Just wanted to share the blurb of an epic I read several years ago and recently dug up to revisit; The Tale of Kieu by Nguyen Du.
"Since it's publication in the early nineteenth century, this long narrative poem has stood unchallenged as the supreme masterpiece of Vietnamese literature. Huynh's new and absorbingly readable translation is illuminated by notes that give comparative passages from the Chinese novel on which the poem was based, details on Chinese allusions, and literal translations with background information explaining Vietnamese proverbs and folk sayings."
"The poem implies something at the very core of Vietnamese experience, it addresses them intimately as victims, as refugees, as survivors. In the course of Vietnam's tormented history, the individual, like Kieu herself, has all too often become the toy of necessity, has been compelled to do the bidding of some alien power, to serve a master other than the one to whom he or she should owe allegiance. Beyond its literal meaning Kieu's prostitution is interpreted as a metaphor for the betrayal of principle under duress, the submission to force of circumstances. More generally, Kieu stands for Vietnam itself, a land well endowed with natural and human resources, but too often doomed to see such riches gone to waste or destroyed. And yet, despite its grim details and sordid aspects, Kieu's story conveys a message of hope for both the individual and the country; if, like Kieu, the Vietnamese accept and endure with fortitude whatever happens to them, someday they will have paid the cost of their evil karma and will achieve both personal and national salvation" (xl)
Sound powerful? I read it when I was 20, and I never understood the notion of it so clearly as I do today. I can't wait to reread it as an older student, with different eyes, and heart.[Edit by="rflores on Jul 28, 11:21:40 PM"][/Edit]
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