Vietnamese literature

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vietnamese literature (Vietnamese: Vit-nam vn-hc, Chinese: ) is the literature,

both oral and written, created largely by Vietnamese-speaking people.

Contents
1 History
2 Types
o 2.1 Folk literature
o 2.2 Medieval literature
2.2.1 Han
2.2.2 Nom
o 2.3 Modern literature
3 See also
4 References

History
For a millennium before the 11th century, Imperial Annam was dominated by China and as a
result much of the written work during this period was in Hanese. Ch nm, created around the
10th century, allowed writers to compose in Vietnamese using modified Chinese characters.
Although regarded as inferior to Chinese, it gradually grew in prestige. It flourished in the 18th
century when many notable Vietnamese writers and poets composed their works in ch nm and
when it briefly became the official written script.

While the quc ng script was created in the 17th century, it did not become popular outside of
missionary groups until the early 20th century, when the French colonial administration
mandated its use in French Indochina. By the mid-20th century, virtually all Vietnamese works
of literature were composed in quc ng.

Although Francophone Vietnamese and English-speaking Vietnamese authors in Australia and

the United States are counted by many critics as part of the national tradition today.

Types
Folk literature

Main article: Vietnamese poetry

Unlike written literature, early oral literature was composed in Vietnamese and is still accessible
to ordinary Vietnamese today. Vietnamese folk literature is an intermingling of many forms. It is
not only an oral tradition, but a mixing of three media: hidden (only retained in the memory of
folk authors), fixed (written), and shown (performed). Folk literature usually exist in many
versions, passed down orally, and have unknown authors.

Myths consist of stories about supernatural beings, heroes, creator gods, and reflect the
viewpoint of ancient people about human life. They consist of creation stories, stories about their
origins (Lc Long Qun, u C), culture heroes (Sn Tinh or Mountain Spirit - Thy Tinh or
Water Spirit).

Medieval literature

Han

Main article: Literary Chinese in Vietnam

The earliest surviving literature by Vietnamese writers are written in Classical Chinese. Almost
all of the official documents in Vietnamese history were written in Classical Chinese, as were the
first poems.[1] Not only is the Chinese script foreign to modern Vietnamese speakers, these works
are mostly unintelligible even when directly transliterated from Chinese into the modern quc
ng script due to their Chinese syntax and vocabulary. As a result, these works must be
translated into colloquial Vietnamese in order to be understood by the general public. These
works include official proclamations by Vietnamese kings, royal histories, and declarations of
independence from China, as well as Vietnamese poetry. In chronological order notable works
include:

Thin chiu () 1010, Edict on transfer the capital of i C Vit from Hoa L
(modern Ninh Bnh) to i La (modern Hanoi).
Nam quc sn h () 1077, Mountains and rivers of the Southern country, poem
by General L Thng Kit
i Vit s k () Annals of i Vit by L Vn Hu, 1272
D ch t tng hch vn , Proclamation to the Officers, General Trn
Hng o, 1284
An Nam ch lc () Abbreviated Records of Annam, anon. 1335
Gia hun ca ( The Family Training Ode), a 976-line Confucian morality poem
attributed to Nguyn Tri 1420s
Lnh Nam chch qui () "The wonderful tales of Lnh Nam" 14th Century,
edited V Qunh (1452-1516)
i Vit s lc () Abbreviated History of i Vit, anon. 1377
Vit in u linh tp (), Spirits of the Departed in the Viet Realm, L T
Xuyn 1400
 Bnh Ng i co (), Great Proclamation upon the Pacification of the Wu
Forces, Nguyn Tri 1428
i Vit s k ton th () Complete Annals of i Vit, Ng S Lin
1479.
Truyn k mn lc (, Collection of Strange Tales, partly by Nguyn D, 16th
century
Hong L nht thng ch () Unification Records of the Le Emperor,
historical novel ending with Gia Long. anon.
Chinh ph ngm () "Lament of the soldier's wife", the original Chinese version by
ng Trn Cn d.1745
i Vit thng s () history by L Qu n 1749
Vn i loi ng () encyclopedia L Qu n 1773
Ph bin tp lc () Frontier Chronicles L Qu n 1776
Vit Nam vong quc s (), by Phan Bi Chu in Japan in 1905

