Chế Lan Viên

Chế Lan Viên (January 14, 1920 – June 24, 1989) was a Vietnamese poet. He was born Phan Ngọc Hoan, in Đông Hà, in Central Vietnam. He grew up in Quy Nhơn further south, and started writing poetry at an early age. His first collection, published when he was seventeen, gained him notice as a poet of original, if morose, sensibilities. He participated in the events of the August Revolution of 1945, in the Quy Nhơn area. Afterwards, he wrote for a number of journals, including Quyết Thắng (Resolve to Win) in support of the Việt Minh's movement against French rule.
After the Geneva Agreements of 1954, Chế Lan Viên returned to Hà Nội, taking on responsibilities as a leading member of the Writers' Association of Viet Nam (Hội Nhà Văn Việt Nam).
After the fall of South Vietnam in 1975, Chế Lan Viên lived and worked in Hồ Chí Minh City (formerly Sài Gòn). A prolific writer, he remained active in the literary scene, producing poetry, essays, memoirs, and commentary and criticism until his death in 1989. He was married to the novelist, Vũ Thị Thường; their daughter, Phan Thi Vang-Anh, is a writer as well.

Chế Lan Viên was associated with the Bình Định Group of poets, whose other members were Quách Tấn, Hàn Mặc Tử, and Yến Lan. The preface to his first collection, Điêu Tàn, was also a statement of the aesthetics of the "Disordered" (Loạn), also known as "Mad" (Điên), school of poetry. The poems in that volume are marked by ghastly, even demonic, subjects and imagery. Chế Lan Viên was ethnic Chàm (or Giao Chỉ) by birth, and the ruins referred to in the title are those of the extinct Chàm Kingdom. The poems are haunted by catastrophe, by death and killings, and by memories of a lost past.

His poetry during the war period was highly journalistic and heavily colored with nationalist sentiments. After the war, his writings reflected a return to normalcy, remembering the past and commenting on the realities of everyday living.