Short stories by 22 contemporary Vietnamese female writers introduced to foreign readers

The two translators, Professor Ha Manh Quan (University of Montana) and Dr. Vo Huong Quynh (American University), said that the time from selection to publication of this anthology was 2 years. According to the two translators, the reason for choosing the works to be translated this time is that they realized that Vietnamese literature translated into English is mostly classic works and short stories and novels related to war. With the aim of helping global readers have a new and multi-dimensional view of Vietnamese literature, Professor Quan and Dr. Quynh selected and translated 22 works written from 1998 to present to express the aspirations of women in the first 20 years of the 21st century.

Truyện ngắn của 22 cây bút nữ đương đại Việt Nam ra mắt độc giả nước ngoài- Ảnh 1. — Book cover and information about the book on the publisher's website

The works in Desire, translated into English for the first time , focus on the aspirations of Vietnamese women as they face suffering and struggle, hope and despair, sadness and happiness, as social and economic changes have affected their lives and values since the normalization of Vietnam-US relations in the mid-1990s. The collection includes short stories by female authors from many different regions and represents the diversity and richness of contemporary Vietnamese short stories.

The two translators said that when deciding to choose works to translate for this anthology, they had to consider very carefully because they wanted each work to have its own color and reflect a different aspect of life. There are stories that the translators are passionate about and want to translate, there are stories that the writers themselves send to the translators for consideration, and there are also stories that are nominated by scholars or writers. In addition to famous writers such as Da Ngan, Tran Thuy Mai, Vo Thi Xuan Ha, the anthology also includes works by young writers such as An Thu, Nguyen Thi Kim Hoa, Nie Thanh Mai. According to the two translators, Vietnam has 54 ethnic groups living together, so the anthology includes works about ethnic minority women, such as The sound of the mouth harp after the stone fence (Do Bich Thuy), Rain wets someone's shirt (Tong Ngoc Han)...

Dr. Vo Huong Quynh often teaches Southeast Asian literature and wishes to have more contemporary works of Vietnamese literature to introduce to American students. Professor Ha Manh Quan was once invited to teach for a year at Fulbright University in Vietnam. He realized that many lecturers and scholars in Vietnam want to have more documents on Vietnamese literature to refer to in writing international scientific research articles. He is also concerned that many American readers often think that Vietnamese literature is only encapsulated in the two words "war".

The two translators added that they chose to translate short stories because they wanted to introduce many writers with diverse viewpoints and perspectives, while translating novels only has one known author. Moreover, short stories are usually easier to incorporate into American curriculums than a novel of several hundred pages. In the US and UK, Southeast Asian Studies attracts many students, so the collection Aspiration contributes to introducing international readers to understand more about the culture, thoughts, family relationships, and life of Vietnamese people in the early 21st century.

Desire is priced at $27.95 and is available worldwide .

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