One of Vietnam’s most beloved novels, Toi Thay Hoa Vang Tren Co Xanh (Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass), was released in Japanese not long ago.
Toi Thay Hoa Vang Tren Co Xanh is probably Vietnam’s national favorite work of fiction. Written by Quang Nam-born author Nguyen Nhat Anh, Yellow Flowers has consistently topped the country’s best-selling list since it first came out in 2010. As of 2015, the novel had been re-released 28 times, attaining the impressive sales record of 113,000 copies.
Now, as Zing reports, the Japanese version of the book was released in Japan at the end of November by Canaria Communications. This is Anh’s second book to be translated into Japanese; the first was his 1990 novel Mat Biec, which came out in Japan in 2004.
Both novels were translated by Professor Kato Sakae, who praised Yellow Flowers for its rich, authentic portrayal of the lives of Vietnamese children. She shared with Zing that there are many details in the book that would appeal to a Japanese audience: Tuong (the protagonist) becoming the messenger in his adult neighbors’ love story, the traveling circus featuring “flying” motorcycles and even the heartbreaking life story of the town’s pariah, Tam Tang.
Nguyen Nhat Anh is one of Vietnam’s most decorated contemporary authors. His 2008 novel Cho Toi Xin Mot Ve Di Tuoi Tho (Ticket to Childhood) won the Southeast Asian Writer Award in 2010 and has since been translated and released in Thailand, South Korea and the United States.
[Photo via Zing]
