The musical “Miss Saigon” is set in Saigon in the 1970s. (Courtesy of Broad Art)
[Reporter Dong Baiting/Reporting from Taipei]The classic Broadway musical “Miss Saigon” comes to Taiwan for the first time, and the story is poignant and moving. If you want to better understand the background of Saigon, you can read the anthology “Selected Modern Vietnamese Novels” which is the first literal translation from Vietnamese.There is no shortage of translated publications from Europe and the United States in Taiwan, but publications from surrounding Southeast Asian countries are extremely lacking. Their understanding of news phenomena remains superficial, and it is difficult to match their ideological resources or spiritual makeup. For example, Vietnam, which was once colonized by France, the United States, Japan, the Soviet Union, and China, has a complicated relationship with Taiwan due to history and global geopolitics. However, opportunities for in-depth understanding are often missed due to stereotypes.
As the new second generation gradually becomes an important backbone of Taiwanese society, writer Luo Yiwen, who was born in Saigon, Vietnam, and moved to Taipei at the age of 13, spent 2 years starting from the categories of art and literature, from Vietnamese literal translations of Nang Kao, Su Huai, 6 modern novels by writers such as Nhat Tin, Nguyen Thi Thuy Ngoc, Nguyen Huy Thu, Nguyen Ngoc Sac.
Please read on…
The scope of the anthology is defined as modern Vietnamese novels after the 20th century that have not yet been translated into Chinese. Not only do they span a long time span, but their themes include rural areas and farmers, war, and urban women. They cover the French colonial period, the socialist countryside in the north, and the capitalist cities in the south. , reform and opening up, and even the situation in Vietnam in the early 21st century.
Chun Shan Publishing House stated that the anthology reflects two aspects: “First, it presents the history of Vietnamese literature; second, it presents the diversity of Vietnamese literature. The six works reflect the era, the themes dealt with, the background and writing style of the writers It’s very different, and I hope it can be compared with Vietnam’s history.”
The writing background of “Zhi Piao” is the countryside during the French colonial period; “Three Other People” (excerpt) is set during the land reform period in Vietnam in the 1950s; “Sleepless Night” (excerpt) presents the internal and external aspects of Vietnam in the mid-20th century. The complex situation of constant war; “One Afternoon” presents the sight encountered by educated rural intellectual women moving to cities and towns in the 1960s and 1970s; “The Water God’s Daughter” presents how modernity affects farmers after Vietnam’s reform and opening up in the 1980s; ” Endless Rice Fields presents the appearance of rural areas in southern Vietnam and the plight of women after the 1990s. Through these six works, we can see aspects of Vietnam’s history over the past century.
The anthology attempts to break the stereotype of Vietnam and paint a picture of a country that has experienced colonization, civil war, division, and reunification. The people in it have faced different regimes and social bottom patterns such as separation, mobility, tearing, and reconciliation. , understand the complex human nature of the oppressors, those seeking survival, those in power, those motivated by profit, etc., and refer to each other’s vision and mental outlook.
Taiwan’s Southbound Policy or New Southbound Policy has long focused on the economic aspect, with limited exchanges in the humanities and arts. This book may be able to promote exchanges in the fields of humanities and arts between Taiwan and Vietnam. It has even become a window for many new generations to understand their home country.
“Selected Modern Vietnamese Novels” is edited and translated by Luo Yiwen and edited by Nguyen Phu An. (Provided by Spring Mountain Publishing)
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Source: China