Career
He is the father of the painter Trần Trọng Vũ. Dần was best known to be one of the active participators in the Nhân Văn–Giai Phẩm affair in the mid-1950s which saw many middle class intellectuals demanding for freedom and democracy in communist-led North Vietnam. Born in Nam Định, he joined the Vietnamese Communist resistance against the French resistance in 1946 but by 1953 he had fallen out with the party.
In 1956 he was jailed for months in Hỏa Lò Prison also known as the Hanoi Hilton, where he tried to commit suicide.
On leaving prison he joined the Nhân Văn Giai Phẩm. News of the book banning caused concerns among many intellectuals in Vietnam.
And 134 leading intellectuals specializing in literature had signed a petition requesting that the government reconsider its decision to ban the book The government responded by emphasizing that it did not fine the publisher for the contents of the book nor because of the author