Other Moons - (Paperback)

About the Book

In this anthology, Vietnamese writers describe their experience of what they call the American War and its lasting legacy through the lens of their own vital artistic visions. The twenty short stories collected in Other Moons range from the intensely personal to narratives that deal with larger questions of remembrance, trauma, and healing.

Book Synopsis

In this anthology, Vietnamese writers describe their experience of what they call the American War and its lasting legacy through the lens of their own vital artistic visions. A North Vietnamese soldier forms a bond with an abandoned puppy. Cousins find their lives upended by the revelation that their fathers fought on opposite sides of the war. Two lonely veterans in Hanoi meet years after the war has ended through a newspaper dating service. A psychic assists the search for the body of a long-vanished soldier. The father of a girl suffering from dioxin poisoning struggles with corrupt local officials.

The twenty short stories collected in Other Moons range from the intensely personal to narratives that deal with larger questions of remembrance, trauma, and healing. By a diverse set of authors, including many veterans, they span styles from social realism to tales of the fantastic. Yet whether describing the effects of Agent Orange exposure or telling ghost stories, all speak to the unresolved legacy of a conflict that still haunts Vietnam. Among the most widely anthologized and popular pieces of short fiction about the war in Vietnam, these works appear here for the first time in English. Other Moons offers Anglophone audiences an unparalleled opportunity to experience how the Vietnamese think and write about the conflict that consumed their country from 1954 to 1975--a perspective still largely missing from American narratives.

Review Quotes

Other Moons: Vietnamese Short Stories of the American War and Its Aftermath celebrates Vietnamese voices and gives English speaking audiences the opportunity to discover the Vietnamese perspective of the American War. This anthology proves how important translators are to the publishing industry and how necessary their work is.-- "Paperback Paris"

[A] necessary work that succeeds in enlarging the perspective of English-speaking audiences through diverse, well-chosen Vietnamese voices . . . Not only are the translations in Other Moons skilled and considered, they demonstrate the tremendous importance of translation in portraying the complexities of a conflict, its traumas, and its people.-- "Words Without Borders"

[This] accessible, entertaining and empathetic collection can be picked up by anyone that enjoys a good story or wants to be welcomed into the interior worlds of people who too rarely have their stories heard.-- "Saigoneer"

As 2020 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of US-Vietnam normalization, celebrating a strategic and comprehensive partnership between the two former foes, this collection of stories, rendered with sophisticated and evocative translations by Quan Manh Ha and Joseph Babcock, provides more complex narratives behind that glossy sheen of a pastless future.--Quynh H. Vo "Journal of Vietnamese Studies"

Provide[s] a first-hand insight into how the war was perceived, experienced and lived by Vietnamese people.-- "Asian Review of Books"

Unlike much of the large body of fiction from American writers that deals with what the Vietnamese call the "American War," these stories, most of which are set in rural areas of the country and feature humble characters, focus less on the experience of combat and more on its lingering effects in the national life . . . Readers seeking a broader perspective on Vietnam will find much of interest here.-- "Kirkus Reviews"

Other Moons makes widely read war fiction from Vietnam available in English translation for the first time. The stories offer a range of perspectives on the impact of the war, bridging the experiences of north and south, the home front and the battlefield, women and men, and even the living and the dead. This book will be welcomed by readers interested in how the war is remembered in Vietnam.--Kathlene Baldanza, Penn State University

A unique and deeply intimate portrait of human suffering and resilience through the somber accounts of a generation of Vietnam's most talented writers, Other Moons conveys both the complexity of a war that remains profoundly misunderstood and the creative diversity of Vietnamese literary styles that are often misread as one-dimensional.--Christina Schwenkel, author of The American War in Contemporary Vietnam: Transnational Remembrance and Representation

Long awaited in English, these stories are beautiful, nuanced translations from the Vietnamese side of the America-Vietnam War. One of the best collections I have read from postwar Vietnam, the stories illuminate the country's darkest period with humor, shock, and touching insights. Other Moons is a remarkable achievement. Highly recommended.--Andrew X. Pham, author of Catfish and Mandala.

About the Author

Quan Manh Ha is associate professor of American literature and ethnic studies at the University of Montana. His translations have previously appeared in Metamorphoses, CIRQUE, and the Southern Humanities Review, among others.

Joseph Babcock teaches writing at the University of San Diego. His work about Vietnam has appeared in the Daily Beast and the New York Times.