedom. All characters and events in Be Troc are real. War veterans can relive their experiences when reading the book, while younger generations can read it to imagine their fathers’ lives at the time, and appreciate the sacrifices they made.

I didn’t pay much attention to the writing methods, just noting and reporting on events on the spot. That’s the way I vividly reflected the truth and I think this is what stole readers’ hearts.

Be Troc is quite an attractive title. Was it your intention to lure readers with it? And if you were to write the book again, would you change anything?

Be Troc is a simple noun and conveys well the experiences of young people from the north heading south to fight against the enemy. These people were young and didn’t have their own families. I was also a be troc. I used the name to represent the characters in my work, not to draw in readers.

I would not change anything about Be Troc. We had happy days even though our life was often hard. I witnessed the painful but glorious deaths of many comrades and soldiers. During these days the local people propped up our spirits.

They took care of and protected us like the Buddha of legends. They were always willing to help the vulnerable and shield us from danger. The warmth of the local people during the war was a beautiful symbol of love that not many people have experienced.

The nation’s great victory came in 1975 when the soldiers, including myself, received an electric welcome by masses of people in Da Nang City. These moments are unforgettable to me. There are very few people who have had the chance to enjoy it.

In Be Troc, you had a romantic love affair with a young nurse, called Kim Ngan. Was it a good ending?

Yes, I think it was a good ending as it was like a legend. We married and have stayed together through many hardships and difficulties before being able to enjoy the stable life we have now.

However, I still feel regret for my fellow friends, colleagues and comrades who were by my side through the war. Some of them have not enjoyed a life as lucky as mine and died in fierce battles in the front such as Le Viet Vuong, Pham Thi De, Kieu Thi Nghi and Le Ai My. Others lost parts of their bodies. Others lost the opportunity to marry and ended up alone.

Compared to these people, I consider myself to be a very lucky person.

But I also know very well that I have to make greater efforts to adapt to modern life. After the war, I had to enroll in academic courses to keep up with other professionals my own age. This cost me a lot in terms of time.

Viet Nam has many war writers but not many of these works have stood the test of time. What do you think about that?

I don’t think we have enough great works about the war and its consequences.

The struggle for national independence and freedom was very great, but to fully understand and reflect this in a modern ‘epic’ requires an excellent and experienced writer.

We must wait and see.

Be Troc has been enjoyed by people of all ages. Why do you think this is?

Firstly, I wrote Be Troc to keep my memories safe. The second reason was to say thanks to the people, friends and colleagues who helped me during the war on the Central Front. And thirdly, I wanted to share my life experiences with readers.

I’m very happy to have won readers’ hearts. It’s great that readers know more about the national revolution and the life of soldiers during the war because of my work.

My work was first posted on the Ministry of Culture and Information’s (now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) website CINET in 2000. It has since been posted on many other websites and has been recorded on CDs.

I was not asked for permission for my work to be published on websites and CDs, except by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. But I’m still happy because my work has been welcomed by a great number of readers.

You’ve published two short stories Am Ban (Negative) and Ngo Vuc (Doubt) recently. Were you inspired to write Ngo Vuc after your work as chairman of Savina, the corporation which publishes books about Viet Nam?

Both short stories were based on things I experienced during the war and afterwards, when the open-market economy was introduced.

Writing short-stories requires creativity and a degree of invention, but my inventions are based on reality and reflect the lives of Vietnamese truthfully.

In Ngo Vuc, there’s nothing of my experiences from my work at Savina, but I based some of it on the things I learned when I worked as chief officer of the former Ministry of Culture and Information.

Am Ban and Ngo Vuc are fictional works compared to Be Troc, which is more like a diary. But they all express the realities of modern life.

VietNamNet/VNS