''The Vietnamese Gulag'' is the autobiography of the Vietnamese pro-democracy activist

Doan Van Toai Doan is a surname commonly found in North America, Europe, and Vietnam. American and European surname In North America and Europe, the surname "Doan" is a variation of Done, Donn, Donne, Doane, and Doune, among others. Notable people from Nort ...

. The book focuses specifically on his arrest and imprisonment by the Communist Vietnamese government, events which precipitated a change in his political belief from lukewarm

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to advocate of

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

. Writing in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Robert Shaplan said that the book "is reminiscent, at its best, of

E. E. Cummings Edward Estlin Cummings, who was also known as E. E. Cummings, e. e. cummings and e e cummings (October 14, 1894 - September 3, 1962), was an American poet, painter, essayist, author and playwright. He wrote approximately 2,900 poems, two autobi ...

's '' Enormous Room'' and

Arthur Koestler Arthur Koestler, (, ; ; hu, Kösztler Artúr; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was a Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest and, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. In 1931, Koestler join ...

's ''

Darkness at Noon ''Darkness at Noon'' (german: link=no, Sonnenfinsternis) is a novel by Hungarian-born novelist Arthur Koestler, first published in 1940. His best known work, it is the tale of Rubashov, an Old Bolshevik who is arrested, imprisoned, and tried f ...

.''" Shaplan also notes that the book's "value derives from

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having been one of the first Vietnamese to write effectively of his experience, and to describe what he calls 'the method of the betrayal' of his revolutionary hopes and ideals." John P Roche, who reviewed the book for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', called the narrative "moving" and "written with a striking lack of self-pity". ''The Vietnamese Gulag'' was originally written in French (''Le Goulag Vietnamien'') and published in 1979. A German translation followed in 1980.''Der Vietnamesische Gulag'' The English translation was published in 1986 and generally met with critical approval.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vietnamese Gulag Vietnamese migration Vietnamese refugees Political repression in Vietnam 1986 non-fiction books Memoirs of imprisonment 1979 non-fiction books Refugee memoirs

See also

References