Nom

Works written in ch nm - a locally invented demotic script based on Chinese characters - was
developed for writing the spoken Vietnamese language from the 13th Century onwards. For the
most part, these chu nom texts can be directly transliterated into the modern quc ng script and
be readily understood by modern Vietnamese speakers. However, since ch nm was never
standardized, there are ambiguities as to which words are meant when a writer used certain
characters. This resulted in many variations when transliterating works in ch nm into quc
ng. Some highly regarded works in Vietnamese literature were written in ch nm, including
Nguyn Du's Truyn Kiu, on Th im's ch nm translation of the poem Chinh Ph Ngm
Khc ( - Lament of a Warrior Wife) from the Classical Chinese poem composed by her
friend ng Trn Cn (famous in its own right), and poems by the renowned poet H Xun
Hng.

Other notable works include:

Chinh ph ngm () "Lament of the soldier's wife", translations from Chinese into
vernacular ch Nm by several translators including Phan Huy ch and on Th im
Cung on ngm khc () "Lament of the Concubine" by Nguyn Gia Thiu
d.1798
Hnh Thc ca () "Song of Exile to Thc" Nguyn Th Bch, 1885
Lc sc tranh cng () "The Quarrel of the Six Beasts"
Lc Vn Tin () epic poem by the blind poet Nguyn nh Chiu d.1888
 Nh mai () "The Plum Tree Blossoms Twice"
Phm Cng Cc Hoa () Tale of Phm Cng and Cc Hoa
Phm Ti Ngc Hoa () Tale of the orphan Phm Ti and princess Ngc Hoa
Phan Trn () The clan of Phan and the clan of Trn
Quc m thi tp () "National pronunciation poetry collection" attributed to
Nguyn Tri after retirement
Thch Sanh tn truyn () anon. 18th century
Tng Trn and Cc Hoa() Tale of Tng Trn and his wife Cc Hoa
Trinh th () "The Virgin Mouse" H Huyn Qui 15th century
Hoa tin () The Flowered Letter

Modern literature

Modern Asian literature

Arabic literature
Bengali literature
Chinese literature
Indian literature
Japanese literature
Korean literature
Nepalese literature
Pakistani literature
Sindhi literature
Vietnamese literature

v
t
e

While created in the seventeenth century, ch quc ng was not widely used outside of
missionary circles until the early 20th century, when the French colonial government mandated
its use in French Indochina. During the early years of the twentieth century, many periodicals in
ch quc ng flourished and their popularity helped popularize ch quc ng. While some
leaders resisted the popularity of ch quc ng as an imposition from the French, others
embraced it as a convenient tool to boost literacy. After declaring independence from France in
1945, Empire of Vietnam's provisional government adopted a policy of increasing literacy with
ch quc ng. Their efforts were hugely successful, as the literacy rate jumped overnight.

In those early years, there were many variations in orthography and there was no consensus on
how to write certain words. After some conferences, the issues were mostly settled, but some still
linger to this day. By the mid-20th century, all Vietnamese works of literature are written in ch
quc ng, while works written in earlier scripts are transliterated into ch quc ng for
accessibility to modern Vietnamese speakers. The use of the earlier scripts is now limited to
historical references.

Works in modern Vietnamese include:

Vit Nam s lc () by Trn Trng Kim 1921

S by V Trng Phng 1936

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Literature of Vietnam.

Vietnamese art
Vietnamese poetry

References
1.

1. George Cds The Making of South East Asia 1966- Page 87 "No work of literature from
the brush of a Vietnamese survives from the period of Chinese rule prior to the rise of the
first national dynasties; and from the Dinh, Former Le, and Ly dynasties, all that remains
are some poems by Lac Thuan (end of the tenth century), Khuong Viet (same period),
and Ly Thuong Kiet (last quarter of the eleventh century). Those competent to judge
consider these works to be quite up to the best standards of Chinese literature.

Viettouch. This site is dedicated to the promotion of Vietnamese history and culture; see
reviews of the site.
Culture of Vietnam encyclopedia
Vit-Hc Th-Qun - Institute of Vietnamese Studies - Vin Vit Hc Many pdfs of
Vietnamese literature books
https://web.archive.org/web/20121112121058/http://thanglong.ece.jhu.edu:80/vhvn.html
Translating Vietnamese poetry
Vietnamese Poetry Collection

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Vietnam articles
[show]

v
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Asian literature
LCCN: sh85143300
Authority
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