Nguyen Du
Biography
He was born in Hanoi, called Thăng Long at the time, and died in Hanoi. His father, Nguyễn Nghiễm, had eight wives and 21 children. His father died when he was 10; his mother, Trần Thị Tần, the third wife, died when he was 13. After passing a Tam Trường examination in 1783, he was appointed a military position in Thái Nguyễn, under the Trịnh administration. After the Trịnh Lords were defeated by the Tây Sơn brothers in 1787, he retreated from public view, living in his wife's hometown of Thái Bình from 1789 to 1795. In 1796, he was accused by the Tây Sơn rulers of collaborating with Nguyễn Ánh, the future emperor Gia Long, and jailed for three months. When Nguyễn Ánh defeated the Tây Sơn brothers in 1802, establishing the Nguyễn Dynasty, Nguyễn Du returned to public life, rising to the rank of ambassador to China in 1813. He was later appointed to two more diplomatic missions to Beijing, but died before he could depart for the last one. According to Đại Nam Liệt Truyện: "In grave illness, he refused medicines, but asked his family to touch his limbs. They're already cold, he was told. 'Fine,' he said, then died, without saying anything else."
Kim Vân Kiều is the story of a prostitute struggling to gain independence, its plot pilfered from a 17th century Chinese novel of the same name. There has been much debate over the date of its composition, but the consensus is that it was written before Nguyễn Du was ambassador to China, and likely even before he became an official under Gia Long in 1802. Kim Vân Kiều was written in the nôm script, with the earliest surviving version dating from 1866, but there is no definitive text. In 1907, Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh became the first to transliterate it to Quốc Ngữ (the romanized script). Truyện Kiều has been used to tell fortunes, adapted to the stage, made into films, in fact Vietnam's first story film, produced by Paul Thierry's Indochine Films et Cinémas in 1924. Recently, it has even been converted into a ballet. Perhaps the most famous opinion about it belongs to Phạm Quỳnh, who said during the French occupation: "As long as Kim Vân Kiều remains, our language remains, our nation remains." Truyện Kiều also has its detractors. Some point to its unoriginal, borrowed plot. Others question the wisdom of designating a tale about a prostitute as Vietnam's national poem.
Linh Dinh started this entry.
Major Works
- Kim Vân Kiều
- Văn Tế Thập Loại Chúng Sinh
- Văn Tế Sống Hai Cô Gái Trường Lưu
- Thác Lời Trai Phường Nón
- Thanh Hiên Thi Tập (in Chinese)
- Nam Trung Tạp Ngâm (in Chinese)
- Bắc Hành Tạp Lục (in Chinese)
Other poems
- Cảm Hứng Trong Tù
- Đầu Sông Chơi Dạo
- Đứng Trên Cầu Hoàng Mai Buổi Chiều
- Đêm Đậu Thuyền Cửa Sông Tam Giang
- Đêm Rằm Tháng Giêng Ở Quỳnh Côi
- Lưu Biệt Anh Nguyễn
- Mộ Đỗ Thiếu Lăng Ở Lôi Dương
- Miếu Thờ Mã Phục Ba Ở Giáp Thành
- Ngày Thu Gởi Hứng
- Nói Hàn Tín Luyện Quân
- Người Hát Rong Phủ Vĩnh Bình
- Ngồi Một Mình Trong Thủy Các
- Ngựa Bỏ Bên Thành
- Ngày Xuân Chợt Hứng
- Long Thành Cẩm Giả Ca
- Tranh Biệt Cùng Giả Nghị
- Qua Sông Hoài Nhớ Thừa Tướng Văn
- Xúc Cảm Đình Ven Sông
- Viếng Người Con Hát Thành La
Kim Vân Kiều in translation
Chronologically:
- Kim Wen Kieov, translated into Polish by ? (Vacsava: ?)
