Translated Vietnamese Novels from before the 1980s?
Dutton, George dutton at humnet.ucla.edu
Thu Feb 4 12:39:20 PST 2016
Dear VSG,
I’m currently teaching a modern SEA literature class, which I have arranged chronologically through the 20th century. I find myself relying extensively on translations of works from Indonesia and Thailand for the period before the 1980s and the main reason for this is what I think is a dearth of translations from other parts of the region. For Vietnam, of course, I use Dumb Luck, which is very popular, and usually one of the longish short stories (or short novellas) found in Light of the City. I haven’t used VD Clinic. My question is, does anyone know of any translations of Vietnamese novels written between Dumb Luck and the early 1980s, when we start to see more and more translated works showing up? Or does anyone know of any that are in the process of being translated? Thanks for any leads, as I’m always looking to expand what I can offer my students in this course, particularly for the earlier period.
Best,
George
Dan Duffy vietnamlit at gmail.com
Thu Feb 4 12:43:21 PST 2016
There are several English translations in print of that RVN lady's war
novel. I heard about one lately that seemed to have been done to US
literary publishing standards.
John C. Schafer's bibliography goes through the matter systematically as of
the mid-90s. Yale had it online for a while, might yet.
Cheers -
David Brown nworbd at gmail.com
Thu Feb 4 13:12:14 PST 2016
Highly recommended: Nha Ca's *Mourning Headband for Hue*, translated by
VSG's own Olga Dror. The Vietnamese original was published in Saigon in
1969 or '70.
*http://www.amazon.com/Mourning-Headband-Hue-Account-Vietnam/dp/0253014174
<http://www.amazon.com/Mourning-Headband-Hue-Account-Vietnam/dp/0253014174>*
David Brown
freelance writer/analyst
Fresno, California USA
Judith A. Henchy judithh at uw.edu
Thu Feb 4 17:44:13 PST 2016
George, When Ho Anh Thai was a visiting writer at UW many years ago, we worked on this short bibliography of works in translation. It’s very out of date now, but it still resides on my SE Asia library guide:
http://www.lib.washington.edu/SouthEastAsia/vietlit.html
Maybe one day I will have time to update it.
Best
Judith
Judith Henchy
Head, Southeast Asia Section
University of Washington Libraries
harry aveling haveling at hotmail.com
Sat Feb 6 14:38:18 PST 2016
My translation of Legendes des Terres Sereines (Legends from Serene Lands 1942/ 1951) by Pham Duy Khiem (1908-1974) has just been republished in a revised version by The Gioi, Hanoi. (Previously published by Prestige Books, New Delhi 2011.)
The new edition omits a few stories from the earlier edition and adds three stories from Pham Duy Khiem's La Jeune Femme de Nam Xuong, first published in 1944.
There is a very good article in Moussons, 24: 2014, by Julia C Emerson: "Pham Duy Khiem. A Man Apart".
I am currently working on a translation of Pham Duy Khiem's novel Nam et Sylvie (1957).
(I'd be grateful if Ms Emerson could contact me offline -- or if anyone knows how I can contact her).
Harry Aveling, PhD DCA
Translation and Interpreting Studies,
Monash University, Vic. 3800,
Australia.