This novel takes place around the time of the Tet Offensive, launched by the Communists in January to February of 1968 at the height of US presence. Ahn Yong Kyu, a Korean corporal (later promoted to sergeant) is transferred from the front to the Department of Investigation, where he is to look into black market activities in Da Nang, South Vietnam’s principal military port. And yet, The Shadow of Arms is not a war novel. There are no combat scenes, save for the rare images that emerge from Yong Kyu’s memory. Rather, there are the strands of dense black market intrigue that weave together every actor in the conflict — the Americans, Vietnamese Saigon partisans, the Viet Cong, Koreans — through characters who, though perhaps emblematic of ideologies, are not without emotional depth, the complexity of life. Such as the two brothers who align themselves with opposing sides, Pham Quyen and Pham Minh, one of whom experiences the thrill of strategy, and the other, the loneliness of souls enamored of an ideal. And Toi, Yong Kyu’s Vietnamese friend; a mysterious man with a tragic fate. Also Hae Jong, the Korean seductress of questionable character. As for the character of Ahn Yong Kyu (in which we see Hwang Sok-yong’s own experience), his position as a foreigner — sure that he’ll forget everything upon his return — makes him at once both a part of the action and a distanced onlooker. Vietnam is a sinking ship, a shore you wash up on, wreck on, but not a harbor. Accounts of atrocities by the American army break up the narrative. There reigns a strange calm, the eye of the hurricane, perhaps. But this is also a world where people refuse to abandon their aspirations, to renounce dreams, deny emotion — a world brimming with humanity.
Back in Korea, Hwang Sok-yong was far from forgetting. He wrote several pieces (among them the story “Doe-Eyed,” which appeared in his collection The Road to Sampo) that show him grappling with the Vietnam War — a subject not usually written about in Korean literature; a war that generally escaped scrutiny. Then came the great work, this novel, The Shadow of Arms, in which he shrugs off the shadows of time — the alchemy of transforming the realness of reality into the realness of literature.
First appearing as a series in a monthly journal in 1983, and later as a single volume in 1985, Hwang Sok-yong’s novel was an act of courage in a Korea whose situation as a country divided is reminiscent of Vietnam’s. What’s more, the author’s implicit sympathy for the Viet Cong offended the dictatorial regime of Chun Doo-hwan, so much so that the second volume (from Chapter 22 on) had to await publication until Chun stepped down in 1988 and the ensuing period of relative freedom. The following year it received the Manhae Award, one of the most prestigious in Korean literature.
The author revised the text in 1992—and this is the text that has been translated into English, following the French edition, which was the first available in Europe.
C. W.
MAIN CHARACTERS
The Koreans
Ahn Yong Kyu, a Korean soldier at the heart of the investigation division of the American army.
Captain Kim, leader of the Korean unit.
The Staff Sergeant, member of the unit lead by Captain Kim. His trafficking of Korean beer angers the Americans army.
Oh Hae Jong, also called Mimi. She was an office employee in an American PX in Uijeongbu, in Korea, and lived successively with three American soldiers. She had a child with one of them. In Vietnam, she was fired from the post exchange (PX) where she worked, for dealing heroin. Through her relationship with Pham Quyen, she obtains Vietnamese nationality, her last chance to start her life over. They dream of saving enough money to move to Singapore or Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Group, the most influential group among Korean civilians dealing in the black market in Da Nang.
The Vietnamese
Pham Minh, a medical student at the University of Hue. He joins the National Liberation Front (NLF) and becomes a secret agent of the 434th special action group based in Da Nang.
Pham Quyen, Pham Minh’s older brother. Commander in the Vietnamese government’s army. Aide-de-camp of General Liam (governor of the Quang Nam province), he wields all the administrative power of the local government.
Chan Ti Shoan, the daughter of a civil servant. She is Pham Minh’s friend and a student in her final year at Pascal High School.
Lei, Pham Minh and Pham Quyen’s younger sister. She attends the same high school as Shoan, but is in her second-to-last year.
Mi, Pham Minh and Pham Quyen’s older sister. Following the death of her husband, a member of the NFL killed in combat, she lives at her mother’s house with her two children and depends financially on her brother, Pham Quyen.
Uncle Trinh, the former director of the Da Nang primary school. He exercised huge influence over the youngsters, teaching them the history of Vietnam. But having lost hope, he is now addicted to opium.
Nguyen Cuong, an important trader in the Le Loi market in Da Nang. He is a local government representative in all commercial transactions. With Pham Quyen, he plans to collect cinnamon on the high plateaus of central Vietnam and to market it.
Nguyen Thatch, Cuong’s younger brother. He studied at the University of Hue. He is a secret agent for the urban guerilla fighter movement of one of the NLF’s district commissions in Da Nang. His car repair shop is a front for his secret activity of supplying the NLF with weaponry.
Doctor Tran, the director of the Red Cross hospital. As a surgeon, he is used to comfort and luxury. He lives with his wife, Madame Hue, and their son Huan and daughter Phuoc, who is a friend of Shoan.
Old Man Hien, the owner of the Puohung House. He has a trading partnership with the Americans. He holds precious information on the rates of exchange of army currency and dollars, as well as on the different markets.
Lieutenant Kiem, Commander Pham’s aide-de-camp. He works in the administration of the local government. He is originally from the countryside, but is ambitious; he enlisted in the state army and was appointed officer.
Toi, originally from Da Nang. After having finished his military service in the state army, he started working for the Korean branch of the investigation division. He is a friend of Yong Kyu for whom he serves as a driver, interpreter, and assistant.
Madame Lin, from China, owner of the Sports Club. The wife of an Englishman born in Hong Kong, she is a close friend of Oh Hae Jong and knows how to treat American officers tactfully.
The Americans
Stapley, a sergeant at the Turen supply warehouse. Originally from New York, he dreams of writing comic books. After having been insubordinate, he chooses to go to Vietnam to avoid prison but he ends up deserting.
Leon, originally from Chicago, son of Italian immigrants, and obsessed with motorcycle racing. Employed at the Turen warehouse, he is the main supplier to Ahn Yong Kyu.
Krapensky, a commander in the Marines, leader of the investigation division. He previously served in Korea.
Lucas, a corporal in the Marines and a member of the investigation division. He studied at the center for Korean studies in Washington and Hawaii.
THE SHADOW OF ARMS
1
The heavy pounding from an M102 howitzer on the other side of the river never let up. White rays of a scorching sun enveloped the sandy terrain, the barbed wire, and the cactuses. The few clumps of jungle scattered about looked like they were floating, like ships on water. A narrow road flanked by sandbags and barbed wire wound its way around them, connecting the battalion and the troops. Shots — warnings fired from the watchtowers built at every traffic control post — rang out in the silence between the blasts.