Nguyen Du

Who is Nguyen Du?

Nguyễn Du is regarded as the greatest poet in the Vietnamese language and a national literary icon. Born into a distinguished mandarin family in Hà Tĩnh during the turbulent late Lê dynasty, he lived through the collapse of dynasties and the rise of the Nguyễn, serving as an official and once traveling as an envoy to China. His enduring masterpiece is 'The Tale of Kiều' (Truyện Kiều), a narrative poem of 3,254 lines in the traditional lục bát (six-eight) verse form, telling the story of the beautiful and talented Thúy Kiều who sacrifices herself and endures years of suffering to save her family. The poem explores fate, virtue, injustice and the Buddhist notion of karma, and its verses are so beloved that they are quoted, memorized and used in fortune-telling throughout Vietnam. UNESCO commemorated the 250th anniversary of his birth in 2015.

Sources: Nguyễn Du, 'The Tale of Kiều' (Truyện Kiều), critical edition trans. Huỳnh Sanh Thông (1983) · UNESCO 2015 anniversary commemoration of Nguyễn Du