Chủ Nhật, 17 tháng 8, 2025

THƯ TỊCH GS TRẦN NGỌC NINH (BIBLIOGRAPHY)

Tiểu sử Giáo sư Trần Ngọc Ninh,

Website Viện Việt-Học:  http://www.viethoc.com/Ban-Ging-Hun/tran-ngoc-ninh

Giáo sư Trần Ngọc Ninh sinh năm 1923 tại Hà Nội. Ông theo học Y ‎khoa tại Hà Nội, rồi sang Pháp tiếp tục học, đỗ Thạc sĩ Y khoa tại Pháp (1961), có nhiều ‎công trình nghiên cứu Y khoa giá trị. Về nước, ông thành lập hai khoa giải phẫu trẻ em (Pediatric Surgery) và giải phẫu chỉnh trực (Orthopedic ‎Surgery)] đầu tiên tại Việt Nam, được xem là “khúc xương sống” của Y khoa miền Nam. ‎Vừa giảng dạy, vừa hành nghề, Giáo sư đã đào tạo nhiều môn sinh có khả năng thay ‎ông tiếp tục phát triển hai khoa này ở quê nhà. ‎

Vào thập niên 1960, ông giảng dạy bộ môn Văn hoá và Văn minh Đại cương tại Đại học ‎Vạn Hạnh. Ông cũng đã từng giữ chức vụ Tổng trưởng Văn hoá Xã hội, đặc trách Giáo ‎dục, trong chính phủ Việt Nam Cộng Hoà (1966-1967). ‎

Thứ Sáu, 15 tháng 8, 2025

GIÁO SƯ TRẦN NGỌC NINH 1923 -2025 VÀ ƯỚC VỌNG DUY TÂN

Lời giới thiệu: Giáo sư Trần Ngọc Ninh (1923–2025) là cựu giáo sư y khoa của Y khoa Đại học Đường Sài Gòn ngày xưa. Ông cũng là một cựu Thuyền Nhân, vượt biên năm 1977. Ông vừa mới qua đời ở California, và Bs Ngô Thế Vinh có viết một bài bằng tiếng Anh về cuộc đời và sự nghiệp của ông. Trong cuộc đời kéo dài hơn một thế kỉ, ông là hiện thân của một trí thức đích thực, kết hợp hài hòa giữa chuyên môn y khoa và những đóng góp cho văn hóa, giáo dục, và văn học Việt Nam. Từ những ngày đầu là sinh viên y khoa tại Hà Nội, đến vai trò giáo sư danh tiếng về phẫu thuật chỉnh hình và nhi khoa tại Sài Gòn, và sau này là một học giả văn hóa tại Mỹ, hành trình của ông phản ảnh sự tận tụy không ngừng nghỉ cho giấc mơ về một Việt Nam hiện đại, giàu bản sắc văn hóa. Qua bài viết này, Bs Ngô Thế Vinh ghi lại di sản đáng kinh ngạc của ông – sự nghiệp y khoa tiên phong, những tác phẩm ảnh hưởng về văn hóa Việt Nam, và tầm ảnh hưởng trường tồn với tư cách một học giả và nhà nhân văn, kết thúc bằng sự ra đi thanh thản ở tuổi 103 tại California. GS Nguyễn Văn Tuấn

*

Giáo sư Trần Ngọc Ninh đã ra đi thanh thản ở tuổi 103 vào ngày 16 tháng 7 năm 2025 tại Bệnh viện Hoag, thành phố Newport Beach, miền Nam California. Tin tức về sự qua đời của giáo chỉ được gia đình thông báo hai tuần sau đó, theo đúng nguyện vọng của thầy về một tang lễ Phật giáo vô cùng đơn giản,được tổ chức riêng tư trong phạm vi gia đình. Không có cáo phó, không có điếu văn, và gia đình đã thực hiện đúng những gì thầy mong muốn. Thầy được an táng tại nghĩa trang Loma Vista Memorial Park, thành phố Fullerton, cách Little Saigon khoảng 20 km, bên cạnh phần mộ của người vợ quá cố, mất vào năm 2020 trong thời kỳ đại dịch Covid-19. Bia mộ của thầy rất giản dị, không ghi học hàm hay danh hiệu – chỉ khắc tên thầy và pháp danh “Orgyen Karma, biểu tượng cho hoạt động giác ngộ”.

