A novel by Ngo The Vinh
| THE GREEN BELT 1 2 3 |
REVIEWS - page 3 |
A recent event in Vietnam makes this novel a particularly relevant and interesting reading. Last month, a group of Montagnards, probably with the encouragement and incitement of an anti-Vietnam group in the US, took to the street to demand an independent State within Vietnam. The unrest has attracted attention from the Western press for generating a news item, but it in fact reflects a rather complex and occasionally troublesome relationship between the Montagnard and the Vietnamese government. Any government, not just the present government, I should add. Like a number of previous attempts, the unrest did nothing to improve the relationship, and did not bring any productive outcome, but only added to a long and seemingly deep rooted tension between the Montagnard and the Government. This novel is a timely reminder of that tension because, via the language of literature, it helps extricate the historical complex relationship, and by perhaps design, helps explain the present situation.
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A few lines of background may bring this work into a clearer perspective. Probably not well appreciated in the West, the Nation of Vietnam is a community of more than 50 peoples of various ethnicities; of which, the Kinh is the dominant ethnic group, accounting for more than 90% of the Vietnamese population. While the Kinh mainly live in lowland and coastal areas, the minor ethnicities, including the Thuong (often known in the West as the Montagnard), live in highland regions. They are euphemistically known as the sons and daughters of mountains and forests. |
Dr. Nguyen Van Tuan |
The Green Belt is not just the title of this novel; it is a military idea. The idea was born during the Cold War era from the Pentagon. The novel, through its characters, suggests that during the Cold War period, in an effort to contain the worldwide spread of communism, the Pentagon had created an army known as the Green Berets, whose mission was to infiltrate ethnic communities in highland regions around the world, including Vietnam, to organize and to teach them the art of warfare. In Vietnam, the U.S Military’s underlying strategic thinking was to train and use the Montagnard as a formidable army for thwarting the inflow of North Vietnamese communist force to the South. In euphemistic words, they wanted to create a Green Belt perimeter to contain the communist force.
On the other hand, the Montagnard thought that by leaning toward the Americans, they would have an opportunity to realize their long-term aim of creating an independent state within Vietnam. In fact, it can be argued that the creation of the Green Belt is also the formation of a Brown Belt which could, in effect, contain the existence of Vietnam.
The Green Belt is a military experiment. And, the Central Highlands of Vietnam were collectively to become a primary setting for the experiment. Like any experiment, there are two aspects of outcome: success and failure. The U.S had somewhat succeeded, but for a very short time, in its objective, but the consequence of failure was borne by the Montagnard, partly because the American military had forgotten them. The American interests were not and are not necessarily congruent with the Montagnard’s interests. That is also the tragedy of being too dependent on a foreign power. The Green Belt is about that tragedy.
In the novel, the author, Ngo The Vinh, narrates the story of a young Vietnamese journalist who had been dispatched to the Central Highlands, and during his stay in the region, he had encountered and discovered the apparent conflict between the Montagnard and the Vietnamese government. The journalist character in the novel takes readers through a long and delicate journey to the formation of the Green Belt. During the journey of words, the author paints a lively picture of social life, forgotten tradition, and the beautiful scenery of the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
In a sense, the work may be regarded as a work historicity. The historicity of this work is shown in its derivation of the individuality of characters from the historical peculiarities: a Vietnamese general, a male Montgnard nurse, an American advisor, a young journalist, etc., collectively weave a fictional characterization that is not much removed from the reality. Readers who are familiar with the Vietnam war will find it hard to draw a distinction between fiction and reality, because, for example, some of the novel’s characters’ names are, in fact, the names of some Vietnamese generals who commanded armed forces in the Central Highlands during the war. As the reality seeps into the novel, it becomes transformed into something else, something that I would like to call a reality-in-the-novel.
