Poems from the Prison Diary of Ho Chi Minh

Rating:
Summary: Ho Chi Minh in fine rhymed verse
Review: Steve Bradbury's selection from the prison diary poems of Vietnam's "founding father", is a delight. These poems were writtten in classical Chinese, in the concise lines, and rigidly rhymed verse preferred by China's greatest poets. Ho, who was already leading the Vietnamese anti-colonial forces (attempting to oust the Japanese,and to be ready to oust the French when they returned after WWII)was imprisoned in China while trying to enlist the aid of the Nationalist (yes) Chinese and the American military in China. He wrote these poems both to while away dungeon time, and, probably, in an attempt to prove to his Chinese guests that he was what he claimed, a potential ally. By his use of classical Chinese language and forms he also showed that he was an educated man, and a sinophile (or lover of traditional Chinese culture). Bradbury's brief introduction makes all this and more clearer than I have here.
Knee-jerk defenders of "free verse" as the only language acceptible for the translation of classical Chinese be warned: Bradbury's translations are almost as formally traditional as Ho's own, and if you dare read them, you may face a crisis of faith...it is clear to me, at least, that these translations "prove" that at least a certain kind of poem (short, light, and for the most part witty rather than deeply emotional) can in fact be done well in rhymed verse. Ho is trying to impress his captors as funny, likeable, a man who can face adversity with courage...in short, as the traditional Confucian hero figure that the Nationalist leaders all wished they were. Since rhyme and strict metrical conventions have been mainly limited to light verse in American English for the last hundred years, readers who get far enough into this book to see what Ho (and Bradbury) are about...they'll find that an enjoyable read, and a nice little look at the diplomatic talents of "Uncle Ho" (if nothing more) are here available.
Incidentally, anyone who thinks Bradbury must be some dried up hermit from the nineteenth cerntury who never heard about "free verse", check his translation of Hsia Yu's Fusion Kitsch, also available from Amazon. It's my nomination as maybe the best book of poems in English in 2001...certainly the best translation (unless one of my books came out that year, and maybe even then?)

Rating:
Summary: poetic revolutionary
Review: Steve Bradbury's selection from the prison diary poems of Vietnam's "founding father", is a delight. These poems were writtten in classical Chinese, in the concise lines, and rigidly rhymed verse preferred by China's greatest poets. Ho, who was already leading the Vietnamese anti-colonial forces (attempting to oust the Japanese,and to be ready to oust the French when they returned after WWII)was imprisoned in China while trying to enlist the aid of the Nationalist (yes) Chinese and the American military in China. He wrote these poems both to while away dungeon time, and, probably, in an attempt to prove to his Chinese guests that he was what he claimed, a potential ally. By his use of classical Chinese language and forms he also showed that he was an educated man, and a sinophile (or lover of traditional Chinese culture). Bradbury's brief introduction makes all this and more clearer than I have here.
Knee-jerk defenders of "free verse" as the only language acceptible for the translation of classical Chinese be warned: Bradbury's translations are almost as formally traditional as Ho's own, and if you dare read them, you may face a crisis of faith...it is clear to me, at least, that these translations "prove" that at least a certain kind of poem (short, light, and for the most part witty rather than deeply emotional) can in fact be done well in rhymed verse. Ho is trying to impress his captors as funny, likeable, a man who can face adversity with courage...in short, as the traditional Confucian hero figure that the Nationalist leaders all wished they were. Since rhyme and strict metrical conventions have been mainly limited to light verse in American English for the last hundred years, readers who get far enough into this book to see what Ho (and Bradbury) are about...they'll find that an enjoyable read, and a nice little look at the diplomatic talents of "Uncle Ho" (if nothing more) are here available.
Incidentally, anyone who thinks Bradbury must be some dried up hermit from the nineteenth cerntury who never heard about "free verse", check his translation of Hsia Yu's Fusion Kitsch, also available from Amazon. It's my nomination as maybe the best book of poems in English in 2001...certainly the best translation (unless one of my books came out that year, and maybe even then?)

Rating:
Summary: poetic revolutionary
Review: This is a fascinating little book and a real eye-opener. Everybody knows Ho Chi Minh was the father of modern Viet Nam and one of the great revolutionaries of the last century and one of the very few who wasn't a total monster. But I don't think many people know that he was also a pretty good poet, at least judging from the translations in this volume, which are beautifully rendered into fixed rhyme and meter. Ho wrote these poems in Chinese when he was a prisoner during World War II. I read a free verse translation of Ho's Prison Diary a long time ago but it was awfully prosaic. These translations are not only poetic but showcase Ho's poetic and diplomatic skills and convey a vivid sense of his personality and the context in which he was writing. The translator has only translated half the poems in The Prison Diary, but he more than makes up for this loss with an introduction that is as entertaining as it is informative.