The City in the Post-1975 Vietnamese Literature

Abstract

This article focuses on how the city is portrayed in the post-1975 literature. The post-1975 period is a transitional period between the decline of the Socialist economic model on the one hand and the growth of industrialization and a market economy on the other. The local village is now exposed to the outside world by urbanization and industrial growth. Post-1975 literature reveals not only the classic conflict between the rural and urban areas, but also between the local traditions and new values brought into villages by industrialization and consumerism. These works also reflect the social transformation from peasant guerrilla culture into the urban capitalist development. But besides challenging local village traditions, urbanization and industrial development can be seen as a threatening force to the loss of village’s local tradition.