Poetry. Ho Xuan Huong, whose name means Spring Essence, was an eighteenth-century concubine who wrote subtly risque poems that used double entendre and sexual innuendo as a vehicle for social, religious, and poltical commentary. Her attacks on male authority were shocking and risky, but she and her work survived because of her exquisite cleverness and skill at poetry. Translated from the older version of Vietnamese by John Balaban, with Nom script on facing pages. A splendid translation of the work of the beloved Vietnamese poet, Ho Xuan Huong. She was a woman who possessed, along with her literary talent, that great Vietnamese virtue of courage, and dared to defy the conventions of her time -- Neil Shehan, author of A Bright Shining Lie.
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