Être mère au Viet Nam (i)

From poet Chế Lan Viên and La Maison des Éditions en Langues Étrangères

A mother’s work in Viet Nam

(Làm mẹ ở Việt Nam)

A mother’s work in Viet Nam is not easy, elsewhere, it is to teach children to gather flowers, with us, it’s to teach them to get down in the trenches, other mothers teach them birdsong and music, for us our task is to teach them to tell the thrumming of a B-52 from ack-ack, from the Phantom’s terrible groan

o Holy Mary across 1969 years you have held your child in your arms, do you know that the mothers of Viet Nam wither waking night after night for month after month far from their children taken away to safety? These are times when the only task is to teach children to become men, these are times when it is required to do more: teach them to become heroes, such is the task of mothers in my country.

With love to my friend Hữu Ngọc and his chief Nguyẽn Khắc Viện, who edited and published this volume in great hopes for peace in 1977,

at the publishing house where Ngọc welcomed me 20 years later and I met Viện on his deathbed around the corner.

This is the first Viet Nam letter of 2 so far addressing Mireille Gansel’s translation “Être mère au Viet Nam” with poet Xuân Diệu and editor Hữu Ngọc from the work of poet Chế Lan Viên. The second appeared on December 27, 2022.

We twice have addressed as well their translation “Poème des chauffeurs de camion sans pare-brise” by poet Phạm Tiến Duật, first on December 18, 2022, the again on January 8, 2023.

We have written once only on the 3 friends’ translation “Chaque jour je viens quand même” from poet Hoàng Trung Thông on November 7, 2022, “Questions sous terre” from poet Tế Hanh on December 9, 2022, and on “Les fleurs s'ouvrent sur ta tombe” from poet Thanh Hai on February 7, 2023.

We have written letters as well about Sang et Fleurs, her collection of translations with Xuân Diệu from poet Tố Hữu. We sent the first of 5 on February 28, 2023, the second on March 3, 2023, the third on March 9, 2023, the fourth on March 12, 2023, and the fifth on March 24, 2023.

We have written once so far about her recollection and study of translation, Traduire Comme Transhumer.

Viet Nam letters respects the property of others under paragraph 107 of United States Code Title 17. If we asked for permission it wouldn’t be criticism. We explain our fair use at length in the letter of September 12, 2022.

The colophon of these Viet Nam letters, directly above, shows the janitor speaking with poet David A. Willson on a Veterans Day.