VietNamNet Bridge – 2006 was an exciting year for international literature in Vietnam. An important author who made a debut in Vietnam last year, though he is well known elsewhere, was 57 year-old Japanese writer Haruki Murakami.

Murakami’s Norwegian Wood and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle have created admiration and envy in the Vietnamese literary world.

Other notable writers of international contemporary literature included Banana Yoshimoto with Kitchen; Efriede Jenilek, the Austrian authoress who won the Nobel Prize in 2004, and her Love Oh Love; Daniel Pennac with Wolf Eyes; Laurent Gaudé with The Scortas’ Sun, and Michel Houellebecq and his The Elementary Particles.
We had an interview with Mr. Vu Hoang Giang (photo), the vice director of Nha Nam Culture and Communication Company, about international and domestic literature as well as the publishing business.

What is Nha Nam’s strategy for 2007?

In 2007, we’ll continue to focus on international literature. At present, we are holding the copyrights of 100 books and preparing for translation. We also bought the copyrights for three novels by Orhan Pamuk: My Name is Red, The White Castle, and Snow. But we haven’t found any translators for them. It is not buying a copyright but finding a translator that is the most difficult step. Old translators often work slowly. Young ones are few. Besides, translators have their own expertise and are often good at particular styles or genres, but not so good at others.

Why are you paying so much attention to foreign writers and books? Isn’t there anything worth publishing in Vietnamese literature?

To tell you the truth, we don’t publish a lot of Vietnamese literature, not because we ignore it, but because there aren’t many good works of literature in Vietnam. To publishers, as to every businessperson, one of the most important things is the source of outputs. International literature is an endless field, with hundreds, or even thousands of great works and writers which have never been introduced in Vietnam. On the contrary, there isn’t much in our own literature. Sometimes we still do the fool’s work of screening the sand for the gold dust of Vietnamese literature simply because of our hope for it. Very few Vietnamese writers can write upon orders from publishers. When they write, these writers often create whatever they want without caring about public demands, and send their drafts to us. What tires us most is to reject those drafts!

Does Nha Nam expect anything from Vietnam’s membership in the WTO?

We don’t expect any great change in the publishing business. Whether Vietnam joins the WTO or not, private companies like us have to put the high quality of our products as the first priority. We have to create a brand name for ourselves. Brand names are a must for survival, especially in the globalised environment. Brand names are like antibiotics.

And brand names make transactions with foreign partners easier?

Yes. But other than a brand name, one still needs business skills and a little luck. Some copyrights cost us great time and effort to purchase. And some such as Orhan Pamuk’s depend on the generosity of the writers. Mr. Pamuk agreed to have his works printed in 2000 copies in a faraway land, and with royalties much lower than in other Western countries, because he wants his works to reach more readers. We don’t dare to buy too expensive a copyright. Suppose we bought an expensive book, paid for 3 to 4 months of translation work and printed several thousand copies, and readers didn’t receive it well. What would we do then?

(Source: Tuoi Tre)