Making a Whore

Vũ Trọng Phụng

Illustrated by Nguyễn Thanh Vũ

Translated by Đinh Ngọc Mai

Dương Mạnh Hùng (editor), Alina Martin (editor), Samuel Tan (editor)

Major Books

Paperback

219pp

ISBN: 9781917233026

Fiction

Publication date: 18 November 2024

Rights: World

£11.99

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Heavily criticised upon publication and subsequently censored by the government, Making a Whore serves as a poignant defence for Huyền, its protagonist, deemed tainted by debauchery. With his uniquely satirical and irreverent tone, Vũ Trọng Phụng sharply exposes societal norms.

This long-awaited translation introduces English-speaking readers to a bold and influential voice, offering a unique window into a tumultuous period of history.

The novel follows the life of Huyền, a young woman born into Hà Nội’s upper-class, whose innocent interest in her mother’s pregnancy is kept at arm’s length: ‘You’ll find out when you get married’, so they say. Lacking sexual education from her family, Huyền turns to her peers for answers, opening up a world of childish whispers about physical pleasure.

As polite society demands Huyền to remain virtuous, she enters into adulthood with both the will to know and the will to suppress a young woman’s burning physical desires. The torments of her sexual frustration spiral Huyền into a life of debauchery, one she might not ever want to turn back from.