Full Description
Memoirs of Phạm Duy, A Vietnamese Musician in a Turbulent Century tells the story of the triumphs, scandals, and adventures of Vietnam's most prolific songwriter. Born in 1921, Phạm Duy came of age during colonial rule, joined the anti-French resistance, and later became a major voice of the southern Republic before coming to the United States as an exile after 1975. This four-volume memoir, translated into English by Eric Henry with clarity and care, spans a century of Vietnamese history as lived, sung, and questioned by an unrelenting truthteller dedicated to freedom of expression.
Henry's nuanced translation captures the complexities of a life lived across regimes, ideologies, and continents. Throughout Memoirs of Phạm Duy, A Vietnamese Musician in a Turbulent Century, readers encounter vivid recollections of artists, revolutionaries, exiles, and everyday life - offering an intimate view into the intersections of politics, culture, and personal memory in Vietnam's turbulent twentieth century. The result is a rare cultural archive, rich with song lyrics, political critique, and reflections on identity, exile, and artistic expression.
At once deeply personal and historically expansive, this memoir is an essential record of modern Vietnam and its global resonances.
Contents
Translator's Introduction
Author's Introduction to Volume 1
1. I Am Born
2. Our Neighborhood in Hanoi
3. My Father
4. My Mother
5. Early Activities and Impressions
6. School
7. Fads and Fashion
8. The Musical Scene in the 1930s
9. Love
10. At Blocklauss Nord
11. Trade School
12. Life in Hanoi
13. Moncay
14. Fine Arts School
15. Hýng Yên
16. Yên Th
17. I Join an Opera Troupe
18. I Meet Văn Cao
19. Nam Đnh
20. Ngh An
21. Hu
22. à Nng and Hi An
23. Qung Ngãi and Quí Nhõn
24. Phan Rang and à Lạt
25. Phan Thit
26. Saigon
27. The Mekong Delta
Reverie in Cà Mâu
