Dream memoir of Southern Man ( vi-hantu, 南翁夢錄, link=no, Vietnamese : ''Nam Ông mộng lục'') is a historical record written by Vietnamese

official An official is someone who holds an office (function or Mandate (politics), mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual Office, working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (eithe ...

Hồ Nguyên Trừng during his exile in

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

in the early 15th century. __TOC__

History

Hồ Nguyên Trừng (or Lê Trừng) was the eldest son of

Hồ Quý Ly Hồ Quý Ly ( vi-hantu, 胡季犛, 1336 – 1407?) ruled Đại Ngu (Vietnam) from 1400 to 1401 as the founding emperor of the short-lived Hồ dynasty. Quý Ly rose from a post as an official served the court of the ruling Trần dynasty and ...

who was the founder of the

Hồ dynasty The Hồ dynasty (Vietnamese: , chữ Nôm: 茹胡; Vietnamese: ''triều'' ''Hồ'', chữ Hán: wikt:朝, 朝wikt:胡, 胡), officially Đại Ngu (; chữ Hán: 大虞), was a short-lived List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty cons ...

, and a renowned military inventor of

Việt Nam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

for his innovation in making cannons and warships. After the defeat of the Hồ dynasty by the army of the

, Hồ Nguyên Trừng was captured in Hà Tĩnh in 1407 and transferred to China. He was pardoned and granted a position of supervisor in the military industry of the Ming. He was eventually promoted to Deputy Minister of Industry in the imperial court of the Ming dynasty. At the end of his life, Hồ Nguyên Trừng decided to write his memoir to express his nostalgia about his homeland

Đại Việt Đại Việt (, ; literally Great Việt), was a Vietnamese monarchy in eastern Mainland Southeast Asia from the 10th century AD to the early 19th century, centered around the region of present-day Hanoi. Its early name, Đại Cồ Việt,(ch ...

. The memoir was first published in China in 1442. Later ''Nam Ông mộng lục'' was brought back to Vietnam by the Vietnamese ambassador Lê Quý Đôn and had a considerable significance on the historiography and literature of Vietnam. In the foreword of the book, Hồ Nguyên Trừng wrote that he wanted to recite the stories that he had known in order to praise exemplary figures in history and provide those stories for readers. ''Nam Ông mộng lục'' is considered the first memoir and one of the earliest novels

văn ngôn Literary Chinese ( Vietnamese: , ; chữ Hán: 漢文, 文言) was the medium of all formal writing in Vietnam for almost all of the country's history until the early 20th century, when it was replaced by vernacular writing in Vietnamese using t ...

in the history of

Vietnamese literature Vietnamese literature () is the literature, both oral and written, created largely by the Vietnamese. Early Vietnamese literature has been greatly influenced by Chinese literature. As Literary Chinese was the formal written language for governmen ...

. However, Hồ Nguyên Trừng was not aware of the fact that his work belong to a new fictitious genre of literature instead of simply as an historical text.

''Nam Ông mộng lục'' is arranged in 31 chapters (''thiên mục''), each chapter is a story about a Vietnamese legend or a historical figure of the Lý or

Trần dynasty The Trần dynasty (Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: Nhà Trần, chữ Nôm: 茹陳; Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: triều Trần, chữ Hán: ikt:朝ikt:陳, 朝wikt:陳, 陳), officially Đại Việt (Chữ Hán: 大越), was a List ...

that Hồ Nguyên Trừng considered typical of Vietnam. Today only 28 chapters remain while 3 chapters were lost. The subjects of the memoir come from relatives of the author, emperors and princes of the Trần dynasty, to famous scholars, priests and physicians. Following is the table of contents of ''Nam Ông mộng lục'': From its contents, ''Nam Ông mộng lục'' shows an important influence of

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and

Taoism Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ' ...

during the reign of the Lý and Trần dynasties.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nam Ong mong luc Ming dynasty literature Vietnamese books 1442 books History books about Vietnam

History

Contents

References