In the novel, a complex of circumstances often emerges as a cross-section of time across the passage of the Vietnam war. As a result, it touches on the politics of a distant past which readers can grasp in a relaxed fashion. But like any novel that evokes our deepest biases, The Green Belt can potentially make the act of reading into a moral risk, entailing what might be called a problem of belief. Consequently, readers with strong political inclination are likely to find that in responding to this novel, it is all but impossible to separate ideological sentiments from literary judgments, for readers may be exposed to a whole passion, with a rush of feeling and idea that is stronger than any recognition of the book’s local verisimilitude.
If there are aspects for criticism, I would say that this novel contains a rather strong political historical inclination. Readers will be faced with the delicate problem of balancing political rhetoric and imaginative presentation. After reading the book, it may even leave readers with a quarrel over the validity of the images, or the facts created or narrated by the author. For instance, I find the claim (in the words of an American missionary) that, “It is curious, however, that Vietnamese appears to be very sensitive to racial issues like the problems between blacks and white in the United States, yet they themselves seem not to realize a similar mark of shame right in their nation, where there is no shortage of ugly oppression” (page 11), too simplistic and less than accurate. There might have been oppression, but Vietnamese, in general, do not hold the kind of racial hatred to the degree that has been held by the white Americans. Although such a comparison may appeal to some average casual readers, it can hardly be worth a mention from serious readers, because the comparison itself is a fallacy. Therefore, the novel can stir deep passion, and this makes a pure or disinterested literary judgment very difficult.
Although the novel is about the involvement and tragedy of the Montagnard during the Vietnam war, its sonnet has a tradition of a fictional work. Interspersed with vigettes about the reality of the war and the Thuong is a love story between the journalist character and a middle-class, Western-educated and highly urbanized girl named Nhu Nguyen. The love story is told in a poetic and symbolic language, typical of Vietnamese literature.
Which brings me to the point about the Vietnamese literature. Largely unknown to the Western world, Vietnam has a long tradition of fine literature and arts that has spanned more than one thousand years. With the Romanization of the Vietnamese language, Vietnamese writings have exploded particularly since early 20th century. This work of Ngo The Vinh, although modest in its own genre, is a rich contribution to the Vietnamese literature in English.
The author, Ngo The Vinh, is a quiet achiever. Ngo’s works of letters are like a Montagnard growing his crop in the mountain. Patient. Calm. Determined. Steady. Those are personal characteristics of Ngo. He is a atypical writer in his generation who has continually and silently contributed to the enrichment of a forgotten war and the forgotten Thuong in Vietnam. Without personally knowing Ngo, reading his letters one can still guess his character. Ngo’s most engaging feature in the novel is not just its list of characters, but his gentle and earnest words.
The Green Belt is actually also a work of translation. The original Vietnamese version of this novel was published in 1971, at the time the Vietnam war was at its peak. The translation was undertaken by Ton Nu Nha Trang, and her husband, William L. Pensinger, who are both specialists in Vietnamese literature. By and large, to the credit of Nha Trang and Pensinger, the translation was excellent. Although most of the English expressions are clear (very clear, in fact), they lack a literary style of a work of letters. Also, the English version sometimes lacks a typical empathetic Vietnamese writing, and as a result, it does not fully convey to Vietnamese readers a sense of compassionate proximity
The work itself is a cultural contribution. Here, I must make an important note that the Thuong is genetically one of the oldest peoples in Southeast Asia. And, the Southeast Asia region is considered one of the great centers (or perhaps the greatest center) of ancient civilization. Despite the significance, works of literature focusing on the Thuong are still very scarce, and The Green Belt is therefore a welcome contribution toward a better understanding of the neglected people.
If you want to learn more about another less well-known American military involvement in Vietnam, I strongly recommend you get hold of a copy of this novel. If you are interested in modern fine Vietnamese literature, this novel should help you to have a glimpse of Vietnamese belle lettres.
Dr. Nguyen Van Tuan,
Garvan Institute of
Medical Research-Sydney,
Australia
Dr. Nguyen Van Tuan
is a
Vietnamese Australian academic, whose research interests, among
others, focus on the genetics of the Vietnamese population.
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