40 Men and 12 Rifles
Indochina 1954
By the author of Such a Lovely Little War and Saigon Calling, a stirring graphic novel about love, beauty, and war in 1950s Indochina.
40 Men and 12 Rifles is an expansive, gripping graphic novel set in Indochina in the year leading up to 1954, when the French-held garrison at Dien Bien Phu fell after a four-month battle, leading to the end of the first Indochina war between French forces and Ho Chi Minh's nationalist rebels. Minh (no relation to Ho) is a young man from Hanoi, an aspiring painter who dreams of experiencing la vie boheme in Paris's Latin Quarter. To dissuade him from pursuing an artistic life, his father sends him into the countryside to tend to the family's holdings. He is soon pressed into serving with the Ho Chi Minh rebels, where he becomes a soldier despite repeatedly defying his cadres — ideological Communist commanders with whom he disagrees — becoming both hero and anti-hero in the process.
40 Men and 12 Rifles is a moving and beautifully illustrated book about the human and artistic spirit of the Indochinese people who persevered in the face of warfare and suffering.
'With a style close to ‘poetic realism,’ Truong brilliantly succeeds in his great leap into fiction, while reconciling the precision of historical narrative.' ― Le Telegramme
'The story, drawing, details, and authenticity of the entire book is remarkable and will be considered a milestone.' ― Ligne Claire
'Marcelino Truong’s graphic novel is a work of genius, with striking and cleverly constructed graphics, compelling dialogue and brilliant anecdotes. A real pleasure to read, and destined to become a classic.' ― L’Histoire
Marcelino Truong is a French Vietnamese painter, illustrator, and author whose previous books include Such a Lovely Little War: Saigon 1961–63 and Saigon Calling: London 1963–75. Born in 1957, the son of a Vietnamese diplomat in the Philippines, he and his family moved to the US and then to Vietnam at the outset of the war. He attended the French Lycée in London, then moved to Paris, where he earned degrees in law at the Paris Institute of Political Studies and in English literature at the Sorbonne. He lives in St-Malo, France.
David Homel (translator) is a writer, journalist, filmmaker, and translator, and the author of nine novels. He has translated many French-language books into English and is a two-time recipient of the Governor General's Literary Award for Translation. He lives in Montreal.
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