Travel narratives
From: David Del Testa
Date: Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 8:43 AM
VSG colleagues,
Following Vern's message, I wonder if anyone might suggest earlier, Vietnamese travel narratives that are available in Vietnamese or translation. For example, I have Nguyen Vu's Tuan, Trang Trai Nuoc Viet. But I wonder if accounts from the pre-1802 period exist. For example, did Nguyen Trai pen a diary recounting travel that has been made available in a modern edition, in Vietnamese, French, English, or German? And, does anyone have suggestions for relatively contemporary narratives of travel in Vietnam, in particular for Vietnamese soldiers on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and contemporary (post-Doi Moi) travel narratives by Vietnamese (Hanoi to Saigon, in the highlands, etc.)? I find these useful for teaching, so any suggestions much appreciated.
Best wishes, David
David Del Testa, Ph.D.
Department of History
Bucknell University
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From: George Dutton
Date: Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 9:09 AM
Hi David,
There are various ways to consider travel narratives. Thus, one might view at least parts of Le Quy Don's Phu Bien Tap Luc as a kind of travel narrative - he was at least a traveler, and does write a bit about the people he encountered. Liam Kelley's work on the envoy poetry suggests that such poetry might be considered travel narrative as well. That said, two earlier and more conventional narratives spring to mind. The first is Philiphe Binh's writings, which I am currently working on. He travels from Tonkin to Lisbon in the 1790s and writes about his journey in some detail. Unfortunately, his travel description is not readily available - only on microfilm and that in his original handwriting, which takes some getting used to. The published reproduction of one of his journals includes some travel description, but not as much. This is the Sach So Sang Chep Cac Viec (The Notebook that Transmits and Records all Things), which was reproduce in VN in the late 1960s. The other one that springs to mind is Le Quynh's _Bac Hang Tung Ky_ (Record of a Journey to the North), which is by a Le loyalist in the Tay Son period who accompanies the fleeing Le Emperor to China after Quang Trung's defeat of the Qing army. This is quite a fascinating document, with an insider's perspective on the fate of the Le ruler and the implications of their exile. It has some travel narrative mixed in with commentary on the plight of the exiles. It has been translated into modern VNese by Hoang Xuan Han and published (at least in the version I have) by NXB Thuan Hoa, 1993. Also available in that compendium of HXH's writings, La Son Yen Ho - Hoang Xuan Han (2nd of 3 vols), pub. NXB Giao Duc, 1998). A third item that you might consider is Pham Dinh Ho's Vu Trung Tuy But (Following the Brush Amid the Rains), which includes a variety of brief anecdotes that involve travel - eg. PDH describes day or overnight trips he makes with friends in and around Thang Long in the 1790s. These include description of the travel (albeit short trips), and sites they visit, sometimes the places they stop for lunch, etc. This has been published in numerous translated versions.
Hope this helps a bit, but would be curious to hear what other pre-1802 narratives people can suggest.
George
_________________________________
George Dutton
Chair, Southeast Asian Studies IDP
Associate Professor, UCLA Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
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From: will pore
Date: Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 9:45 AM
Dear David, George and List:
There is also Phung Khac Khoan's "Thi tap loai ban" from the late
sixteenth century, which is supposed to contain poems (and possibly
dialogue and observances) of this Vietnamese envoy in Beijing who met
with the Korean envoy Yi Sugwang in 1598. I don't know if that work
still exists, but I found it referred to by Phan Hui Chu. The Korean
envoy's work preserves the dialogue and poems exchanged w/ Phung. It
includes quite a lot of "travel" and other information about Vietnam
from that time. I have translated Yi's work and it will appear next
year in the "Transactions" of the Royal Asiatic Society of Korea.
Will Pore
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From: David Del Testa
Date: Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 5:50 AM
Dear colleagues,
I seek your advice to find two texts for classroom use. First, I would like to know if anyone has read an engaging account in diary form, more or less, of travel down the 'Ho Chi Minh Trail' from a Vietnamese perspective for the period 1959 to 1975. When I write 'in diary form' I mean an account that indicates a progression of time in some form ("on 29 October 1969, we marched..." or "the next day, it rained heavily..."). I can work with English, French, or Vietnamese. Second, I seek a similar, diary-based, travel narrative of the Doi Moi period (1986 to the present day), if such a text exists. Any suggestions much appreciated.
