Nam Cao

Trần Hữu Tri (b. October 29, 1915 in Hà Nam province - November 30, 1951), commonly known by his pen name Nam Cao, was a famous Vietnamese short story writer and novelist. His works generally received high acclaim from critics for their thoughtful description and veracious, poignant reflection of the society in the 1945 era. His works became prominently known after the birth of the short story “Chí Phèo” in 1941, which reaches the zenith of success in his career. Portions of "Chí Phèo" and other works of his are currently taught in Vietnamese textbooks. Nam Cao was born to a poor farming family, and was the only child who received a full education. After finishing high school, he headed to Saigon to work as a clerk in a tailor’s; his first works were written during this time. Not long after that, he worked as a teacher at Công Thành, a private school in Hanoi, to earn his living while cultivating knowledge and experience to nourish his writing career. However, as Japan sent military troops to the area, the school was soon closed to be used as a rice barn for Japanese soldiers, resulting in his unemployment. Nam Cao lived an arduous life, making both ends meet by home tutoring and writing for some newspapers until 1943 when he became a member of Hội văn hóa cứu quốc (The Cultural Association for National Salvation), a position that made him become the target of constant persecution. Aware of the danger, he came back to his hometown and joined the armed forces to overthrow the then administration. During that time, he was elected the first president of Lý Nhân District. However, he left the post after a few months and was dispatched to several areas around the country from 1946 to 1951, then worked as an editor for Cứu quốc (National Salvation) and Văn nghệ (Literature & Arts) newspapers in the Việt Bắc area. Many of his works were written during this time, notably Đôi mắt (The Eyes) (1950), the diary Ở rừng (Living in the Forest) (1948) and the memoir Chuyện biên giới (Story in the Frontier) (1948) which garnered extensive praise. He died in a mission in Ninh Bình Province, age 36.