The Appeal of Kieu

TRUYEN KIEU, known as The Tale of Kieu in English world, is undoubtedly the most glorious victory in Vietnamese literature. The original story is from a Chinese prose novel, however, although with almost the same content, the original Chinese novel is not that influential in Chinese world. Why this story is attractive to Vietnamese but uninteresting to Chinese readers? Besides the story itself, is there any other reason for the Vietnamese audience to favor the Kieu? The appeal and the magic that Kieu played in Vietnam is what my paper aims to discover. Why Chinese readers are less attentive to it will be the second emphasis of this paper. The analysis will be from two approaches: the content of the story and the forms that are used. Hopefully I can get closer to answering the above questions.

The Story of Kieu
This story was based on a true event in Ming dynasty. The mounted pirate rebel leader Hsu Hai (Tu Hai) was tricked and killed. His mistress Wang Ts’us-chi’iao (Vuong Thuy Kieu), who helped make the trap and once was a courtesan, was the archetype of Kieu. An anonymous Chinese writer Ch’ing-hsin Ts’ai-jen (青心才人) adapted this historical event in a novel called Chin Yun Chiao Chuan (金雲翹傳). This novel was successfully adapted into Vietnamese long poem by Nguyen Du later around 1815. [1]
Ngueyen Du’s TRUYEN KIEU followed the basic structure of Chin Yun Chiao Chuan. We can say the contexts were almost the same. Then, what contributed to the different attitudes between Vietnamese and Chinese audience? To discover this we should not neglect the fact that culturally Vietnam was subordinate to China for a long time. Chinese novels and legends inspired Vietnamese literature on a large scale. The latter would in no way exceed the former in the variety of content. That meant a story would have struggled more in a Chinese bookstore than in a Vietnamese bookstore. There were many famous stories in Chinese that had a heroine figure or led by females. JinPingMei(金瓶梅), YuJiaoLi(玉嬌梨), to name a few, and we can even find a more well-known novel DuShiNiang(杜十娘) which had similar plots—the leading actress was a prostitute who fell in love with a humble student and drowned herself in the end of the story. At that time, stories might need to be intricate or sensational enough to appeal the Chinese audience; otherwise, they would be submerged in the cemetery of thousand books. This was probably the first clue for the question of audience attitudes.
Also we could notice that in the context of Kieu, the piety of a daughter and the Confucian doctrine was ideally performed. Refer to the historical background, Nguyen Du’s master, Gia Long, was a fan of the Great Han dynasty.[2] Han was a time that Confucianism was most esteemed. The emperor’s admiration could be relevant to the wide distribution of Kieu. Due to my narrow knowledge of Vietnam, however, I tried to find some connection or evidence to prove this clue but failed.
Another difference between Chinese and Vietnamese versions was the writing style. Without any change of storylines, Nguyeh Du intended to soften the brutal scenes and beautified the vocabularies that were used. The most sanguinary scene in the whole story, for example, was in the 18th chapter of Chinese version when Kieu took revenge on those betrayed her. The original text in Chinese was terribly detailed with brutality while the Vietnamese version was largely toned down. It seems much tender in the Vietnam version. Nguyen Du skillfully describes the scene as such, ”The executioner now received the word: /mete out such pains as fit each broken oath. /Blood flowed in streams while flesh was hacked to bits--/ the scene struck terror into every soul. / With Heaven rest all matters here below: / harm people and they’ll harm you in their turn./ Perfidious humans who do fiendish deeds/ shall suffer, crying quarter all in vain. / All soldiers, crowded on the grounds, could watch the scourge divine deal justice in broad day. ”(2387-2396) The language was purified thus was more suitable for wider readers of all ages.
Despite the similarity of the content, Kieu reached a bifurcation of audience favor in China and Vietnam. The cultural background, the historical background and the context itself should all be regarded as the possible contributors.

“Luc-bat” Verse vs. Novel Prose
Vietnam Kieu was written in “Luc-bat” form (literally, six-eight), a traditional verse form in Vietnam to tell a story. “Luc-bat” form is like a narrative long poem and has been considered to be an effective vehicle of poetic expression. (Cao Thi Nhu-Quynh; John C. Schafer. 1998)[3] Since rhyme, meter, and tonal regularity all make long stretches of six-eight verse easier to memorize and recite than any other form of poetry, it is an ideal medium for oral transmission. (Huynh Sanh Thong, 1983) In the feudal times, the prevalence of education was hard to find. Most of the people were illiterate; therefore, verse could be easier to survive. I personally think the everlasting influence of Kieu in Vietnam was, to a large extent, due to the form of verse. The long story was feasible to remember with the rhymes. At that time, only the educated minority could read books; hence, to reach the general public, the sole method was to have professional or amateur bards learn the poems by heart and recite them. (Huynh Sanh Thong, 1983) Nguyen Du’s Kieu set out from a very good starting point by choosing the right form.
Another benefit of the form of poetic verse was that the language would hardly be altered through the time. The text could remain the integrity because it was difficult to be abridged yet there was no reason to broaden the length either. Poet is the most succinct form in every language. One would admire the obsessional composition as long as one knew the language, no matter how much education one had.
There was a shift from verse to prose in Vietnamese literature that happened in 1920s.[4] Why and how this shift happened was still debatable, however, Truyen Kieu had been sitting there like a significant monument through generations. It was equivalent to the Western epics. If it was not written in verse narrative and was merely a complete translation of the original novel, I should doubt the possibility that it became so loved by all Vietnamese.

Poet is the Fairest Art of Writing
To conclude my argument, I believe that neither the story nor the form alone could make Nguyen Du’s Truyen Kieu a classical. The context itself might represent the soul of the Vietnamese; nevertheless, the form of poetic verse spread out the dissemination. It was only when Nguyen Du wrote Truyen Kieu at that time with that format, making the story distinct from others. Of course we should also honor Nguyen Du for his devotion to adapt Kieu into a long poem. Furthermore, we should definitely admire Huynh Sanh Thong for the English translation.
Poem is the fairest art of writing. It is hard to compose and is the literary creation that least possible to be translated into another language. Both the adaptation and the translation made a new format of art. They are no longer the original texts anymore and bring new meanings to different readers. Kieu is like a spell and every magician performs it differently. I wish I know how to do that spell.




Reference
1. Nguyen Du; Huynh Sanh Thong’s translation, 1983. “The Tale of Kieu”

2. Cao Thi Nhu-Quynh; John C. Schafer. 1998. “From Verse Narrative to Novel: The Development of Prose Fiction in Vietnam”
[The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 47, No. 4 (Nov., 1988), 756-777]

[1] Huynh Sanh Thong, The Tale of Kieu-Introduction, 1983, p.xx
[2] Alexander B. Woodside, The Tale of Kieu-The Historical Background, 1973, p.xiii My professor, Moss Roberts, told me. Vietnam government called itself “China中國” in Gia Long’s time
[3] [See Reference 2] p. 760
[4] [See Reference 2]