The Viet Nam Literature Project - VNLP

Further Reading

Three Vietnamese Poets, translated with an introduction by Linh Dinh. Tinfish Press, Kane’ohe, Hawaii, ca. 2001.

The collection includes a critical introduction by the translator. All the Nguyen Quoc Chanh poems in the volume are included at the Viet Nam Literature Project website, www.vietnamlit.org.

The book is sold out at the publisher, but is offered for sale on the used book market at such websites as bookfinder. The book is available as a PDF file at the tinfish website, here.

Individual Poems in English translation

All of the Nguyen Quoc Chanh poems published in English translation as of July, 2005 are at the Viet Nam Literature Project website, here.

“Marsh Dream” and “Low Pressure System” (published with Vietnamese originals), translated by Linh Dinh. Filling Station Review, Issue 20 (2000), pages 6-14. Also at the Viet Nam Literature Project website, here.

“Rap Music,” translated by Linh Dinh. Of Vietnam: Identities in Dialogue (Palgrave 2001), page 19. Also at the Viet Nam Literature Project website, here.

"Relationships," translated by Mong-Lan. New American Writing, Issue 22 (2004), pages 166-171. Also at the Viet Nam Literature Project website, here.

“Seven Untitled Poems,” translated by Linh Dinh. The Literary Review, Vol. 43 No. 2 (2000), pages 191-193. Also at the Viet Nam Literature Project website, here.

Interviews in English translation

All of the interviews with Nguyen Quoc Chanh published in English translation as of July, 2005 are at the Viet Nam Literature Project website, here.

“A Conversation with Nguyen Quoc Chanh” with Linh Dinh, translated by Cari An Coe, is at the Viet Nam Literature Project website, here.

“Poetry is an Effort to Make the Shame Stink” with Ly Doi, translated by Pham Viem Phuong, is at the Viet Nam Literature Project website, here.

Article in English about Nguyen Quoc Chanh

“Vietnam’s rude poetry delights intelligentsia”, by Nga Pham of the BBC Vietnamese service, at the BBC website, dated August 31, 2004, here.

The article focuses on Nguyen Quoc Chanh and Ly Doi, with photos of each, and on their colleagues. For a photo of Nguyen Quoc Chanh’s illegally photocopied books of poetry, see the Vietnamese-language story based on the same reporting by Chinh Vi at the BBC website, here.

Criticism in English of Nguyen Quoc Chanh’s Poetry

“Introduction” by Linh Dinh, to his Three Vietnamese Poets, Tinfish Press, Kane’ohe, Hawaii, (ca. 2001).

The book is available as a PDF file at the tinfish website, here.

Books in Vietnamese

Nguyen Quoc Chanh published two collections in Viet Nam before finding his work quietly barred from publication at the government publishing houses, which enjoy a monopoly. He has started to publish illegal, photocopied, collections.

Cua Can Cuoc An Du (Of Metaphorical Identity), photocopy (Ho Chi Minh City, 2002).

Cua Can Cuoc An Du is available with a preface by the author, dated January 1, 1990 at the talawas website, here.

Dem mat troi moc (Night of the Rising Sun), Nha Xuat Ban Tre (Ho Chi Minh City 1990).

E, Tao Day (Hey, You), photocopy (Ho Chi Minh City, ca. 2005).

Khi hau do vat (Inanimate Weather), Nha Xuat Ban Tre (Ho Chi Minh City 1997).

Individual Poems in Vietnamese

We do not have citations to early magazine publications in Viet Nam of poems by Nguyen Quoc Chanh.

For several years, Nguyen Quoc Chanh has been discouraged from magazine publication in Viet Nam. He now maintains an active presence at the Vietnamese web journal of world literature, tienve.

The tienve website is a continuation of the print magazine Viet, which was published from Australia. Many Nguyen Quoc Chanh poems originally published in Viet and the American journal Tho (Poetry) are now available at the tienve website, along with a growing number of poems published originally on the website.

