The Kim-Vân-Kieu of Nguyen Du
Description:... Annotation. "Recent images of the Vietnamese as a pyjama-clad peasantry, suffering, inflicting or warding off the dolours of modernity, will be brought to proportion by this saga of a quite different, rich, sophisticated and multifaceted culture, derivative in its special way from the classical traditions of China. A central tradition, that of self-sacrifice for the sake of one's kin, launches a romantic girl of good family into an epic of dissolution, intrigues and refined cruelty, whose agents are an array of fascinating and memorable characters, however reprehensible their morality. Her survival, despite each vicissitude, changes the heroine in unexpected ways (and possibly not merely surprising to Western readers). As one picaresque episode follows another we are treated to observations by Nguyen Du - expressed directly or with total credibility via his protagonists - which reveal his distinctive intellect: ironic, philosophical, incisive of human nature. Dedicated to a portrayal of bygone Sino-Vietnamese times and foundations, his is a voice that can still speak to us from those seemingly exclusive distances."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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