A statue of poet Nguyen Du (Source: Internet)Hanoi (VNA) – A series of exhibitions on the life and literary career of great poet Nguyen Du will take place in Ho Chi Minh City on November 17-25 in celebration of his 250 th birth anniversary (January 3).
The week will open with a show of book and documents on Nguyen Du and a collection of his works in Vietnamese and Han-Nom (Han Chinese and the ancient Vietnamese ideographic Nom script) languages, including the well-known The Tale of Kieu and commentaries made by scholars.
There will also be a display of calligraphy pieces featuring quotes in the poet’s most famous work The Tale of Kieu and his other works.
Poem recitals, seminars and a number of publication releases are also planned.
Nguyen Du (1766-1820), also known as To Nhu and Thanh Hien, was recognised by UNESCO as a World Cultural Celebrity together with 108 others in 2003.
His most influential work, The Tale of Kieu, is a 3,254-line classic verse novel written in "luc bat", the form that consists of alternating lines of six and eight syllables, a traditional verse form of Vietnam's poetry.
Kieu's story is vastly popular in Vietnam; many people know the epic by heart and it has been translated into 20 different languages including French, Chinese, English, Russian and Japanese.
The work was recognised by the World Peace Council as one of the world's most celebrated cultural works in 1965.-VNA
