John C. Schafer, Professor (Retired)
Humboldt State University, Arcata, California
I taught English for many years in various places: Nigus Tekle Haimonot High School in Debre Markos, Ethiopia; Winchester High School, in Winchester Massachusetts; Phan Chu Trinh High School in Đà nẵng, Vietnam; Huế University in Huế, Vietnam; Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana; Humboldt State University in Arcata, California; and, on a Fulbright grant, at Vietnam National University, Hanoi, College of Foreign Languages (Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội, Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ). At Humboldt State University I taught courses about the English language (phonetics, grammar) and about how to teach writing to native and non-native speakers of English. At HSU, however, I also taught a course called “Literature about the War in Vietnam” which included works by Americans and translations of works by Vietnamese writers. English majors at Humboldt State University were required to take a course in world literature, which usually meant a course in the Greek classics, Homer’s Illiad or Odyssey, or in French literature. One semester I taught a course, Modern Vietnamese Literature in Translation, which provided students with another option. Link to syllabus pdf for this course. The links to student papers and assigned articles are no longer active.
Before retiring I researched and wrote about teaching English to native speakers and to students learning English as a second language. Only in my spare time did I write about Vietnamese literature and culture. Since I retired in 2004, however, I have been writing about Vietnam. All the works listed on this webpage are about Vietnamese culture and history. Some articles have been translated into Vietnamese and two of my longer articles have been translated and printed as books. Here is a list with links to books and articles. After this list I have included some poems I wrote when I was teaching at the University of Huế during the war. In writing every work included here I have benefitted from feedback from my wife, Cao Thị Như Quỳnh.
Books and Articles
"TRỊNH CÔNG SƠN & BOB DYLAN ESSAYS ON WAR, LOVE, SONGWRITING, AND RELIGION" Published by The Press at Cal Poly Humboldt (2024).
Link to hard copy of book available online at Amazon.
Trịnh Công Sơn and Bob Dylan evaluates the relationship between two of the 20th century’s most beloved and essential songwriters, in the process illuminating Vietnamese and American views on spirituality, romance, philosophy, identity, and conflict.
Readers will find English translations of Trịnh Công Sơn’s essays and lyrics by Cao Thị Như Quỳnh, many here in translation for the very first time.
Schafer critically examines the singers’ lifestyles, relationships, and public statements, meticulously collecting primary and secondary sources into a handy reader of 20th century global literary culture.
Trịnh Công Sơn and Bob Dylan is an essential read for fans of Bob Dylan and Trịnh Công Sơn and a substantive addition to the libraries of comparative literature scholars.
Võ Phiến and the Sadness of Exile (Arcata, CA: Humboldt University Press, 2016.)
A hard copy of this book can be purchased or downloaded (the whole book or chapters) for free at:
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/monographs/2/
This is a second edition. The first edition was published in 2006 by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University, 2006. I have placed two chapters of this first edition on Humboldt State University’s Digital Scholar website: Chapter 1, "The Man from Bình Định," and Chapter 5, "An Exile in His Own Country." See the link below. The second edition can be purchased on Amazon.
Đọc Phạm Duy và Lê Vân: Tư Duy về Nam và Nữ Giới [Reading Phạm Duy and Lê Vân: Reflections on Gender] (Hồ Chí Minh City: Đại Học Hoa Sen, 2015), trans. Cao Thị Như Quỳnh and Nguyễn Trương Quí.
When I finished writing “The Curious Memoirs of the Vietnamese Composer Phạm Duy" and "Lê Vân and Notions of Vietnamese Womanhood" (both listed below) I decided to discuss Vietnamese attitudes toward gender drawing on these previously published accounts of the lives of the famous song composer Phạm Duy and the famous actress Lê Vân. This book is the result.
Cao Thị Như Quỳnh and Nguyễn Trương Quý were the translators.
"The Vietnamese Land Reform Program as Literary Theme." In Thirty Years After: New Essays on Vietnam War Literature, Film, and Other Arts. Ed. Mark Herberle. Newcastle on Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009. 180-214.
Image of the cover of the novel “Paradise of the Blind ” by Dương Thu Hương.
"The Trịnh Công Sơn Phenomenon." Journal of Asian Studies 66 (Aug., 2007): 597-643.