As of July, 2005, there are more than 30 works labeled as poems by the website index, including ten interventions using wordplay in paragraph form, responding directly to colleagues and books, footnoted, as well as more than twenty lyric poems that stand alone, all indexed here.

The Vietnamese originals of three of the poems translated by Linh Dinh and Mong Lan in English here at the Viet Nam Literature Project website as “March Dreams”, “Relationships” and “Revolving Stage” are among those available in Vietnamese at the tienve website at the following locations.

“Con Me Dam Lay” (Marsh Dreams), translated by Linh Dinh at the Viet Nam Literature Project website in English here, appeared in the American print journal Tho (Poetry), No. 21 (2001), and is now available in Vietnamese here.

“Nhung Moi Quan He” (Relationships), translated by Mong-Lan at the Viet Nam Literature Project website in English here, appeared in the Australian print journal Viet, No. 7 (2001), now available in Vietnamese here.

“San Khau Quay” (Revolving Stage), translated by Linh Dinh at the Viet Nam Literature Project website in English here, and three other Nguyen Quoc Chanh poems, “Mat Na, Mat That,” “Chiem Bao,” “Ngay Ap Thap,” appeared together in the Australian print journal Viet, No. 8 (2001), and are now available online, indexed here.

Prose in Vietnamese

Prose statements by Nguyen Quoc Chanh, including interviews and interventions in ongoing debate as well as essays that stand alone, appear on-line at talawas, the Vietnamese-language website for debate among Vietnamese intellectuals worldwide about ideas and society.

To search on your own for Nguyen Quoc Chanh’s work at talawas, look here.

Click on “N” in the alphabet on the right top of the screen.

Enter “Nguyen Quoc Chanh” in the box that will appear, then click on the button marked “gui”.

Doing this on June 22, 2005 yielded nine titles.

Two are interviews with Ly Doi and Linh Dinh, cited in the bibliography under “Interviews in Vietnamese.”

One is the text of the book Cua can cuoc an du (Of Metaphorical Identity), cited in this bibliography, under “Books in Vietnamese” with the author’s preface:

“Cua Can Cuoc An Du” (Of Metaphorical Identity), by Nguyen Quoc Chanh, at the talawas website, dated January 1, 1990, here.

The rest are interventions and replies in discussions of “Vietnamese Literature” and “Poetry and Young Poetry.” They are:

“Bat Dau Cua Tan Hinh Thuc Co Phai La Ket Thuc Cua Thu Do?” (Is the Beginning of New Formalism the End of Free Verse?) by Nguyen Quoc Chanh, at the talawas website, dated April 22, 2004, here.

“Cai thieu cua Tho Tre cung la cai khong co cua tho Viet” (The Failings of Young Poetry are also the Lacks of Vietnamese Poetry) by Nguyen Quoc Chanh at the talawas website, dated August 29, 2002, here.

“Chua Bao Gio Thieu Xa Bong” (Never a Lack of Soap), by Nguyen Quoc Chanh at the talawas website, dated September 26, 2002, here.

“Duc thinh khong the quy thanh cac” (Masculine Identity Cannot be Reduced to the Penis), by Nugyen Quoc Chanh at the talawas website, dated April 13, 2004, here.

“Ngon ngu va an du, an du va tho, tho va doc” (Language and Metaphor, Metaphor and Poetry, Poetry and Reading), by Nguyen Quoc Chanh at the talawas website, dated December 11, 2002, here.

“Van pham, Doc, & Cho” (Cultural Works, Reading, & the Market), by Nguyen Quoc Chanh at the talawas website, dated August 26, 2002, here.

Interviews in Vietnamese

“Noi chuyen voi Nguyen Quoc Chanh” (A Conversation with Nguyen Quoc Chanh), the interview by the Philadelphia poet Linh Dinh first appeared in the Australian journal Viet, number 8 (2000).

The interview is now available at the successor to Viet on the Web, the tienve website, here.