- Kim Vân Kiều, translated into Japanese by Aoi Komatsu (Tokyo: 1949)
- Kiều, translated into Czech by Gustav Franck (Praha: 1957)
- Kim Vân Kiều, translated into Chinese by Hoàng Dật Cầu (Beijing: 1959)
- Kim Vân Kiều, translated into French by Xuân Việt and Xuân Phúc (Paris: 1961)
- Kim Vân Kiều, translated into English by Lê Xuân Thuỷ (Saigon: 1963)
- Das Mädchen Kiêu, translated into German by Irene and Franz Faber (1964)
- Kiều, translated into French by Nguyễn Khắc Viện (Hanoi: 1965)
- The tale of Kieu, translated twice into English by Huỳnh Sanh Thông (New York: 1973 and New Haven: 1983)
- Kim Vân Kiều tân truyện, translated into Japanese by Takeuchi Yonosuke (Tokyo: 1985)
- Histoire de Kieu, translated into French by Lê Cao Phan (Hanoi: 1994)
- Kiều, translated into English by Michael Councell (London: 1995)
- The Kim Van Kieu of Nguyen Du (1765-1820) translated into English by Vladislav Zhukov (Sydney: 2004)
- Truyện Kiều, translated into Chinese by La Trường Sơn (Nam Ninh: 2006)
Nguyễn Du online
- Chân Dung Nguyễn Du (Saigon: Nam Sơn 1960), with essays on the poet by Vũ Hoàng Chương, Nguyễn Sỹ Tế, Nguyễn Văn Trung, Trần Bích Lan, Đinh Hùng, Doãn Quốc Sỹ, Việt Tử, Trần Thanh Hiệp, Phạm Thếng, Thanh Tâm Tuyền, Vũ Khắc Khoan and Nguyễn Thị Sâm
- "Hoàng Xuân Hãn xác định thời điểm Nguyễn Du viết Kiều và nói về gốc gác bản kiều chữ Hán", audio file of Thụy Khuê interviewing Hoàng Xuân Hãn about Truyện Kiều
- "Kiều tầm nguyên", audio file of Thụy Khuê interviewing Hoàng Xuân Hãn about Truyện Kiều
- Nguyễn Du page at Thi Viện, with texts to many poems, including all of Kim Vân Kiều
- "Thi hào Nguyễn Du viết Truyện Kiều khi nào?"
- Vũ trụ thơ, a book by Đặng Tiến on Nguyễn Du, Bà huyện Thanh Quan, Tản Đà, Hàn Mặc Tử and Đinh Hùng (Saigon: Giao Điểm, 1972).
- "1/ Thú thưởng thức nhạc đàn của người xưa qua Truyện Kiều — 2/ Ngày xuân nói về âm nhạc trong Truyện Kiều" by Ðặng Hữu Phúc
- Essay by Khanh Ho on present-day reception of The Tale of Kieu, followed by discussion among the Diacritics, of the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network
- Authors
- Poets
- Working in Vietnamese
- Poets composing in Vietnamese
- Writing in Nom script
- Poets writing in Nom script
- Translated into Chinese
- Translated into Czech
- Translated into English
- Translated into French
- Translated into German
- Translated into Japanese
- Translated into Polish
- Poets translated into Chinese
- Poets translated into Czech
- Poets translated into English
- Poets translated into French
- Poets translated into German
- Poets translated into Japanese
- Poets translated into Polish
- Translated from Vietnamese into Chinese
- Translated from Vietnamese into Czech
- Translated from Vietnamese into English
- Translated from Vietnamese into French
- Translated from Vietnamese into German
- Translated from Vietnamese into Japanese
- Translated from Vietnamese into Polish
- Poets translated from Vietnamese into Chinese
- Poets translated from Vietnamese into Czech
- Poets translated from Vietnamese into English
- Poets translated from Vietnamese into French
- Poets translated from Vietnamese into German
- Poets translated from Vietnamese into Japanese
- Poets translated from Vietnamese into Polish
- Born 1760-1769
- Dead 1820-1829
- Man
- Man born 1760-1769
- Entries started by Linh Dinh