CHINH PHU NGAM | 1985 EDIZ. NUMERATA no 98 | D. T. CON-D. T. DIEM

Chinh Phu Ngam (The Lament of the Soldier’s Wife) is a cornerstone of Vietnamese classical poetry, composed by Đặng Trần Côn in classical Chinese and translated into Nôm verse by Đoàn Thị Diễm in the 18th century. The work expresses the grief and longing of a woman whose husband has gone to war, intertwining personal sorrow with reflections on fate, loyalty, and the burdens of duty. Written in refined lyrical style, it merges vivid natural imagery with meditations on impermanence, embodying the aesthetics of pre-modern Vietnamese literature. This 1985 limited edition (no. 98) represents a collector’s printing, likely emphasizing typographical care and presentation, preserving a canonical text of Vietnamese culture. Its historical and literary relevance lies in how it voices women’s perspective and emotional depth within a Confucian society, shaping the canon of love and separation poetry in Vietnam.