CollaborateurversusAbstentioniste (Tu'ờng versus Trị): a political polemic in poetic dialogue during the French acquisition of southern Việt-Nam

Abstract

Poetry has traditionally been the major vehicle of literary expression in Việt-Nam. It has also been the principal means for the presentation of educational, social, political and other information, hence one may say that among its purposes it was, and is, used for the exhortation of patriotic, nationalist spirit, the warning to outsiders of the seriousness of consequence if they intruded and, during periods of unwanted foreign presence or, even worse, of foreign dominance, it was used for the expression of all varieties of political opinion.