The interview is also available at the talawas website, dated August 11, 2002, here.

The interview is translated into English by Cari An Coe at the Viet Nam Literature Project website, here.

“Tho la (tho o) khoet cho cai nhuc (nha, duc, vong) boc mui” (Poetry is [complex play on words] an Effort to Make the Shame Stink), an interview by Saigon poet Ly Doi is at the talawas website, dated July 26, 2004, here.

The interview is translated into English by Pham Vien Phuong at the Viet Nam Literature Project website, here.

Article in Vietnamese about Nguyen Quoc Chanh

“Hien tuong tho photo o Saigon” (The Phenomenon of Photocopied Poetry in Saigon), by Chinh Vi, BBC Vietnamese service, at the BBC website, dated August 12, 2004, here.

The article has one photo each of Nguyen Quoc Chanh and the younger poet Ly Doi, and a photo of several illegally-photocopied poetry booklets, with a link to an audio file of a related radio program.

Criticism in Vietnamese of Nguyen Quoc Chanh’s poetry

The following articles, selected by Nguyen Quoc Chanh, review his work.

“Dem mat troi moc” (Night of the Rising Sun), by Thanh Nhan, Tap Chi Van Nghe Quan Doi (Army Arts Magazine), number 4, April 15, 1991.

“Doc, ‘cua can duoc an du’, va” (Reading, “Of Metaphorical Identity”, And) by Quoc Viet, at the talawas website, dated July 22, 2002, here.

“Doc Nguyen Quoc Chanh” (Reading Nguyen Quoc Chanh), by Than Thu Anh, at the talawas website, dated August 4, 2002, here.

“Mot Tap Tho Khong Lanh Manh” (An Unhealthy Book of Poems), by Tran Trong Quynh, Bao Nhan Dan (The People), October 27, 1990.

“Nguyen Quoc Chanh: An so cua mot tap tho” (Nguyen Quoc Chanh: The Secret Code of a Poetry Collection), by Tran Nhat Vy, Bao Tuoi Tre (Youth Newspaper), numbers 78-9, July 10, 1990.

“Nhung guong mat moi cua lang tho thanh pho” (New Faces in the City’s Poetry Scene), by Y Nhi, Bao Tuoi Tre Chu Nhat (Sunday Youth Newspaper), numbers 28-9, July 28, 1990.

“Nhung net gap trong tho Nguyen Quoc Chanh” (The Creases in Nguyen Quoc Chanh’s Poetry) by Ngo Thi Kim Cuc, Bao Dai Doan Ket (Great Democracy Newspaper), number 55, September 13, 1997.

“Niem kinh di trong ‘Dem Mat Troi Moc’” (The Bizarre in “Night of the Rising Sun”, by Chu Giang, Tap Chi Thanh Nien (Youth Magazine), number 4, April 20, 1991.

“Tho tinh thanh pho Ho Chi Minh”(Love Poetry in Ho Chi Minh City) by Nguyen Thi Minh Thai, Bao Van Nghe Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh (Ho Chi Minh City Arts Newspaper), number 87, April 29, 1993.

The following articles, selected by Nguyen Quoc Chanh, deal with his work in context of his generation in Vietnamese poetry.

“Mot goc nhin vao tho VN tu mot the he” (A Glance at the Vietnamese Poetry of a Generation), by Nguyen Huu Hong Minh, at the talawas website, dated January 1, 1990, here.

“Ngoanh lai 15 nam . . .” (Looking Back 15 Years . . .), by Hoang Hung, at the talawas website, dated June 12, 2004, here.

“Tho Viet: Quay Ve Panteon, thang tien postmodernism? Hay tho trang tren xac uop? Tranh luan voi nha tho Hoang Hung” (Vietnamese Poetry: Returning to the Pantheon, Advancing with Postmodernism? Or New Clothes and Mummies? A Discussion with Poet Hoang Hung), by Nguyen Huu Hong Minh, at the talawas website, dated July 15, 2002, here.