Culture Vulture

The former journalist talks with Culture Vulture about his website.

Why did you decide to construct a website to allow internet users to vote their most favourite Vietnamese poems?

I compose prose and I love poetry. I have always dreamed of publishing a collection of the most popular Vietnamese poems. This is a very difficult task and I had not been able to start yet until the collection of 20th century Vietnamese poems was published, which has been much criticised by the media.

I then decided to do things my own way via the website.

What criteria did you use to select the poems posted on your website? Because a good poem may sound simple in language but convey extremely abstract ideas.

Well, I've put forward some criteria for my selection. Firstly, the poems should portray real life and real emotions, not written to commission for commercial gain.

Then, after my initial selection, people can vote on them. People email me their favourite poems. I then post them on the website. Other web users can comment on the poems and based on that, I can see which are the most popular.

Are you not confident enough in your ability to judge the poems and need the help of your website readers?

The State has established an institute for researching literature including poetry. How can I do that by myself, it's a huge task? I've spent a lot of energy and time gathering poems. That's why I've asked for help from the internet users.

How have you found your selection of the best Vietnamese poems differs from other people?

The poems appearing on my website are very different from other people's choices. Most recent official collections take famous poems, but that does not necessarily mean they are really good.

I have done the opposite: I've deliberately excluded many famous poems. For example, out of the 100 interesting poems of the 20th century published, I've taken only 15.

You dare to exclude the most famous poems? Then how many poems left for your selection?

That's the most interesting thing. I've revived many poems that were otherwise forgotten, and which have not been officially deemed as "good" so far. I introduced Ha Noi Pho (Ha Noi's Streets) by Phan Vu into the selection list, which surprised many people. Many people love the song Em Oi Ha Noi Pho (My Dear Ha Noi Streets) by musician Phu Quang without knowing that the song words have been modified from Vu's poem. They're like priceless gems that have been neglected in a store of old things.

What response have you had from your online readership?

The number of visitors is increasing daily but it's not as high as other websites. But I don't think this is important. I created the website to store good poems as chosen by internet users. That's good enough for me.

Most of poems featured on my website are taken from reliable sources and then compared with other versions to find the most exact version. I think this is useful to many people, especially students, and domestic and overseas researchers.

What is your hope from the website?

I want to translate the most highly rated poems into English, French, Chinese, German, Japanese and Korean to introduce Vietnamese poems to foreign readers. This is quite challenging as it is not easy to choose suitable translators and it is also costly. I have decided to concentrate on translating them into Chinese first. — VNS