Vietnamese Legends By George F. Schultz Kindle Edition Vietnamese Legends This collection of Vietnamese mythology will be of great interest to cultural scholars as well as people of Vietnamese descent.The history of every country is reflected in its myths and legends and this absorbing collection of thirty two stories vary from the sweep and grandeur of past battles, to the wit of parables.While a number of Chinese fables have absorbed into the folk lore of Vietnam, The story of Tam and Cam is the Vietnamese version of a Chinese Cinderella story. Most of these tales are indigenous to the Vietnamese. But whether imported or Vietnam originals, all of these stories contain an Oriental charm and logic that will intrigue the modern reader. These range from lengthy legend Trach Sanh, to ‘Statesman Ly, a remarkable comment from the past, illustrating the situation today.Many of these stories reflect the fierce respect Vietnamese hold for honor. Filial and conjugal love, devotion to ones friends, are constant themes characteristic of the Vietnamese people. Particularly noteworthy is the authors success in retaining this atmosphere in translation. These stories vividly portray a Vietnamese way of thinking that make a book of rare appeal to the western reader. The history of every country is reflected in its myths and legends and this absorbing collection of thirty two stories vary from the sweep and grandeur of past battles to the wit of parables. While a number of Chinese fables have absorbed into the folk lore of Vietnam The story of Tam and Cam is the Vietnamese version of a Chinese Cinderella story Most of these tales are indigenous to the Vietnamese But whether imported or Vietnam originals all of these stories contain an Oriental charm and logic that will intrigue the modern reader These range from lengthy legend Trach Sanh to Statesman Ly a remarkable comment from the past illustrating the situation today. Many of these stories reflect the fierce respect Vietnamese hold for honor Filial and conjugal love devotion to one s friends are constant themes characteristic of the Vietnamese people Particularly noteworthy is the author s success in retaining this atmosphere in translation These stories vividly portray a Vietnamese way of thinking that make a book of rare appeal to the western reader Vietnamese LegendsA nice collection of 32 Vietnamese folk tales heavily influenced by Chinese doctrines of Taoism and specially Confucianism and it is precisely there that the problem lies In short the book is a recollection or translation of the folk tales themselves for their own entertainment There is no bibliography for where the original texts were acquired or if they were passed orally to Schultz who told them to him and where in Vietnam this happened There is a literal total lack of ethnographic commentary on the stories to the point where the reader who doesn t know better would take stories of Vietnamese literati of Chinese education and taste influenced by Confucianism and Taoism as being the authentic ethnic folklore of the mass of Viet people I am not demanding a dull or academic book full of essay length commentary on these stories only the most basic sort where do they came from from what ethnic group if they re influenced by any extraneous non folkloric material as is commonly the case with old material in areas influenced by Confucian China what s the dispersion of the story around Asia and the world etc If you want to read this book to learn about Vietnamese folkloric legends or the authentic mythology of the Vietnamese you will be disappointed. On the other hand the stories themselves are highly enjoyable for the reader of folklore and two in particular stand out the longest one Thach Sanh in reality a late eighteenth century Vietnamese classical novel written in vernacular ch N m script and l c b t 6 8 verse The author is unknown and it has elements of popular folklore and myth an epic type heroic story and The Story of Tam and Cam the Vietnamese Cinderella Schultz informs the uninformed at the start that the first attested story of the Cinderella type is Chinese and to a perceptive materialist this may immediately make sense the foot mutilation that the sisters undergo makes complete sense in the set of social relations that led to the practice of foot binding women How such a story would go to Vietnam is no mystery and there is no foot mutilation here though there is the sandal motif what is a mystery is where it got to Europe where small dainty feet were not the be all end all of attractiveness Tam reincarnates as a nightingale and returns to her husband and it reminds one of Ovid s Metamorphoses and importantly is reincarnated yet again as a tree which bears a fruit which is plucked by an old woman who promises to cherish it from which Tam is reborn the heavy Buddhist tone of the story then might explain the similar motif in Japanese tales like The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter and Momotar folk belief in Buddhist reincarnation maybe through fruit It did give me a lot to ponder over I just wish there was substance on the writer s behalf here The tales themselves are guiltless and faultless and rather charming and enjoyable 120

Vietnamese Legends By George F. Schultz

English

120

Kindle Edition

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This collection of Vietnamese mythology will be of great interest to cultural scholars as well as people of Vietnamese descent