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From: Lien Huong Fiedler
Date: Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 6:40 AM
Dear David,
Vietnamese fighters and construction workers/soldiers of the Ho Chi Minh
Trail:
1. Những năm tháng soˆi đoˆ̣ng treˆn đường Hoˆ̀ Chí Minh : cuoˆ̣c
hành trình năm ngàn ngày đeˆm, by Trường Sơn.
2. Cuoˆ̣c hành trình năm ngàn ngày đeˆm : đường Hoˆ̀ Chí Minh,
by Truong Son
3. Hoˆ̀i ký Trường Sơnm By nhieˆ̀u tác gia ; sưu taˆ̀m, Ngoˆ Văn
Phú ; tuyeˆn chọn, Ngoˆ Văn Phú, Nguyeˆ̃n Phan Hách
4. Trường Sơn ngày aˆ́y / Phan Hữu Đại.
5. Treˆn con đường khoˆng coˆ̣t soˆ́ : bút ký / Lam Giang
6. Đường xuyeˆn Trường Sơn : hoˆ̀i ức / Đoˆ̀ng Sĩ Nguyeˆn ; Duy
Tường và Kỳ Vaˆn theˆ hieˆ̣n
7. Ký ức đường Trườ̀ng Sơn : bút ký / Lưu Trọng Laˆn
8. Trường Sơn với những tướng lĩnh mơ đường : hòˆi ký những
người mơ đường / nhièˆu tác gia [memoirs of construction
workers/soldiers]
9. The trans-Trường Sơn route : a memoir / Đoˆ̀ng Sĩ Nguyeˆn with
assistance from Duy Tường and Kỳ Vaˆn
Best regards,
Lien Huong
Lien-Huong Fiedler
Southeast Asia Reference Specialist
Asian Division, Library of Congress
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From: Susan Hammond
Date: Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 8:52 AM
Dr Le Cao Dai's memoir "The Central Highlands: A North Vietnamese Journal of
Life on the Ho Chi Minh Trail 1965-73" starts out with his trek down the
trail from Hanoi in March - April 66. The book is in diary form. I have not
had a chance to read it to know if it will fit your needs. But I am sure
others on the list have.
Susan
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From: Diane Fox
Date: Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 9:54 AM
I used both Dr. Dai's memoir some years ago at Hamilton College (undergraduates). It is very useful for an on the ground, day to day, matter of fact account of food improvisations, mud, elephants, trees falling in storms, aerial surveillance, illnesses.... and much more. Later on he talks in great concrete detail about his makeshift hospitals--pedaling a stationary bicycle to generate electricity, improvising medicines, moving for safety, cultivating food and foraging... and again, so much more.
It opened a new world for the students, helped them get a much better sense of the day to day survival side of the war. (We simultaneously read Dang Thuy Tram's diary in draft translation -- they liked both, but preferred Dr. Dai's as being less focused on his own emotions, more descriptive of the world where he found himself.)
Hope this helps. (As with any diary, there are repetitions that you need to decide how to handle.)
Diane
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From: Robert Whitehurst
Date: Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 2:04 PM
Regarding travel narratives, the war diary of Dr. Cao Huu Chuyen, Nhat Ky Chien Tran, published by Nha Xuat Ban Da Nang in 2006 is also a very good narrative of travel on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Dr. Cao traveled south in the same group as Dang Thuy Tram, leaving Ha Noi in December 1966. He gives a good narrative of the challenges of traveling by truck and then by foot to the central provinces. What is also interesting in his book related to traveling on the trail is the fact that he was seriously wounded in 1970, enough so that he was evacuated back to the North, at first in a stretcher carried by porters, and then with the aid of a bicycle, and finally by truck to Ha Noi. He was afterward sent to China for further treatment. During his trip back north he spent several lengthy periods at medical rest camps while regaining strength enough to resume travel. Dr. Chuyen’s book is not presently available in English.Though Dr. Thuy Tram’s published diaries do not cover the time she traveled south in 1966-67 several of her personal letters give an account of some of that trip. Dr. Chuyen’s book is not presently available in English.
Regards…Rob Whitehurst