Francis Nguyễn Trọng Trí, penname Hàn Mặc Tử (September 22, 1912 – November 11, 1940), was a Vietnamese poet. He was the most celebrated Vietnamese Catholic literary figure during the colonial era. He was born Nguyễn Trọng Trí, at Lệ Mỹ Village, Đồng Hới District, Quảng Bình Province. His

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

s included Minh Duệ, Phong Trần, Lệ Thanh, and finally Hàn Mặc Tử, by which name is known today. He grew up in a poor family, his father having died when he was young. He showed poetic talent at a young age. When he met

Phan Bội Châu Phan Bội Châu (; 26 December 1867 – 29 October 1940), born Phan Văn San, courtesy name Hải Thụ (later changed to Sào Nam), was a pioneer of Vietnamese 20th century nationalism. In 1903, he formed a revolutionary organization called ' ...

, he received encouragement and praise that made him well known. He contracted

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...

in 1937, and was finally hospitalized at Quy Hòa Hospital in September 1940, where he died two months later. His many poems addressed to real or fictive women—in the manner of

Giacomo Leopardi Count Giacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi (, ; 29 June 1798 – 14 June 1837) was an Italian philosopher, poet, essayist, and philologist. He is considered the greatest Italian poet of the nineteenth century and one of ...

in the West, for example—remain popular, and he is known as a love poet in Vietnam. His poems on folk subjects are also well known.

Poetry

Hàn Mặc Tử's early poems—praised by

—are famous for their purity of diction and form, and show him to be a fluent Classicist with a strong interest in realistic subjects. Subsequently, his poetry showed the influence of

French Symbolism Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

, and after he fell sick, became increasingly violent and despondent. Personal despair combined with the search for poetic novelty led him to found the short-lived "Chaos" (''Loạn'') or "Mad" (''Ðiên'') school of poetry. More than a love poet, Hàn Mặc Tử was a Modernist, who sought to fuse, in a new poetic language, disparate traditions and experiences. Beginning with poems that refreshed the Classical tradition, he went on to absorb the French influence, which he directed toward the turbulence of his own painful history. His language, increasingly tortured, remained both Classical and innovative throughout; and though a Catholic, he made frequent use of Buddhist ideas and imagery.

Collections

*''Gái Quê'' (Country Girls) 1936, the only collection published during his lifetime *''Chơi Giữa Mùa Trăng'' (Playing in the Moon Season) *''Xuân Như Ý'' (Ideal Spring) *''Ðau Thương'' (Suffering) *''Thượng Thanh Khí'' (Fresh Air Above) *''Cẩm Châu Duyên'' (Cẩm Châu Coast). *''Đây thôn Vĩ dạ''

Poetry in English

Hàn Mặc Tử's poetry has not appeared in credible English translations. His complex late style compounds the problems related to translating Vietnamese poetry into English; while the purity of his early style presents another set of challenges. A bilingual Vietnamese–French choice of his poetry was published in 2001 by French scholar Hélène Péras (
Le Hameau des roseaux
', Aryufen).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Han Mac Tu 1912 births 1940 deaths Vietnamese male poets Vietnamese Roman Catholics Deaths from leprosy People from Quảng Bình province Infectious disease deaths in Vietnam 20th-century Vietnamese poets 20th-century male writers