Thứ Tư, 13 tháng 8, 2025

PROFESSOR TRẦN NGỌC NINH 1923 - 2025 AND HIS DREAM OF MODERNITY

Professor Trần Ngọc Ninh peacefully passed away at the age 103 on July 16, 2025 at Hoag Hospital, in Newport Beach, Southern California. News of his passing was only shared by his family two weeks later, in accordance with his wish for an extremely simple Buddlish funeral held privately within the family. There was no obituary, no eulogy and the family faithfully fullfilled his wishes. He was laid to rest at Loma Vista Memorial Park in Fullerton, approximately 20 km from Little Saigon, beside the grave of his late wife, who passed away in the year 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. His gravestone is remarkably simple, bearing no titles or honors – only his name and his Dharma name “Orgyen Karma, symbolizing enlightened activity”.

*

I dream of a Việt Nam at peace, and moving forward on the basis of the spiritual values that our history has thrust into the cultural heritage of our land. I have spent my whole life trying to contribute to this dream. Trần Ngọc Ninh, A Dream of Modernity, 2012

Image 1: left side: I visited Professor Trần Ngọc Ninh in Huntington Beach on June 21 & 29 of 2018, At the age of 95 his mind was still alert and sharp. On the table are issues of the journal Medicine & Compassion (Tình Thương; 1963-1967) with many articles by the Professor; right side: Professor Trần Ngọc Ninh inscribing a book he is presenting to Ngô Thế Vinh, What is to Be Done (Làm Gì; 1979). Next to him is the work Raising Scars (Nuôi Sẹo) from Thư’s Manuscript Library given to Prof.Trần Ngọc Ninh by Trần Hoài Thư. [personal archives of Ngô Thế Vinh]   

Thứ Tư, 6 tháng 8, 2025

Creative World Of South Vietnam And Overseas 1954 – To The Present – Volume 1

CREATIVE WORLD OF SOUTH VIETNAM AND OVERSEAS
1954 – 1975 TO THE PRESENT

Author: Ngô Thế Vinh
Translator: Eric Henry

Copy Editor: Trần Thị Nguyệt Mai
Jacket Painting by Tạ Tỵ
Cover Design by Uyên Nguyên
Publishing Group: Việt Ecology Press & Văn Học Press

Language: ‎ English
Print length: ‎628 pages
Softcover – color: $55 USD
Softcover – black & white: $45 USD

Books are released on https://www.amazon.com for color version
and https://www.amazon.com for black & white version

Reviews:

  • Dr. Eric Henry, translator

This book is a translation of a collection of personal, literary, and journalistic vignettes of Vietnamese individuals who have made notable contributions to literature, art, and science. It is a rich source of information on the social, cultural, and political history of South Vietnam, as well as the individual careers of its human subjects.
The people described for the most part came into prominence in the period 1954 – 1975. After the fall of the South to North Vietnamese forces in 1975, most of them were imprisoned for some number of years in communist reeducation camps after 1975. Later, in the 1980s, some of them made their way to the U.S., and most continued to be creatively active.

  • Trịnh Y Thư, writer, poet

The book entitled Creative World of the South Vietnam and Overseas 1954-1975 to the Present (2025) originally known as Portraits of Literature, Art, and Culture written by the eminent writer Ngô Thế Vinh with English translation by the American scholar Eric Henry is a unique book in a sense that it presents to the general readers the fresh images of many personalities including writers, novelists, poets, journalists, painters, musician and other cultural figures, who, by all accounts, have been among the most respected and influential intellectuals in Vietnam.

