VietNamNet Bridge – The Esperanto version of Dang Thuy Tram's Diary – the 2005 Vietnamese best-seller has been presented to the public in Ha Noi yesterday, July 14.

Worldly words: Nguyen Van Loi, chairman of the Viet Nam Esperanto Association (left), gives an Esperanto translation of the Dang Thuy Tram's Diary to Doan Ngoc Tram, the author's mother, at the book's launch in Ha Noi yesterday. (Photo: VNS)

Penned by the North Vietnamese female doctor Dang Thuy Tram in the 1960s while working in a field hospital in the central Quang Ngai Province, the diary reveals the doctor's emotional tumult and personal aspirations. The young doctor was killed by US troops in June 1970 at the age of 27.

The diary was found and preserved by an American soldier, Fred Whitehurst, 35 years before he donated it to the Vietnam Center and Archive at Texas Tech University. Officials, with the aid of veteran Tom Engelmann and American writer Lady Borton, were able to locate Tram's family. The diary was returned to Tram's family in 2005.

In the same year, thousands of copies of the diary were published in Viet Nam, becoming a phenomenon.

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan, who was involved in the book's translation said: "Book translation is never a simple job. It is more difficult to translate a diary because it expresses the inner thoughts and meditations of a young, graceful, and unyielding woman. All the translators tried their best to express the spirit of the book."

Speaking at the book release ceremony, mother of the heroine, Doan Ngoc Tram, highly appreciated the Vietnamese translators who made the book accessible to the international community.

"I hope the Esperanto-language Last Night, I Dreamed of Peace will help international friends understand more of Viet Nam, and thus strengthen their relationships."

The diary has already been translated into 18 different languages. A movie adapted from the diary won the Golden Kite prize of the Viet Nam Cinematography Association in 2010.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News