Spring Essence: The Poetry of Ho Xuan Huong
Ho Xuan Huong’s skillful wordplays have always intrigued me. She was famous for composing poems with both thanh (“pure”) and tuc (“obscene”) contents at once. Using noi lai (“phrase reversals”) and taking the advantage of word tones, she was able to paint perfect pictures as well as provocative imageries with her poetry. For instance, the last line of “Qua Mit (Jackfruit)” reads, “Xin dung man mo nhua ra tay ([Please don't] caress me [or] sap will slicken your hands).” I am wondering where does the word Jackfruit comes from? Just kidding!
While surfing through the Browsing Collection at Vassar College Library, I was thrilled to spot Spring Essence: The Poetry of Ho Xuan Huong still features on the current interest shelf even though the book was published in 2000. I am delighted to see her work is exposed in the West and I appreciate John Balaban for his incredible efforts.
The book features forty-nine selected poems from Ho Xuan Huong, written in Nom (calligraphic script), Vietnamese, and translated into English by John Balaban. Although the second meaning (tuc ) is lost in translation – even he admits it in his introduction – he has done a phenomenal job of transporting her poetry to the Western audience. His endnotes help tremendously in explaining her work to those who are unfamiliar with the Vietnamese language and culture. I wish the endnotes were printed below the English translations for better reference even though they would distract from the visual layout of the book.
Before reading this book, I did not know we had a script writing system similar to Chinese calligraphy called Nom. In Balaban’s introduction he states that only about thirty, out of seventy-six million, Vietnamese could read Nom. Isn’t that remarkable? Speaking of the introduction, he does a great job of giving a brief summary of Ho Xuan Huong’s biography.
Ho Xuan Huong is an amazing poet and her work deserves to be known. John Balaban has made it possible by making the translations available. Furthermore, the reprinting of Nom characters, which original used by Ho Xuan Huong, alone is worth the price of the book. Spring Essence: The Poetry of Ho Xuan Huong is highly recommended for a pleasure experience.
How her works from a “Nom” to “present Vietnamese language”Who is a translator for that ….? The question go on go on those great poets such as “Kieu-Nguyen Du”,Nguyen Trai were written in “Nom” then Who are an translators..? .This topic alway fascinated me.
How’s sounds (pronounce) between “Nom” and “Vietnamese” ?
HH, my understanding of Nom is also limited, but if you visit Nom Foundation site and look up a word. You would know how it sounds like. For instance, I looked up the word “die” which is “chet” in Vietnamese but “tu” in Nom. So I am guessing that Nom sounds like “Chu Nho.”
So I was wrong about Nom sounding like “Chu Nho.” Nom is just another way of writing Vietnamese. So if you already know Vietnamese, learning Nom calligraphy should not be too hard.
I’d like to know where I could research her book on the internet.
Chu Nom is just the old form of writing of Vietnamese language. However, this form of writing is no longer taught in school. The current writing system of Vietnamese was actually created by Alexandre de Rhodes (1591-1660), a French missionary. This alphabitical script or National script (chu Quoc Ngu). However, chu Nom was still widely used beside Chinese writing(chu Nho) until the early 20th century when chu Quoc Ngu became the official form of writing.
Well Donnie i agree with you in appreciating that he took his time n hard work to understand and appreciates HXH. But that man’s version on some of the tranlastion is so shitty that if I read HXH’s poems in English i woulda have to question myself why it get to be translated. A lot of language and cultural limitation led him to such mistakes, plus there are some phrases in vietnamese that doesnt have anything equivalent in Enlighs. For example, he translated “Na(m thi` muo^i` hoa.” = “Once upon a while” “Co^’ dam’ a(n xoi” = “To take a beating”