"Tat den" - a classic work by the late writer Ngo Tat To, will have the opportunity to be introduced to world readers, along with 18 selected short stories by 8 writers of his time, including Nguyen Cong Hoan, Vu Trong Phung, Nhat Linh, Khai Hung, Thach Lam, To Hoai, Nam Cao and Kim Lan. This is an opportunity for readers to learn more about literary trends as well as the historical, cultural and political context of Vietnam in the first half of the 20th century.

In fact, in 1960, the Foreign Languages ​​publishing house in Hanoi printed the English version of "When the Light Is Out" by translator Pham Nhu Oanh. However, according to poet Christiansen, this translation was quite rough and especially the translation style was not natural. Moreover, the translation in the country was printed too long ago, had not been edited by experts, the quality of the printed paper was old, and it was very difficult to find and buy today, whether domestically or on popular websites like Amazon. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the death of writer Ngo Tat To, professor Ha Manh Quan and poet Christiansen decided to retranslate When the Light Is Out and some other short stories, contributing to promoting an important period of Vietnamese literature to the world.

Compared to the Vietnamese literary works that Professor Ha Manh Quan has translated and published in the US, he said that translating Tat Den was the most difficult because the writer used many dialects of the Northern countryside from nearly 100 years ago, and the customs and village dignitaries from the French colonial period are no longer popular in today's society.

In particular, the translator must try to convey the "soul" of the plot, which is to bring to life the scenes of village dignitaries eating and arguing, and the scene of Mr. and Mrs. Nghi Que's family haggling over the price when buying Chi Dau's daughter and dogs. Professor Ha Manh Quan said that currently, in Vietnam, there are many editions of Tat Den, but he chose to translate the edition edited by the late writer's daughter, Ngo Thi Thanh Lich, and her husband, Cao Dac Diem.

As for poet Christiansen, he was very excited when reading the manuscript because he realized that most Western readers only knew Vietnamese literature mainly through works about war. Meanwhile, the period 1930 - 1954 had many writers, works of high value and humanity. He also especially loved the satire and sharp irony in the short stories of Nguyen Cong Hoan and Vu Trong Phung, the poetic and gentle quality in Thach Lam's writing, and the realism in Nam Cao's writing.

It is known that after the book is published, some scholars and professors in the US and UK will include this new translation in the curriculum of the subjects of Vietnamese Studies, Southeast Asian Studies and Colonial Literature, because currently there are very few works from the period 1930 - 1954 that have been translated into English, for example, So Do and Nghi Nghe La Tay by Vu Trong Phung.

Explaining the image of rice on the book cover, Professor Ha Manh Quan said that the rice flower symbolizes the desire to have enough rice under the rule of French colonialism, and most of the works in the collection talk about the hunger, poverty, and misery of the Vietnamese people during the dark period of history. Therefore, the color and font on the cover are also designed to be a bit old-fashioned to suit that era.

PV