Culturalist Hữu Ngọc passed away on May 2, 2025, during the 50th anniversary of Vietnam’s reunification—a fitting farewell for someone who spent a lifetime connecting Vietnam with the world.
Despite authoring and translating over 30 books, Hữu Ngọc humbly declined the title nhà văn (writer), traditionally used for novelists in Vietnamese.
Instead, the title he chose for himself was nhà văn hóa (culturalist)—a more accurate reflection of his work and lifelong mission.
To Help A Nation Find Its Voice
Born in 1918 in Hà Nội, Hữu Ngọc grew up in the twilight of French colonial, at the crossroads of East and West.
With an education in the colonial French school system and degrees in philosophy and law, Hữu Ngọc mastered several languages at an early age: French, English, and German, and literate in classical Chinese.
In his late twenties, as World War II ended and France reasserted colonial control over Vietnam, Hữu Ngọc left the world of books for the front lines of Vietnam’s independence movement as a journalist, poised to help his nation find its voice.
At age 30, he became editor-in-chief of a French-language resistance newspaper called L’Étincelle (The Spark), using his pen to persuade French soldiers to lay down their arms and understand the Vietnamese people’s quest for freedom.
After 1954, when Vietnam regained independence, he turned to cultural diplomacy—preserving folklore, editing state publications, and serving as the director of the Foreign Languages Publishing House to bring Vietnamese literature to the world.
Hữu Ngọc later on wrote for more than a decade for the “Chronique” column in Le Courrier du Vietnam and “Traditional Miscellany” in Vietnam News. Many of these essays were later compiled in Wandering Through Vietnamese Culture.
This chapter of his life established the pattern he would follow for decades: bridging past and present, Vietnam and the wider world, through an unwavering dedication to intellectual and cultural exchange.
A Life Spent Wandering Through Vietnamese Culture
Among Hữu Ngọc’s most prominent works is A Sketch of Vietnamese Culture, published in both French and English and presented as a state gift to world leaders at the 1997 Francophone Summit in Hanoi. Later, he expanded the work into a 1.200-page volume titled Wandering Through Vietnamese Culture.
In this monumental work, he guides readers on a journey from the bustling Hà Nội Old Quarter to remote mountain villages, from delightful Huế garden houses to sinister colonial prisons on Côn Đảo.
The book unfolds as a series of essays, each exploring a facet of culture—such as the rituals of Tết (Lunar New Year), the nuances of Vietnamese riddles or the history of a traditional craft village.
"For foreigners like me trying to make sense of Vietnam, Hữu Ngọc's writing was the bridge between an unfamiliar culture and deeper understanding," says Metro Writers CEO, Michael Arnold.
There’s a Vietnamese saying: “A day’s journey — a basket of wisdom.” Readers who wandered through Vietnam with Hữu Ngọc as their guide will find their basket filled with lifelong lessons recorded through the eyes of a Vietnamese with profound love for the nation he called home.
The Man Who Linked Vietnamese Culture To The World
In his lifetime, Hữu Ngọc authored and edited more than 30 books, many written in English and French, introducing the richness of Vietnamese culture to global readers.
“I am always in import and export, dealing strictly in culture,” said Hữu Ngọc with a smile when asked about his work.
His notable works include Vietnam Cultural Heritage (in Vietnamese, English, French, and German), A Sketch of Hanoi Culture (1997), Wandering Through Vietnamese Culture (2006), and Vietnam: Tradition and Change (2017).
In the field of translation, his Vietnamese edition of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, published by Đông Á, has remained a beloved classic for generations of Vietnamese readers over the past 50 years.
Having quietly passed the age of 100, Hữu Ngọc released his final work Cảo Thơm Lần Giở at 102. The book presents the lives and thoughts of over 180 notable figures from East and West, spanning disciplines such as religion, philosophy, science, literature, art, ethics, sociology, psychology, politics, and history.
Lady Borton, a close friend of Huu Ngoc recalled their time working at Thế Giới Publisher: “He quietly and constantly pushed the edges, helping Vietnam to move beyond rhetoric through his support of Vietnam's history and culture.”
Throughout his career, he was seen as a cultural bridge—someone who not only explored different cultures but connected them through knowledge, calm dialogue, and respect.
At 107, he passed away but his legacy remains, guiding future generations through the ever-unfolding dialogue of cultures across borders of language, time, and place.