On the occasion of the Lunar New Year of the Horse, we will have a conversation with Dr. Phan Diễm Phương, Doctor of Literature and author of the recently published volume Four Representative Poetic Forms of the Vietnamese.

Dr. Phan Diễm Phương taught for many years at the Faculty of Literature, Vinh University of Education. In 1986, she moved to work at the Department of Modern Vietnamese Literature, Institute of Literature, under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, where she served until her retirement.

Throughout her career, she has produced a number of deeply specialized and distinctive scholarly works. Among her single-author publications are the monograph Lục bát and Song thất lục bát (Historical Development and Generic Characteristics), published in 1998, and The Self-Explanations of Literature (2000), a collection of critical essays and studies reflecting her rigorous and contemplative approach to literary scholarship.

In addition, Dr. Phan Diễm Phương has contributed to several major collaborative works of lasting significance to Vietnamese literary studies, including Vietnamese Syllables and the Language of Poetry (2017); Dictionary of Vietnamese Prose Works, Vol. 1 (2006); Vietnam: Half a Century of Literature (1945–1995) (1997); Dictionary of Literary Terms (1992; reissued 2004); and Further Reflections on Nam Cao (1992). Together, these works reflect a sustained and coherent scholarly trajectory, closely interweaving poetics, literary history, and literary theory and criticism.

Throughout her teaching and research career, one area to which she has been especially devoted is the study of poetic prosody. Her newly released book, Four Representative Poetic Forms of the Vietnamese, is the culmination of many years of research on the lục bát form, the song thất lục bát form, hát nói, and the eight-syllable verse form—each of which represents a highly valuable creative achievement of generations of talented poets within Vietnam’s indigenous prosodic tradition.

Read The Voice of Literature by Dr. Phan Diem Phuong on Digitizing Việt Nam.