The story behind the story

LINKS TO VIETNAMESE MEDIA

ENDORSEMENTS

Xie Lingjie dedicated ten years to her first full-length novel and brought readers a remarkable work in every aspect. From the broad background of "Brigantine", parallel structure, the convergence of various themes, irresistible descriptions, to the depth of thought and philosophy, it encourages readers to "break" the traditional novel reading experience. "Brigantine" contains two storylines on different timelines, guiding readers through the rich memories, experiences, and perspectives of characters from multiple countries. Particularly, it explores the cultural and thinking differences between characters of different generations, offering a multidimensional view of European history, specifically life in Europe during the tumultuous period of World War II and its aftermath. This prompts readers to reflect on war, justice, and the self-redemption journey of those who survived the war but endured torment and possibly fell into psychological trauma in their later years. In addition, the novel delves into the inner world of women who chose to spend their lives with post-war veterans. Many of them are unaware of what is tormenting their partners, leading to enduring confusion, pain, and helplessness throughout their married lives. This provides a better understanding of the prolonged damage and horrors caused by war. Certainly, the novel is "worth reading" in many aspects, but perhaps the above-mentioned human perspectives are what most attract, immerse, and linger in the minds of readers within the nearly 700 pages filled with numerous information.

— Chen Xianglan, Editor of the Vietnamese edition

"Brigantine" is a rather "peculiar" novel, both in its content and poetic expression. First and foremost, it delves into various cultural layers such as oceanography, architecture, archaeology, philosophy, library science, history, drama, literature, and more. It is certain that the author, Xie Lingjie, has covered a rich and in-depth knowledge of the aforementioned fields in "Brigantine".

Translating these contents posed certain challenges. In order to accurately convey the issues the author is trying to express, as translators, we must integrate existing knowledge and consult a large amount of literature in related fields.

Secondly, the narrative art of "Brigantine" is also quite unique, especially the parallel structure and intertextual artistic techniques, which bring about novel artistic effects. I, along with other translators, have previously translated several works of modern Chinese literature into Vietnamese. It is evident that the writing style of "Brigantine", when compared to these works, is more capable of bringing readers into contemplation and reflection across various domains. In the world of characters in "Brigantine" I am most interested in Adonis and the eagle. The postscript, "Has War Brought Peace?" gave me a deeply humane impression.

Certainly, it is impossible to discuss the success of "Brigantine" in a few minutes. If one truly wants to comprehensively showcase everything this novel brings to us, it would require writing a thesis. Therefore, I can only congratulate Ms. Xie Lingjie here and wish her continued success in creating new works. I am also looking forward to translating her future works.

XIE LINGJIE