  • Dr. Nguyễn Duy Chính

This book is a valuable trove of rare and authentic information, vividly portraying more than one generation of writers from South Vietnam. Dr. Eric Henry’s translation closely follows the original, though inevitably, some culturally rich Vietnamese details could not be fully conveyed. Even so, it remains a commendable effort by a foreign scholar deeply devoted to Vietnamese culture.
A book well worth having on the shelf of anyone who still holds memories of a historical period slowly fading into oblivion.

  • Huy Văn Trương, writer

A few years ago, I read the work “Portrait of Literature, Art and Culture” by Writer, Doctor Ngo The Vinh. At that time, I knew that this was a work of special value in Vietnamese literature, because it contained many rare documents that could not be found anywhere else. And I hoped that this work would be translated into English, so that the young generations of Vietnamese born after 1975 abroad who are not fluent or do not know Vietnamese will better understand the misfortunes that happened to the Literature and Culture of South Vietnam during the period 1954-1975. This was the period when the North Vietnamese Communists, after taking over the South, mercilessly destroyed and erased everything written during this period.
Time passes quietly and quickly, it has been eight years, today in August 2025, I hold in my hand the English translation of the book “Portrait of Literature, Art and Culture”. Translated from Vietnamese into English, the book is no longer in the small environment of the Vietnamese exile community in the world, but it has changed to respond or, more accurately, adapt to a new, vast and open environment outside. From now on, the book will stand side by side with the classic works from all over the world. “CREATIVE WORLD OF SOUTH VIETNAM AND OVERSEAS 1954-1975 TO THE PRESENT”. That is the title when the book was translated into English. The translator is Eric Henry, he is a PhD at Yale University, specializing in Chinese and Vietnamese literature.
Compared to the Vietnamese version, the translation has nearly one hundred more pages about Musician Pham Duy and the interesting meeting between the author and the translator about eight years ago at the home of Pham Le Huong, a Master in Library Science. That meeting was the reason for the birth of the translation “Portrait of Literature, Art and Culture.”
I have read and had in my hands the original Vietnamese version of the above book by Writer Ngo The Vinh for several years. The title of the book and the content are completely consistent with each other, because when Vietnamese people read the book, they will immediately understand that the author has drawn portraits of artists, writers and cultural figures of South Vietnam during the period of war between Communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
When translating “Portraits of Literature, Art and Culture” into English, the title of the book seems quite vague to foreign readers, because they will wonder: whose portrait? Are they British, French or American? For this reason, I think the title of the English translation has been changed to CREATIVE WORLD OF SOUTH VIETNAM AND OVERSEAS 1954-1975 TO THE PRESENT. Thus, foreign readers will immediately understand “The creative world of South Vietnam from 1954-1975 and overseas until today”.
Here I would like to reiterate that the translator is a PhD, a scholar specializing in Chinese and Vietnamese culture. With such a reputation and degree, if the translator translates an empty, valueless work, it is no different than digging his own grave.
When Eric Henry chose to translate the book “Portrait of Literature, Art and Culture”, this work was already evaluated through the selection of a Doctor of Literature specializing in Chinese and Vietnamese literature.
– Writer Ngo The Vinh, a giant in the literature of South Vietnam with dozens of great works, starting from the work Storm Clouds in 1963 until today, including Portrait of Literature, Art and Culture. This work is a brilliant picture with many colors depicting the portraits of the Artists and Culture of South Vietnam from 1954 to 1975. After 1975, if these people remained in Vietnam, they would be persecuted and tortured by the Vietnamese Communists and sent to re-education camps in the deep forests and mountains, while others would have to cross the sea to seek freedom on old, fragile, and rotten ships.
Today, out of the one hundred million Vietnamese people, how many know that during the 21 years from 1954 to 1975, South Vietnam had a brilliantly developed culture. This culture was destroyed by the book-burning fire of the Vietnamese Communists?
“Portrait of Literature, Art and Culture” by writer Ngo The Vinh is a timely work that appears to leave behind for posterity “A creative world of South Vietnam in the period 1954-1975 and after 1975 overseas until today.”
A book with two titles was published to reveal what the Vietnamese Communist Party deliberately covered up, concealed, and destroyed during more than 70 years of ruling Vietnam.