Nguy?n Du (1765–1820, pennames T? Nhu and Thanh Hiên) is a celebrated Vietnamese poet who wrote in Ch? Nôm, the ancient writing script of Vi?t Nam. He is most known for writing the epic poem The Tale of Ki?u.

Served as a military advisor in the Royal (Trinh) army. After the Trinh Lords until their defeat in 1786.

The Tale of Kieu was written under a pen-name as the story was quite critical of the basic tenets of Confucian morality. It is a tragic tale of two lovers forced apart by the girl's loyalty to her family honor. Nguyen added his own pain and guilt over the self-betrayal of his own code of honor, and the result is one of the greatest masterpieces of Vietnamese literature.

In Vietnam, the poem is so popular and beloved that (it is claimed) there are illiterate peasants who know the whole epic by heart and can recite it without a mistake.


Since its publication in the early nineteenth century, this long narrative poem has stood unchallenged as the supreme masterpiece of Vietnamese literature. Huynh's new and absorbingly readable translation (on pages facing the Vietnamese text) is illuminated by notes that give comparative passages from the Chinese novel on which the poem was based, details on Chinese allusions, and literal translations with background information explaining Vietnamese proverbs and folk sayings.