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| Minh Tu, the author, shares about his newly reprinted book |
The launch of the bilingual work “Yellow Apricot tree in the front yard: Fascinating stories about Hue - an ancient, poetic and glamorous land” organized by the Women's Publishing House and author Minh Tu, took place on the morning of June 2 at the Thua Thien Hue General Library (29A Le Quy Don, Hue City), attracting a large number of readers, those who love Hue, and those who love Hue culture to attend and chat with the author.
“Yellow Apricot tree in the front yard: Fascinating stories about Hue - an ancient, poetic and glamorous land” is a collection of notes about Hue by Minh Tu, a journalist currently working in Hue. This book was previously published and warmly received by readers in 2016.
However, in this reprint, readers will be inspired anew when holding the book with meticulous updates and revisions by the author, along with many vivid images and a soft, elegant cover design. In addition to the 36 articles in Vietnamese, there is also an English translation by Khuu Ngo - as a souvenir that author Minh Tu and the Vietnam Women's Publishing House want to give to international visitors.
This heartfelt collection of notes will provide readers with lively information about a place called Hue, and the lifestyle of the people in that place, with different perspectives. A land where, from the moment of creation, the sun has been different, the rain has been unlike any other, the shape of the rivers and mountains, the trees and birds, the way people eat and live... all bear unique characteristics. This is referred to as the lifestyle of the people of Hue, briefly called “Hue style”. Also, the yellow apricot tree in front of the house of a person in Hue carries a different philosophy.
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| Mr. Phan Ngoc Tho, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, shares at the exchange session as both a reader and the initiator of the “yellow apricot tree in the front yard” movement |
Talking about his book, author Minh Tu sincerely shares: "The years I spent as a Hue person living away from Hue, and thus understanding more clearly, more objectively, the unique identity of this place... This book invites you to explore the art of living of the people of Hue, though it cannot capture all the colors and flavors of the “Hue style”. It is only the states of Hue that I 'read' and recounted in the way of a journalist."
In the epilogue, Vinh Quyen, a writer, remarks that this is a free-spirited collection of notes by a person who indulges in pleasure in a refined manner and, above all, loves passionately the living space of his glamorous moss-covered city - so do not read it as a methodical treatise, but rather leisurely converse with it to ease homesickness, or have it guide you on your first visit to the noble land. Or even when living in that space, reading it will make the Huong River suddenly greener, the yellow apricot flowers gently rustle in the sacred early spring breeze, and the hot spicy beef noodle soup by the roadside every morning taste better...
“In this book by Minh Tu, there is the mark of a time living outside Hue and the perspective and thinking of a journalist, which makes it different from authors who write about Hue - their homeland - with an endearingly extreme spirit like ‘no place else has this’ or ‘it can never change’. And, if you remember Minh Tu as a poet, you can hope and wait for his new book soon, where Hue will appear under the blazing sun or in the drizzling rain, both real and surreal, and in the Hue language that is both everyday life and distilled like folk songs,” the writer Vinh Quyen notes.
By N. MINH