Product Description

This superb anthology brings together a thousand years of Vietnamese poems for the English-speaking world. Huynh Sanh Th"ng, widely regarded as the preeminent translator of the poetry of Vietnam, here presents more than three hundred poems by 150 poets, some celebrated, some obscure. Many of the poems are not otherwise available in English. The author's historical and critical introduction to Vietnamese poetry, and his abundant explanatory notes throughout the collection, assist readers in understanding and appreciating each work. Huynh observes that Vietnamese people in all walks of life compose, read, and listen to poetry; this collection of poems thus reveals much about Vietnamese language, literature, history, and culture. He has organized the poems-which range from ancient to very recent works-around nine main themes that include Vietnamese views of society, responses to foreign influences, and feelings about such universal questions as relationships between men and women, the role of art in life, and conflicts among social classes. A generous selection of twentieth-century poems represents the work of well-known poets, major political figures, and men and women of the Vietnamese diaspora after the Communist victory in 1975.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1133266 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-10
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .1 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

From Library Journal
This scholarly and very readable translation of over 300 poems from about 150 poets is loosely divided into nine chapters. It starts with the Chinese influence of early poems ("Vietnam and China," "The Buddhist Ethos") and moves on to Vietnam's relations with the West, principally France and the United States. Although readers may not appreciate the intricacies of classic poetic form, the themes are universal: war, peace, love, and time. Huynh, the best-known translator of Vietnamese poetry and winner of a MacArthur fellowship, supplies useful notes for these superb translations that make the poems very accessible and truly beautiful. Highly recommended for Asian collections.?Kitty Chen Dean, Nassau Coll., Garden City, N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Superb... This collection is truly a rare compendium of Vietnamese poetry and will be much in demand for use in college courses on Vietnamese history and culture." Dinh-Hoa Nguyen, World Literature Today "This is a generous appreciation of Vietnamese poetry and poetics from the past thousand years... Historiographers and literary enthusiasts alike will welcome the inclusiveness, incisive annotations, and simple bravura poetic overview of this necessary anthology.... A stunning collection." Choice "Huynh Sanh Thong is the outstanding translator of Vietnamese literature, into any Western language, anywhere in the world. It's a windfall and a godsend for English speakers that he happens to work in English - and what English! Lucid, supple, never pretentious or contrived in any way, and on many occasions witty. The translations in this new book are, as one would expect, definitive and impeccable." Alexander Woodside, University of British Columbia

Choice
"This is a generous appreciation of Vietnamese poetry and poetics from the past thousand years."