‘Le Petit Prince’s new translation marks 70th anniversary

Featuring the author’s original watercolor illustrations, the new Vietnamese version of “Le Petit Prince” (The Little Prince), one of the world’s ageless bestsellers, will be released May 18 to mark the book’s 70th anniversary of debut publication.

According to Duong Thanh Hoai, deputy director of Nha Nam Co., the new Vietnamese version, translated by Trac Phong and published by Nha Nam Co., is considered more faithful to the original book than the first Vietnamese one by famed poet-translator Bui Giang, in which Giang’s signature writing style is pervasive and seemingly outweighs that of the author, French aristocrat, writer, poet and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–1944).

Moreover, many of the Vietnamese words used in Giang’s version are getting outdated and perplexing for today’s young readers, Hoai noted.

The look of the new Vietnamese version will resemble that of the original book as it features all of the author’s original watercolor illustrations.

Nha Nam Co. and L’Espace in Hanoi will jointly hold the book release day combined with other activities including exhibits of paintings and illustrations printed from the book, emotional reading competition and enacting of the book for young readers as part of the European Literature Day, at 24 Trang Tien on May 18.

“Le Petit Prince”, a novella first published in 1943, is   the most read and most translated book in the French language, and was voted the best book of the 20th century in France. One of the best-selling books ever published, the book has been translated into more than 250 languages and dialects (including braille) and sold over a million copies per year with sales totaling more than 140 million copies worldwide.

Apart from Katherine Woods’ hugely popular English translation released in 1943, five more have been published to date.