| Subject: VN writer’s gay crime novel wins literary applause |
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Date Posted: Thu, Sep 25 2003, 0:14:59
Wednesday, August 21, 2002
VN writer’s gay crime novel wins literary applause
HCM CITY — A novel about the lives of gay men in Viet Nam has taken readers by surprise for its sensitive theme, and also taken out first prize in the For The Nation’s Peace and Safety writing competition.
Mot The Gioi Khong Co Dan Ba (A World Without Women), written by former crime journalist Bui Anh Tan, won the competition organised by the Ministry of Public Security and the Viet Nam Writers Association.
"When I finished the novel and asked my friends to read it, they said it had a strange theme that had not been written about by anyone. I wasn’t confident when I entered it in the contest, and so I was very surprised to win such a high prize," Tan says.
A World Without Women is written as a criminal case but does not follow the normal route from the investigation’s beginning to its end.
Instead, Tan found his own way of telling the story so he could shed light on social issues and convey human characteristics.
"I wrote about the world of gays, but it is not merely about the love between two gay men," Tan says.
The author says he wants the readers to understand more about gay people, to sympathise with them and share in their lives.
"No one wants to be born like that. There are many theories about homosexuality from all sorts of different angles, but everyone is different and it’s not always a choice.
"Therefore, other people should not look down on gay people, avoid them or drive them away," Tan says.
Tan, 37, has worked in the police field for nearly 20 years. After graduating from the HCM City Law University, he first worked at a newspaper in Dong Nai Province.
He later returned to university to study journalism, and worked at the Cong An Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh (HCM City Police) newspaper. He now works for HCM City Police’s Ideology and Culture Department.
Since Tan completed A World Without Women in 2000, he has written three more novels.
"When I first met gay people through my work four or five years ago, I asked myself what they were about," Tan says.
"I first entered their world to write my reports. Later I discovered there was more than the cliches about gay men, that there is a whole colourful world with tragic and humorous angles," he says.
"It took me two years of research before I started writing the novel in 1999."
Tan’s hard work was paid off when he received the competition’s VND15 million (about US$1,000) in prize money.
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