PDF version available online. A Vietnamese version,"Hiện tượng Trịnh Công Sơn," translated by Hoài Phi and Vy Huyền, appeared on the website Talawas in 2008.
Translation of the TCS phenomenon.pdf
Image of Trịnh Công Sơn.
“Bài Học Phật giáo và sự dung hóa văn hóa Đông-Tây” [Buddhist Lessons and the Reconciling of Two Cultures]. Văn Hóa Phật Giáo [Buddhist Culture], June 14, 2013.
This article, which has not been translated into English, is a transcript of an interview with Thầy Tâm Hải, a Buddhist monk, in 2013. In it my wife, Cao Thị Như Quỳnh, talks about how American culture has influenced her and I talk about how Vietnamese culture, particularly Buddhism, has influenced me.
When I went to Vietnam to teach English in 1968 I became fascinated by the songs of Trịnh Công Sơn. Buddhists say that there are thousands of gates to Buddhism (Tám vạn bốn ngàn nẻo đến với đạo Phật). I explain in this interview with Thầy Tâm Hải that Trịnh Công Sơn became one of those gates for me.
"Phan Nhật Nam and the Battle of An Lộc." Crossroads 13.2 (1999): 53-75.
This listing includes an introductory essay which provides background information on the battle of An Lộc and on Phan Nhật Nam, a war reporter Also included is "An Lộc, the Unquiet East," an excerpt from Phan Nhật Nam’s account of this battle that Cao Thị Như-Quỳnh and I translated into English. The introduction and the translated excerpt are in separate PDF files. See the links below.
Image of a map of the region where the Battle of An Lộc took place.
Vietnamese Perspectives on the War in Vietnam: An Annotated Bibliography of Works in English. Lạc Việt Series 17. New Haven, CT: Yale University Council on Southeast Asia Studies, 1997.
The entire book can be read online at Digital Commons, Humboldt State University:
"The Novel Emerges in Cochinchina." Co-authored with Thế Uyên. Journal of Asian Studies 52 (Nov., 1993): 854-884.
Vietnamese version: "Tiểu thuyết xuất hiện tại Nam Kỳ, Trans. by Cao Thị Như-Quỳnh and Thế Uyên. Văn Học [Literary Studies] 8 (August, 1994): 6-14. The same translation also appeared in Hợp Lưu [Convergence] 19 (Oct./Nov., 1994): 17-38.
Image of the cover of Hoàng-Tố-Anh Hàm-Oan (The Unjust Suffering of Hoàng-Tô-Anh.) Probably the first novel published in Vietnam, it was written by Trần Chánh Chiếu and published in 1910. (Trần Thiên Trung, the author listed on this book cover, is one of the pseudonyms used by Trần Chánh Chiếu).
"From Verse Narrative to Novel: The Development of Prose Fiction in Vietnam." Co-authored with Cao Thị Như-Quỳnh. Journal of Asian Studies 47 (Nov., 1988): 756-777.
Vietnamese version: "Từ truyện thơ đến tiểu thuyết Tố Tâm: sự phát triển của tiểu thuyết văn xuôi ở Viêt Nam." Trans. by Lê Minh Thắng. In Hoàng Ngọc Phách: Đường đời và đường văn [Hoàng Ngọc Phách: The Road of Life, The Road of Literature]. Ed. Nguyễn Huệ Chi. Hanoi: Văn Học, 1996. 627-660.
tu truyen tho den tieu thuyet.pdf
Image of the cover of a recent reprint of Hồ Biểu Chánh’s Ai Làm Được [Who Can Do It?].
List of Works Translated into Vietnamese
This List includes Vietnamese translations by Vietnamese scholars of works that I wrote or co-wrote in English and also translations of works written by Vietnamese writers that Cao Thị Như Quỳnh and I have translated into English.
“Death, Buddhism, and Existentialism in the Songs of Trịnh Công Sơn." Journal of Vietnamese Studies 2 (Winter, 2007): 144-186.
Vietnamese version translated by Vy Huyền: "Cái chết, Phật giáo và chủ nghĩa hiện sinh trong ca khúc Trịnh Công Sơn." Văn Hóa Dân Gian [Popular Culture] 6 (120) (2008): 51-75, 85.
