Nguyen Huy Thiep, one of Vietnam's foremost and most controversial contemporary authors, has developed a stunning literary reputation both at home and abroad. He captures the emotional quality of Vietnamese life in a way that no other author has done. Yet his stories are universal, plumbing the human psyche in both the realistic tales and the fables. Thiep takes his place among such giants as Dostoyevsky and Faulkner who explore the human condition with unfailing insight and uncompromising artistic integrity.