HÀ NỘI — Four new classical and contemporary Russian literary works have been translated into Vietnamese, making them available for local readers.

The publications include Đầu xanh tuổi trẻ (The raw youth) written  by Fyodor Dostoyevsky; and the comedy in verse Khổ vì trí tuệ (Woe from wit) written by Alexander Griboyedov, which satirises the society of post-Napoleonic Moscow.

Additionally, two contemporary short story collections by several Russian writers were also translated into Vietnamese. They are Kinh nghiệm tình ái (Love experience) and Đôi cánh (Wings).

The publication of the books is part of a long-term project, which has been jointly carried out since 2012, on translating literature from Russian into Vietnamese and vice versa, under the patronage of Russia’s President Putin, said Russian Ambassador to Việt Nam Konstantin Vasilevich Vnukov at the book launching ceremony last Friday evening (August 25).

The project has been carried out by the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Hà Nội, the Việt Nam-Russia Literature Fund and well-known Vietnamese translators.

Translator Hoàng Thúy Toàn, director of the Việt Nam-Russia Literature Fund emphasised that Russian literature has had a great influence on shaping the style of many Vietnamese writers.

“Russian culture has a lasting vitality in the hearts of the Vietnamese people. I believe that the cooperation in culture and literature will be the basis for the two countries to build and develop their partnership in many other fields,” he said.

“Russian playwright and poet Griboyedov’s works have been taught at universities in Việt Nam for a very long time. The lessons have become easier for our students as they can read some of his works in Vietnamese. Late Vietnamese movie director Đình Quang sang the praise of his comedy Woe from wit many times and wished that one day this comedy would be staged in Việt Nam. Now, there are many chances for his wish to become a reality,” he said.

Nguyễn Chiến, one of the translators of the books, hoped that many other young translators could help him and other older translators continue the translation of good Russian work.

“I have been teaching Russian literature for over 30 years at Hà Nội University, and have translated hundreds of Russian works with my colleagues. I believe that human cooperation is the basis for partners to build strong relations in many other sectors. Russian literature has had strong influences in shaping the style of many Vietnamese authors,” he said. — VNS