New Books on Vietnam from Cornel SEA Program
From: "Tai VanTa" <taivanta@yahoo.com>
To: "Judith Henchy" <judithh@u.washington.edu>; "Vietnam Studies Group"
<vsg@u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 4:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Vsg] New Books on Vietnam from Cornel SEA Program
> Dear VSG members:
> Thank professor Judith Henchy for calling our
> attention to the two very good reports on 17th Century
> Vietnam in Borri's and Baron's books.When writing my
> books, "The Le Code: Law in Traditional Vietnam" and
> "The Vietnamese Tradition of Human Rights", I used
> these books a lot (even reproducing the Baron's
> sketches on life in old Vietnam in one book). We dug
> them out of the rare book room at Harvard University,
> and felt as if we were explorers into the ancient
> world to find gems. We would highly recommended Borri
> and Baron's book for members who want to see
> continuity in Vietnamese history, society and culture,
> as distinguised from Chinese (as pointed out by
> Baron)--especially with the annotations of Professors
> Dror and Taylor.
> Tai Van Ta
> --- Judith Henchy <judithh@u.washington.edu> wrote:
>
>> Re: Books on Vietnam for VSGFolks,
>>
>> Cornell University SEA Program asked me to forward
>> this list of new Vietnam related titles to the list.
>>
>> Judith
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Deborah Homsher
>> To: Judith Henchy
>> Cc: mdm44@cornell.edu ; olgadror@neo.tamu.edu
>> Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 1:52 PM
>> Subject: Re: Books on Vietnam for VSG
>>
>>
>> New Book, Just Published by the Cornell Southeast
>> Asia Program:
>>
>>
>> Views of Seventeenth-Century Vietnam: Christoforo
>> Borri on Cochinchina and Samuel Baron on Tonkin,
>> edited and annotated by Olga Dror and K. W. Taylor
>>
>>
>> This new title introduces two of the earliest
>> writings about Vietnam to appear in the English
>> language. The reports come from narrators with
>> different interests who are viewing different parts
>> of Vietnam at an early stage of European involvement
>> in the region. The book's introduction investigates
>> and details the extraordinary career of the Jesuit,
>> Father Christoforo Borri--his missionary work and
>> his involvement in seventeenth-century astronomical
>> debates--as well as the life of the trader, Samuel
>> Baron. $18 paperback. ISBN 0877277419
>>
>>
>> Please see our website,
>> www.einaudi.cornell.edu/southeastasia/publications,
>> for more information.
>>
>>
>> Other Recent Titles on Vietnam from the Cornell
>> Southeast Asia Program:
>>
>>
>> Possessed by the Spirits: Mediumship in Contemporary
>> Vietnamese Communities, edited by Karen Fjelstad and
>> Nguyen Thi Hien
>>
>>
>> Essays examining the resurgence of the Mother
>> Goddess religion among contemporary Vietnamese
>> following the economic "Renovation" period in
>> Vietnam. Anthropologists explore the forces that
>> compel individuals to become mediums and the social
>> repercussions of their decisions and interactions.
>> $16 pb. ISBN 0877271410
>>
>>
>> The Industry of Marrying Europeans, by Vu Trong
>> Phung, translated, with introduction, by Thuy
>> Tranviet
>>
>>
>> Written in the 1930s, this work reports and expands
>> on the author's meetings with North Vietnamese women
>> who had made an "industry" of marrying European men.
>> It is notable for its sharp observations, pointed
>> humor, and unconventional mix of nonfictional and
>> fictional narration, as well as for its attention to
>> voice: Vu Trong Phung records the French-Vietnamese
>> pidgin dialect spoken by these couples. This
>> prolific writer died at age twenty-seven, leaving
>> behind one of the most impressive bodies of work in
>> modern Vietnamese literature. $10 pb. ISBN
>> 0877271402
>>
>>
>> Southern Vietnam under the Reign of Minh Mang
>> (1820-1841): Central Policies and Local Response,
>> by Choi Byung Wook.
>> This study of nineteenth-century Vietnam
>> focuses on interactions between the Vietnamese king,
>> Minh Mang, and the heterogeneous southern region of
>> the country, which he sought to bring more firmly
>> under state control through a series of policies
>> intended to "Vietnamize" the populace and unite
>> north and south. $16 pb. ISBN 0877271380
>>
>>
>> Opusculum de Sectis Apud Sinenses et Tunkinenses (A
>> Small Treatise on the Sects among the Chinese and
>> Tonkinese), by Fr. Adriano di St. Thecla. A Study of
>> Religion in China and North Vietnam in the
>> Eighteenth Century. Translated and annotated with
>> introductory essay by Olga Dror.
>> This 1750 text, written by a Catholic
>> missionary in Tonkin, is the earliest known
>> systematic first-hand account of Vietnamese
>> religious practice, including chapters on
>> Confucianism, Buddhism, the worship of spirits,
>> magicians, fortune tellers and diviners, and
>> Christianity in the region. Includes a facsimile of
>> the original manuscript. $25 pb. ISBN 08772773X
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Deborah Homsher
>> Managing Editor
>> Southeast Asia Program Publications
>> The Kahin Center, Cornell University
>> 640 Stewart Avenue >> Ithaca, NY 14850
>>
>> Phone: 607 255 4359
>> Fax: 607 277 1904
>> www.einaudi.cornell.edu/southeastasia/publications