Image of Trịnh Công Sơn performing.
Trịnh Công Sơn and Bob Dylan: Are They Like Trăng and Nguyệt?
“Trăng” is aVietnamese word for moon; “Nguyệt” is a Sino-Vietnamese word for moon. Vietnamese readers recognize “Trăng” and “Nguyệt” as a reference to a well-known song by Trịnh Công Sơn titled “Nguyệt ca” [Moon Song].
This book, published by Nhà Xuất Bản Trẻ (the Bản Trẻ Publishing Company) in Hồ Chí Minh City in 2012, is a translation by Cao Thị Như Quỳnh of some chapters of a longer work about Trịnh Công Sơn and Bob Dylan which I hope to publish (in English) soon.
"An Exciting Period for Vietnamese Literature." Trans. (with Cao Thị Như-Quỳnh) of "Một giai đoạn sôi động của văn xuôi Việt Nam" by Nguyên Ngọc. Journal of Vietnamese Studies 3 (Winter, 2008): 197-219.
Image of Nguyên Ngọc.
“The Trịnh Công Sơn Phenomenon." Journal of Asian Studies 66 (Aug., 2007): 597-643.
This is a Vietnamese translation by Hoài Phi and Vy Huyền of “The Trịnh Công Sơn Phenomenon" (See listing of English language version in “Books and Articles”.) This translation appeared on the website Talawas in 2008.
Image of Trịnh Công Sơn on the balcony of his home on Nguyễn Trường Tộ Street in Huế, circa 1969.
"An Lộc: The Unquiet East." A translation by Cao Thị Như-Quỳnh and John C. Schafer of excerpts from a war journal by Phan Nhật Nam entitled Mùa Hè Đỏ Lửa [Fiery Red Summer]. Crossroads 13.2 (1999): 77-102.
For information on Phan Nhật Nam and the important battle he describes, see "Phan Nhật Nam and the Battle of An Lộc" in list of publications.
Image of Phan Nhật Nam.
"It’s Nothing to Me." Translation of "Sống chết mặc bay" by Phạm Duy Tốn. Vietnam Forum 14 (1994): 125-130.
The translation of this short story "Sống chết mặc bay" [It’s Nothing to Me] by Phạm Duy Tốn is included at the end of the following article about Phạm Duy Tốn that is listed in the “Books and Articles Section”: "Phạm Duy Tốn: Journalist, Short Story Writer, Collector of Humorous Stories." It appears on pages 125-128 of this article.
Image of Phạm Duy Tốn.
"From Verse Narrative to Novel: The Development of Prose Fiction in Vietnam." Co-authored with Cao Thị Như-Quỳnh. Journal of Asian Studies 47 (Nov., 1988): 756-777.
Vietnamese version: "Từ truyện thơ đến tiểu thuyết Tố Tâm: sự phát triển của tiểu thuyết văn xuôi ở Viêt Nam." Trans. by Lê Minh Thắng. In Hoàng Ngọc Phách: Đường đời và đường văn [Hoàng Ngọc Phách: The Road of Life, The Road of Literature]. Ed. Nguyễn Huệ Chi. Hanoi: Văn Học, 1996. 627-660.
Image of Hoàng Ngọc Phách’s novel Tố Tâm (Pure Heart).
The Novel Emerges in Cochinchina." Co-authored with Thế Uyên. Journal of Asian Studies 52 (Nov., 1993): 854-884.
Vietnamese version: "Tiểu thuyết xuất hiện tại Nam Kỳ, Trans. by Cao Thị Như-Quỳnh and Thế Uyên. Văn Học [Literary Studies] 8 (August, 1994): 6-14. The same translation also appeared in Hợp Lưu [Convergence] 19 (Oct./Nov., 1994): 17-38.
Image of the cover of a reprint of Một Chữ Tình [A Little Love], an early novel by Hồ Biểu Chánh that was first published in 1923.
Poems
When I was teaching in Đà nẵng and Huế under the auspices of International Voluntary Services I wrote poems, some of which I submitted to the IVS newsletter. The quality is not great, only “Battle Lines” was published—in Demilitarized Zones, ed. Jan Barry and W. D. Ehrhart, eds, East River Anthology, 1976. These poems do, however, convey my mood and thinking at the time.