Since relations between the U.S. and Vietnam have normalized, many more people are traveling to this exotic country, previously closed to a generation of Western visitors. Vietnam provides one of the first chances for Americans to know the Vietnamese outside the context of war. Vietnamese have been telling stories for thousands of years, in poetry and in song, in Chinese script and then in Vietnamese nom, and more recently, in novels and short stories. These 17 stories, from contemporary Vietnamese writers living in Vietnam and abroad, take the literary traveler to extraordinary places: from the jungle-clad mountain ranges of the North to the mysterious silence of the old capital along the Perfume River. Travel to the raucous mayhem of Saigon where youngsters still circle the downtown in motorcycle promenades and where the reopened bars, caught in a time warp, play old Creedence Clearwater and Carlos Santana songs. Proximity of the spirit world, love of family, exhaustion from war, one's Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist obligations, social protest, and the hunger for a better life - these are some of the concerns to be encountered in these thrilling landscapes.

Table of Contents
"Jungles: "
Nguyen Huy Thiep "Salt of the Jungle"
Duong Thu Huong "The Shelter"
"Hanoi: "
Pham Thi Hoai "The Saigon Tailor Shop"
Ho Anh Thai "The Goat Meat Special"
Le Minh Khue "A Small Tragedy"
"Rivers: "
Nguyen Huy Thiep "Crossing the River"
Doan Quoc Sy "The Stranded Fish"
Bao Ninh "A River's Mystery"
"Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon): "
Nguyen Qui Duc "The Color of Sorrow"
"Dalat: "
Andrew Q. Lam "Dark Wood and Shadows"
"Villages: "
Nguyen Huy Thiep"Remembrance of the Countryside"
Thich Duc Thien "The Colonel"
Vu Bao "How Long until the End of Bitterness?"
"Remembrance: "
Linh Bao "Dresses, Dresses"
Nguyen Huy Thiep "Fired Gold"
Quy The "Scent of the Tiger"
Nguyen Ba Trac "The White Horse"