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 Ca
Dao Viet Nam:
Vietnamese Folk Poetry
John Balaban (Translator)
“Go out one day, come back with a basket full of knowledge.” This proverb
begins the exciting collection, Ca Dao Viet Nam. This intriguing
project offers a type of poem never before seen in the United States. John
Balaban returned to the States after the Vietnam War, but the beauty of
Vietnam still haunted him, calling him back. More than the physical beauty
of rivers and fields was the beauty of the ca dao, the oral folk poetry.
These poems are sung, but never accompanied or written down. Instead,
they pass orally from person to person. In this book, Balaban selects the
best of over 500 collected poems and translates them into English. They
range from comic to soulfully tragic, romantic to meditative. The imagery
stands out more than anything else, painting an entire culture in a few
words describing rice and bells, phoenixes and fish.
The book’s structure is very instructive, with several lengthy
introductions explaining the origins of the poems and how they came to be
collected. After each poem, the Vietnamese words appear in transliteration,
so that Vietnamese speakers and non-Vietnamese speakers alike can read the
problems aloud and hear the beauty of the words.
“Autumn” paints a dreamy picture of romance, tranquil and still. In the
sweet “Lullaby” more than any other poem, I felt the absence of the
accompanying music. “Mother Egret” reminded me of an Aesop’s Fable, while
“The Carp” evokes a haiku.
This collection offers a special treat for those familiar with Vietnam
and its culture. These simple poems evoke the world of the Vietnam
countryside, with small boats sailing down the rivers, and birds from
pheasants to larks twittering in the background. For those new to Vietnam,
the poems demonstrate a contemplative lifestyle far away from the rigors of
modern life.
Balaban introduces Ca Dao Viet Nam as the conclusion to a lifelong
study of Vietnamese literature. His recent translation of Spring Essence:
The Poetry of Ho Xuan Huong won national acclaim. Rather than reprinting
folk songs, now no more than a curiosity sung by folk groups and students in
Vietnam, Balaban traveled among the people, leaving the cities to visit
farms and remote villages, with only the company of a Buddhist monk. Balaban
visited farmers and seamstresses, laborers and fishermen. He simply asked
each of them, “sing me your favorite poem.” The best of these, the most
exotic and varied, representing every aspect of rural Vietnamese culture,
appear here. Balaban treats his readers to the best of over 500 ca dao,
flowing from romance to humor to tragedy with these unique lyric poems.
- Valerie Frankel Please visit:
http://www.johnbalaban.com/ca-dao.html for Ca Dao in English Another
interesting site:
http://chujoe.net/archives/000126.html |
