Author presents culture in French

12:58' 06/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Huu Ngoc's book Wandering Through Vietnamese Culture, which won the Viet Nam Year Book 2006 Gold Award, has just been published in French under the title A la Decouverte de la Culture Vietnamiene (Discovering Vietnamese Culture). The French text was actually written by Ngoc, who is a columnist for Viet Nam News. When first published, American writer Lady Borton described the book as simple to follow but as beguiling as a flower and as informative as an encyclopaedia. The book also made a deep impression with French scientist and writer Pierre Darriulat. "History-past and recent-myths and traditions line the lanes of the book. The author tells them with thin strokes, always smiling, sometimes joking, always in a spirit of tolerance and leniency," wrote Darriulat. "No thesis, no synthesis, no arid analysis, no a priori truth and moral lessons. Only suggestions inviting us to think and to see the many facets that make the beauty of things. The book will provide us with more knowledge on Vietnam and the Vietnamese than stern works by historians, ethnologists and sociologists." The 1,212-page book is published in French by The Gioi (the World) Publishers. (Source: Viet Nam Net)