Review: John Balaban on the Tale of Kieu

The Truyện Kiều, or the Tale of Kieu, as it is usually translated, is the great national poem of Vietnam. It was written sometime in the early 1800s, passed around among literati, and, decades later, produced in several woodblock versions, but no text has yet been found in the hand of its author, the poet and renowned diplomat, Nguyen Du, ambassador to …