This diary is the account of Dang Thuy Tram, a young, 24-year-old doctor, working with the National Liberation Front at a battlefield hospital during the war in Vietnam. Written between the years of 1968 to 1970, it details the dangers and hardships of the war from first-hand experience. The diary is filled with Dang Thuy Tram's thoughts and feelings as she works to save the lives of the wounded while also worrying about her own family. Although a translation, the insights she shares in her diary are nevertheless touching and enduring.
As stated in the introduction, "Dr. Tram wrote her diaries under extreme duress...in battle trenches, bomb shelters, and triages, and in wards filled with dying patients. Through destruction, hunger, extreme fatigue, loneliness, and psychological trauma, this remarkable young woman still had the presence to reach for the literary and the sublime."
Eventually, this young woman's dream of peace and independence was realized, but not during her short lifetime. She died in 1970, gunned down by an American platoon as she walked along a jungle trail. Her most heartfelt wish to be reunited with her family was never realized.
No comments:
Post a Comment