A poetry collection featuring famous Austrian authors has been made available to the Vietnamese public.
Tu Que Huong Mozart (From Mozart's Homeland) features 83 poems by
Nikolaus Lenau, Rainer Maria Rilke, Ingeborg Bachmann, Fanz Kiessling,
Erich Fried and Christian Ide Hintze. Part of the collection focuses on
Fried and Ide Hintze, who had close ties with Vietnam .
Erich Fried (1921-88), known as the most famous Austrian poet of the
20th century, wrote around 30 poems about the war in Vietnam . One of
his most well known works, "und Vietnam und" (1966) (And Vietnam
and), is a stirring protest against the indiscriminate destruction of
modern warfare.
"While Erich Fried never visited
Vietnam , we cannot deny his support for the country. It is a pity that
he is not more famous among Vietnamese readers," said translator Quang
Chien.
Hintze was the first Western author to teach
at the Institute of Literature of Nguyen Du in Hanoi in 1993. He
is known for his beat poems and seen as one of Austria 's finest new
media artists.
The launch of the poetry collection
was organised by the Austrian Embassy in Vietnam and the East-West
Language and Culture Centre in celebration of Austrian National Day and
the upcoming 40th anniversary of Austria-Vietnam diplomatic relations.
The 199-page collection is available at 40,000 VND (2 USD) via the country's main book shops./.