"Drifting" Lives in the Short Story Collection of Nguyen Ngoc Tu

In November, Tre Publishing House released the book Drifting by writer Nguyen Ngoc Tu.

The work is a collection of 13 short stories, telling about the lives of people drifting in life, including: Dreaming of people, Between here and there, The beginning of the wind, Faraway hunger, Swinging in a cocoon, Drifting, Cold fire in the sky, Between this material, Debt, Waiting, By the door, Chlorophyll rain, Towards nowhere.

According to the author, lives drift, but are stuck somewhere, at the same time. They untie but also tie. They seek freedom, letting go of places, of harsh realities, of joys and sorrows, but how can they escape the siege of the horizon.

With Troi, with his rare storytelling talent, Nguyen Ngoc Tu opened up an uncertain world with people trying to hold on to something, while also wanting to escape it, in their seemingly endless drifting journey.

Readers can easily find empathy with each character, as if they are a part of each of us. And that person is described as an aimless wandering object - always in a state of struggling to explain and clarify what they have lost.

Những phận đời Trôi trong tập truyện ngắn của Nguyễn Ngọc Tư - 1 — Cover of the book "Drifting" by writer Nguyen Ngoc Tu (Photo: Tre Publishing House).

In the journey drifting along their own orbits, these objects brush past each other, unconsciously stirring up human warmth, evoking the feeling of beauty held in hand, always at risk of disintegration.

After all, are human connections strong enough to keep each soul adrift forever?

" I'd rather drift alone. But what's left of the decaying island is not much. A few roofs loom above the water, a few jars, and strips of land wide enough for a person to sit on, drifting listlessly in the distance. Finally, a piece of land drifts close, just as it shudders and splits in two.

In the maze of water, I had no idea where I was going. There were no shores to guide me. Everywhere I looked, I could only see water and foam, and floating matter.

Now everyone goes their own way", excerpt from the work.

Nguyen Ngoc Tu, 47 years old, lives in Ca Mau .

Representative works: The lamp that never goes out, Endless fields, Loving the person waiting for the mountain, Nguyen Ngoc Tu's miscellaneous works, New Year's Eve, Lonely wind and 9 other stories, River, Island, Measuring the heart, No one crosses the river, The neck of the person is cold, The smoke of the sky is splendid, Empty luggage, Drying hands in cold smoke, Drifting.

The short story collection Endless Field (2005) received an award from the Vietnam Writers Association in 2006 and the short story of the same name was adapted into a movie in 2010.

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