Huỳnh Sanh Thông (

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

, July 15, 1926 – November 15, 2008) was a Vietnamese American scholar and translator.

Life

He was born to a rice-miller mother (Lâm Thị Kén) and a Francophile primary schoolteacher father (Huỳnh Sanh Thinh) in Hóc Môn, close to Sài Gòn (now

Ho Chi Minh City , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

). When the family moved into Sài Gòn itself, Thông enrolled at the prestigious Lycée Petrus Trương Vĩnh Ký where he studied French literature, specializing particularly in the works of

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...

and La Fontaine. In 1945, he joined the clandestine Vietnamese independence movement, opposed to the

post-war In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...

re-establishment of French colonial rule in Vietnam. The following year, while working as a janitor at the US consulate, he was arrested by the French and held in a concentration camp outside

Sài Gòn , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

. Diplomatic pressure from the Americans resulted in his release, whereupon he fled to the United States as a

political refugee The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another entit ...

, arriving in

Athens, Ohio Athens is a city and the county seat of Athens County, Ohio. The population was 23,849 at the 2020 census. Located along the Hocking River within Appalachian Ohio about southeast of Columbus, Athens is best known as the home of Ohio Universit ...

in 1948. He graduated in Economics at

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

in 1951, but was particularly interested in the issue of gender inequality, which he saw as a serious problem both in the US and in his native Vietnam. As he put it in 2008: "I looked for a way to explain the difference between how responsible women and irresponsible men were treated in society, as in my own family as well as in many others I could see." He studied

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

and

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

at the Universities of Georgetown and

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

before starting work with Robert B. Jones on a Vietnamese primer that was eventually published as ''An Introduction to Spoken Vietnamese'' (1960). For the month of May 1957, Thông was appointed by the US government as the official "Vietnamese welcomer" to Ngo Dinh Diem. Later that same year, he joined the staff of

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

as a teacher of Vietnamese. He would remain associated with Yale for the rest of his life. He passed away from causes of sudden heart failure on November 17, 2008 at 82 years old.

Works and awards

Thông is best known for his English translation of

Nguyễn Du Nguyễn Du (; 3 January 1766 – 16 September 1820), pen names Tố Như () and Thanh Hiên (), is a celebrated Vietnamese poet. He is most known for writing the epic poem ''The Tale of Kiều''. Biography Youth Nguyễn Du was born in a gre ...

's ''Kim Vân Kiều'', published as ''

The Tale of Kiều ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (Yale University Press, 1973, reissued several times), and for ''An Anthology of Vietnamese Poems: From the Eleventh through the Twentieth Centuries'' (Yale). His translation of ''Flowers from Hell'' by the Vietnamese dissident poet

Nguyễn Chí Thiện Nguyễn Chí Thiện (27 February 19392 October 2012) was a North Vietnamese dissident, activist and poet who spent a total of twenty-seven years as a political prisoner of the communist regimes of both North Vietnam and of post-1975 Vietnam, ...

won the 1985 prize at the Poetry International Festival in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. He also founded th
Lac-Viet
book series, publishing work by Vietnam scholars such as

O. W. Wolters Oliver William Wolters (8 June 1915 – 5 December 2000) was a British academic, historian and author. He was also a Malayan civil servant and administrator. At his death, he was the Goldwin Smith Professor of Southeast Asian History Emeritus ...

; and the journa
''Vietnam Forum''
(16 issues, 1983–1997). In 1999, he self-published ''The Golden Serpent: How Humans Learned to Speak and Invent Culture''. He was awarded the Harry J. Benda Prize in Southeast Asia Studies in 1981, and a MacArthur "Genius" Award in 1987. List of MacArthur Fellows for July 1987

References

External links

Lac-Viet Book Series
at Yale University Press {{DEFAULTSORT:Huynh, Sanh Thong 1926 births 2008 deaths Vietnamese emigrants to the United States Vietnamese writers Vietnamese translators Ohio University alumni Yale University alumni MacArthur Fellows 20th-century translators