Reading 1
Nguyen Du is a celebrated Vietnamese poet who wrote in Chữ Nôm, the ancient writing script of Viet Nam. His poetry is celebrated for the directness of its language and of its metaphors. Despite a number of Vietnamese poets pre-dated him, Nguyen Du is considered by many Vietnamese to be the founding-figure of Vietnamese literature. His epic poem Truyen Kieu (The Tale of Kieu), relating the brief and tragic life of a Vietnamese girl, is considered as a masterpiece.
Nguyen Du was born in 1765 in Tien Dien village, Nghi Xuan district, NgheTinh province, Viet Nam. By the age of 13, Nguyen had lost both of his parents, and for most of his teenage years he lived with his brother or with his brother-in-law.
At the age of 19, Nguyen passed the provincial examination. After that, he was appointed to the position of a military advisor in the Trinh army. After the Trinh Lords were defeated in 1786 by Nguyen Hue, Nguyen Du refused to serve in the new administration. He was arrested and held for some time before he moved back to his native village in the northern part of the country.
Later, when yet another warlord, Nguyen Anh, ruled Viet Nam in 1802, Nguyen Du agreed to serve in his administration. At first, he was given his old post of military advisor but after a decade, he was promoted to an ambassador to China in 1813.
While in China, he discovered and translated the Ming dynasty era tale “Kim Van Kieu” that would become the basis for the Tale of Kieu. He was later appointed to two more missions to Beijing, but before he could depart for the last one, he died of a long illness for which he refused treatment in 1820.
Nguyen Du’s father worked as a minister for the Lê dynasty, and his family did well during this time. However, Nguyen Du spent much of his life feeling guilty because he worked for a new ruler who took over, and he thought this was a betrayal of the true leaders of Viet Nam. He believed this brought dishonour to him and his family.
