VietNamNet Bridge – A poem written by a well-known modern Vietnamese poet was accidentally added to a dictionary of Vietnamese folklore by a national literature research project.

Tran Dang Khoa's poem mistakenly included in Bac Lieu Folklore Book.

The poet, Tran Dang Khoa, wrote Di Danh Than Han or “Fighting with the Drought Deity” in September of 1970, when he was 11 years old. The work was printed in over 30 compilations. Despite the date and popularity of the modern poem, it was somehow included in the dictionary of Vietnamese folklore, published in late 2012 by Labour Publishing House. The dictionary was published as part of a research project funded by the government and overseen by the Institute of Literature, with Dr. Nguyen Thi Hue acting as chief editor.

The project drew the involvement of several other prestigious scholars including Dr. Tran Thi An, Dr. Nguyen Huy Binh, Dr. Nguyen Thi Nguyet, Dr. Bui Thi Thien Thai and MA Dang Thi Thu Ha.

The incident has stirred up public concern over the efficiency of government-funded scientific research projects as well as the accountability of those who take part in such projects.

Many find it hard to understand why the dictionary’s editorial staff did not notice such a glaring error in the editorial process, as a quick Google search would supply the date Tran Dang Khoa wrote his poem.

A picture illustrating the poem Di Danh Than Han or “Fighting with the Drought Deity” drawn by artist Chuong Qua in 1970.

The dictionary’s chief editor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Hue has passed the blame onto the rest of the editorial staff for not having checked.

“I’m absolutely surprised by this incident. Actually we followed a strict compiling process and hope that the poet would be sympathetic about this minor oversight,” Hue said.

She explained that they used a book entitled Bac Lieu Folklore Book for reference while compiling the dictionary. "Since its publication nobody questioned the information printed in the book, so we thought it suitable to use as a reference," she added.

She denied accusations of having been careless and commented that mistakenly categorising popular literary works as folklore is normal.

Poet Tran Dang Khoa disagreed however. In a letter sent to Hue and the Institute of Literature, he said, “I’m feel the need to speak out against this. This is a dictionary and accuracy must be the top priority of the editors. It is also a government-funded project, which means that they're using the people's money, so efficiency is also to be considered. We are only human beings and we all make mistakes. But they must be corrected as soon as they are found."

Source: DTriNews