Russian-translated Tale of Kieu makes debut

Prominent Vietnamese poet and World Cultural Celebrity Nguyen Du (Source :VNA)

It was introduced by the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) and the People’s Committee of the central province of Ha Tinh in a ceremony in Hanoi.

The translation edition will serve as a bridge to bring Vietnam and Russia closer, Ass. Prof. Nguyen Huy Hoang, chief translator, said. He believed the work will fulfill the dream of many other Russian translators who fall in love with “Truyen Kieu”.

President of the Vietnam-Russia Friendship Association Vladimir Buianov expressed his hope that besides the Tale of Kieu, more Vietnamese novels and poems will be translated into Russian in the near future.

Started in 2013, the Russian translation was done by Ass. Prof. Nguyen Huy Hoang, from Moscow University; translators Doan Tu Huyen and Vu The Khoi; Russian poet Vasili Popov and Anatoli Sokolov, a researcher of Vietnamese studies.

Prominent Vietnamese poet and World Cultural Celebrity Nguyen Du, also known as To Nhu and Thanh Hien, was born on January 3, 1766 in a noble family in Thang Long (Hanoi).

His most outstanding work is the Tale of Kieu, a 3,254-line classic verse novel written in “luc bat”, the form that consists of alternating lines of six and eight syllables, a traditional verse form of Vietnam's poetry.

It recounts the life, trials and tribulation of Thuy Kieu, a beautiful and talented young woman, who had to sacrifice herself to save her father and younger brother from prison. She sold herself into marriage with a middle-aged man, unaware of his profession as a pimp. He later forced her into prostitution, marking the start of a series of tragic events in her life.

Throughout the poem, Nguyen Du depicted the beauty of true love and loyalty and the unyielding hope for justice.

In Vietnam, the Tale of Kieu is vastly popular, with many people knowing the epic by heart, and it has been published in more than 20 languages worldwide to date./.

Source: VNA