Hervey opened the door to the way we would be seeing Indochina—on the page and in our heads—well into the 21st century. He always makes the reader aware that, just beneath the gossamer delicacy of the culture he’s describing, is something hard as steel: Thi-Linh sinks her nails into one French cheek until she draws blood…. “My deepest astonishment came with seeing how much Congai anticipates perhaps the greatest and most evergreen foreign novel about modern Vietnam, The Quiet American, by Graham Greene. Almost ninety years later, even in his wildest moments, Hervey caught something true that those of us more than twice his age can only bow before.
Congaï : Mistress of Indochine
Summary:
- Author (s):
- Harry Hervey (Author),
Kent Davis (Editor),
Pico Iyer (Foreword) - Release:
- 2014
- Category:
- Books
- Order a Copy:
- From Amazon →
Early 20th century French Indochina: a place where the cultures, passions and blood of East and West mixed freely. In 1925, American author Harry Hervey saw white men “sowing the legend of Civilization in soil too fecund to resist any new growth,” inspiring his most vivid novel. In a tale drunk with sensuous beauty, irony and dark intensity, we experience the life of one young girl—a congai—named Thi-Linh.
Born of an Annamite mother and French father, Thi-Linh—a creature of fragile beauty and savage instinct—embodies the dreams, ambitions and future of Indochina, where two disparate races struggled to become one.
This expanded modern edition features a provocative foreword by renowned travel writer Pico Iyer; biographer Harlan Greene’s author profile, “Through a Woman’s Eyes: Congai, Heroines & Harry Hervey”; supplemental articles and a bibliography of Hervey’s complete works.
The book is also the basis of the successful Broadway play of the same name, co-written with Carleton Hildreth, that cast Helen Menken (Humphrey Bogart’s first wife) in the starring role.
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If you come to Indochina to know it, then become intoxicated with it—and the surest draught is a woman…. The congai, she is our symbol—the symbol of the ability of the Frenchman to mingle with the natives, whereas the Englishman only conquers them.
If I have ever lived before, I have lived a thousand times, I have been a thousand courtesans, a thousand nuns; giving body, giving soul. Tonight I can feel men within me. What am I?
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[tab title=”From the original Congai (1927) Book Jacket”] “As the cultures of East and West mixed in French colonial Indochina, so too did the passions of these two disparate races. Métissage is the French term for the often unfortunate children born of this mixed blood.
This is the story of a young girl—a congai—named Thi-Linh, a creature of fragile beauty and savage instinct born to an Annamite mother, who aspires to attain the sophisticated life of her French father.
Harry Hervey’s 1927 tale of a young girl—a congai—named Thi-Linh is drunk with sensuous beauty, irony and dark intensity.
Thi-Linh is a creature of fragile beauty and savage instinct born to an Annamite mother, who aspires to attain the sophisticated life of her French father.
This, Mr. Hervey’s latest and most vivid novel, is the unfolding of her contact with the West in a land where, to quote the author, “white men sowed the legend of Civilization in…soil too fecund to resist any new growth.” But it is more than the story of a woman; it is the story of a country — Indo-China, where France mingles with Asia in a scene of throbbing color.” [/tab]
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Other Releases
The Cosmopolitan Book Co. (New York) • 1927
Grosset And Dunlap • 1927
Thornton Butterworth (London) • 1928
Taylor & Francis • 1928
Resources
Gender as Colonial Exploitation in French Indochina: Concubines in Selected Pre-1965 Novels Published in or Translated to English (A study by Walter Jones – PDF)
Congai – A Broadway Play (On IBDB)
Playbill of the original Congai play (On Playbillvault)
Readers’ Reviews on Amazon (Reviews)
Book cover images: Front, Back (JPG)