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Truyện Kiều – The Tale of Kiều at the

March 28, British Library
2013 jigunma collection Vietnamese manuscript 2 Comments

Sud Chonchirdsin, British Library

Truyện Kiều (The Tale of Kiều), written by Nguyễn Du (1766-1820) is regarded as

the most significant poem in Vietnamese literature. It was composed in lục-bát
(6/8) stanzas and its original title in Vietnamese is Ðoạn Trường Tân Thanh (A
New Cry From a Broken Heart). However, it is better known as Truyện Kiều or Kim
Văn Kiều.

The story is based on a seventeenth century Ming Chinese novel which Nguyễn Du
discovered while he was on an ambassadorial mission to China in 1813. The plot
portrays the chaotic political and social circumstances of Vietnam in the eighteenth
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4/20/24, 11:15 AM Vietnamese manuscript | Southeast Asia Library Group (SEALG)
century arising from political infighting. The theme of the story is filial piety, one of
the main tenets of Confucianism. It recounts the life and trials of a beautiful and
talented young woman who sacrificed her happiness to save her disgraced family.
She had to go through many sufferings, such as being lured into prostitution, being
wed to a man who was already married, and being thrown out of a Buddhist
sanctuary before she was finally reunited with her first love. However, this reunion
did not bring earthly joy for Kiều, who chose to devote her life to serving her family
as filial piety demanded.

Or.14844, folio 12

Literature critics have argued that the theme of the story is an allegory of Nguyễn
Du’s guilt and conflict of interest in agreeing to work for the new regime (the
Nguyễn dynasty, 1802-1945) which had been indirectly involved in the overthrow of
his former master. This behaviour was unacceptable in traditional Confucian
Vietnamese society as it was tantamount to betraying filial piety. Hence the theme
of the story was a poignant reminder for Nguyễn Du, who was born into a high
profile mandarin family, and whose father served as a high ranking minister under
the Le dynasty.

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Woven silk cover of the book

The copy of the Truyện Kiều manuscript held at the British Library (reference
number Or.14844) was completed around 1894. It is written in Chữ Nôm (Sino-
Vietnamese characters). Each page is beautifully illustrated with scenes from the
story. It is bound in a royal yellow silk cover with dragon patterns. Nguyễn Quang
Tuấn, an independent Vietnamese scholar who inspected the manuscript, is of the
opinion that this manuscript bears some royal significance because the dragon on
the cover has five claws, which was normally reserved for imperial use only.
Another significant feature of this manuscript is that it bears annotations by Paul
Pelliot (1898-1945), the renowned French Sinologist, who bought the manuscript in
1929.

A digital copy of the book is available online .

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