Distant Road: Selected Poems of Nguyen Duy (Curbstone Press Contemporary Poets) - Softcover

Duy, Nguyen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1880684616 ISBN 13: 9781880684610

Publisher: Curbstone Books, 1999

Synopsis

Widely considered the most important poet of his generation, Duy began his career as a writer on the battlefields of Vietnam. The power of his highly-crafted poetry stems from its distinct sense of time and place, his unrelenting honesty, and his deep compassion. Born into a peasant family, Duy captures the essence of village life in his poetry. Whether it is love, family, war, present or lost friends, or his own self-mockery, his poetry is infused with an understanding of hardship and suffering. Many of his love poems have become classics in Vietnam.

About this title

About the Author

Nguyen Duy is a Vietnamese poet. He left the army in 1976 and worked for the newspaper Van Nghe Giai Phong (Liberation Literature and Arts). Since 1977, he has been the representative of Van Nghe in the South. He was awarded the State Prize in Literature and Art in 2007.

Kevin Bowen and Nguyen Ba Chung co-edited Six Vietnamese Poets, a collection of Vietnamese postwar poetry. Bowen is also the author of multiple collections of poetry, including Forms of Prayer at the Hotel Edison and Playing Basketball with the Viet Cong. They both live in Boston.

Reviews

Distant Road ($15.95 paperback original; Nov.; 268 pp.; 1-880684-61-6) is the first English translation of Vietnams most prolific and widely read poet. Bowen and Chungs volumea facing-page translation that reproduces the original Vietnamese piecestries to be as comprehensive as possible, drawing on poems from all stages of Duys career. Born in Thanh Hoa in 1948, Duy served with distinction in the North Vietnamese Army, and many of his poems draw upon his combat experiences, as well as upon the difficulties he faced as a writer in the Communist regime that was established after US withdrawal. Chungs introduction provides a useful sketch of Duys life and situates his career within the context of modern Vietnamese history. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Curbstone Books
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1880684616
• ISBN 13: 9781880684610
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 260