Cultural Policies and Literary Legacies of Vietnamese Renovation

Abstract

This article examines the đổi mới (renovation) process in Vietnam from the lens of literature. Đổi mới represented a critical milestone in the modern history of Vietnam that marked a fundamental turning point in the development of Vietnamese literature, culture and art, paving the way to a rethinking of cultural policies and enabling Vietnamese literature to break free from its enslavement to politics. This article contextualizes the renovation and delineates the principal cultural policies governing Vietnamese literature in the 1986-91 period. It pays special attention to one of the most prominent representatives of renovation literature, the writer Nguyễn Huy Thiệp.