''The Immolation'' is the second

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

Goh Poh Seng Goh Poh Seng ( zh, c=吴宝星, t=吳寶星, p=Wú Bǎo Xīng; July 1936 – 10 January 2010) was a Singaporean dramatist, novelist, doctor and poet, was born in Kuala Lumpur, British Malaya in 1936. He was educated at Victoria Institution in Kua ...

, a playwright, poet and novelist who was also a practising doctor. The book was first published by Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) in 1977 under the

Writing in Asia Series Writing in Asia Series was a series of books of Asian writing published from 1966 to 1996 by Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd (often referred to as Heinemann Asia), a subsidiary of Heinemann (book publisher), Heinemann, London. Initiated and m ...

and republished by

Epigram Books Epigram Books is an independent publishing company in Singapore. It publishes works of Singapore-based writers, poets and playwrights. History Epigram was founded in 1991 by Edmund Wee as a design agency. Epigram began the publishing and d ...

in 2011 under the Singapore Classics Series. It concerns freedom fighters in an unnamed

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

n country, which can be inferred from the novel to be

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

Plot summary

The novel traces the resistance movement of a group of freedom fighters who are watched by secret police at the capital, and who later migrated to the northern provinces of their country (Vietnam during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

) to continue their struggles against foreign invaders. The most prominent of these is the protagonist Tranh. The immolation of the title refers to the self-immolation act practised by young

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

monk Tran Kim at the start of the novel, as a form of silent protest against the government.

References

1977 novels Singaporean novels Novels set in Vietnam Novels set during the Vietnam War {{VietnamWar-novel-stub