Research Catalog

Title

Vietnamese folk poetry / translated by John Balaban.

Publication

Port Townsend, Wash. : Copper Canyon Press, [2003], ©2003.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Balaban, John, 1943-

Description

xii, 73 pages; 21 cm

Summary

"In Viet Nam, ca dao are folk poems - short lyrics passed down by word of mouth and sung without any instrumental accompaniment." "Near the end of the American war in Viet Nam, poet and translator John Balaban returned to Viet Nam to record ca dao. It is remarkable to imagine a young American traveling the countryside alone during wartime, walking up to farmers and fishermen, seamstresses and monks, and asking "Would you sing your favorite poems?"" "Ca Dao Viet Nam represents the first time that ca dao have been translated and collected into any Western language. For this revised, expanded bilingual edition, Balaban provides an insightful introduction about the importance of poetry to Vietnamese culture."--BOOK JACKET.

Uniform Title

Ca dao vietnam. English.

Alternative Title

Ca dao vietnam

Subject

• Folk poetry, Vietnamese > Translations into English

Contents

Linked Verses -- The Colonial Troops Transport -- The Saigon River -- The Pole at the Village Pagoda -- Coins of Van-Lich -- Leaving the Village -- Harmony in the Kingdom -- Autumn -- Love Lament -- Complaining about the Second Wife -- The Body Is Pain -- The Red Cloth -- Lullaby -- The Ship of Redemption -- A Tiny Bird -- Talking about Birds -- Venturing Out -- Mother Egret -- Egret's Death and Funeral Preparations -- Tao -- Ke-Mo Village Girl -- Across the Field of the Old Corporal -- Difficult Love -- Phoenixes and Sparrows -- Looking Out in All Directions -- Whisky Lovers -- Replies -- Testing Confucian Obligations -- The Carp -- The Painting -- The Mandarin Who Couldn't Do Anything -- A Woman's Heart -- Husband and Wife -- Impossible Tasks -- The Girl with the Binh Tien Hairdo -- Wicked Women -- The Singer with a Bad Voice -- The Arranged Marriage -- The Homesick Bride -- The Outpost Soldier -- Evening -- The Cat -- The Concubine -- Bare Rocks and Stars -- Clear Skies, Clear Sea -- From So Mountain -- The King Star -- At the Exiled King's River Pavilion.

ISBN

1556591861 (Paper Back : alk. paper)

LCCN

2003002510

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries