Author: Xuelin Yeong

  • Last Night I Dreamt of Peace

    Peace.

    In some countries, it is an ever-present entity, sometimes taken for granted. In other countries, it is something that can only be dreamt of.

    Last Night I Dreamed of Peace is a heart-warming, touching story of a young doctor serving in the Vietnam War. Known as the Vietnamese version of Anne Frank, she kept a series of diaries in the midst of the fighting, unrest, and the hectic life she led. Unlike other accounts of war stories, her diaries not only speak of patriotism and bravery, but also of her personal insecurities, homesickness, and self-analysis.

    The Girl Behind the Diaries 

    Dang Thuy Tram was born in the 26th of November 1942, into a family of intellectuals. Her father was a surgeon at St Paul’s Hospital, and her mother a lecturer at the Hanoi School of Pharmacology. Her home in North Vietnam was filled with books, flowers, music and warmth. She grew up in this privileged surroundings to become a compassionate and sensitive young woman, with a love for music and knowledge of literature and poetry. Her literary interest is often reflected in her writings. She often quoted examples from literary works such as Vietnamese poetry as well as Western classics.

    Following her father’s footsteps, she studied medicine at the Hanoi University Medical School, and trained as a surgeon. However, after the call of duty, she left a life of ease and comfort, choosing instead to serve the wounded soldiers in the perilous South, where war raged and bombings were common.

    She was shot on the 22nd of June, 1970 after the location of her clinic was exposed to the Americans by an informant. A few days before that, her situation at the clinic was desperate as many had left, and food became very scarce, with only enough rice for only one more meal. Two of her colleagues went out to seek help, leaving her to guard her patients alone. Her diary ends with,

    (more…)

  • Kilmeny of the Orchard

    I downloaded this book from Project Gutenberg,expecting Kilmeny to be something like Anne or Emily, two of my favourite heroines of all time. Well, Kilmeny was nothing like the aforementioned two, although she did possess a special charm of her own.

    I loved the fact that she was so innocent and childlike, although it is quite hard to believe that she had never looked into a mirror in her entire life. And I also like the link between her and the orchard–would her charm fade away when she is ruthlessly thrust into the complexities of the real world? Would she then become an ordinary woman like any other? These where the questions that was playing in my head as I finished the book.

    In fact, I skipped the first few chapters. I was anticipating Kilmeny’s appearance, expecting her to be mentioned within the first few pages, but the story went on to talk about Eric, whom, in the first place, did not seem to have anything to do with the title at all. I even thought that I had downloaded the wrong book! I started reading it thoroughly only after Eric’s encounter with Kilmeny in the orchard.

    All in all, this book is light, sweet and romantic. It is perhaps less captivating than ‘Anne of Green Gables‘ or ‘Emily of New Moon‘, but undeniably it is charming in it’s own way.

  • Letters of a Javanese Princess – Thoughts Before Reading

    Sejarah. While some students may view it as their favourite subject, others may loathe it to such an extent that they cower with fear when that name is mentioned, and openly express their distaste for the subject.

    I, for one, alternated between feelings love and hate while trying to cram the facts and dates into my over-saturated brain, and was somewhat glad to fling it aside once SPM was over.

    Yet, throughout the days that followed, some facts remained stuck in my head, including the names of several famous personnels. One such personnel was an Indonesian feminist, a daughter of Javanese nobility-Raden Adjeng Kartini. I don’t remember much about her, except for the fact that she was mentioned briefly, and her writings were collected and published under the title of ‘Letters of a Javanese Princess.’

    Somehow, ever since I learnt of its existence, I had been yearning to get my hands on that book. I asked for it whenever I visited any large bookshops, but without avail. Finally, I acquired it without paying a single cent from the website ‘Project Gutenberg’. I’m now reading it, bit by bit, through my handphone which has now become something of an e-book reader. I intend to go through it ever so slowly, to really delve into its contents, and read between the lines of her correspondences with her Dutch friends, and really get to know this remarkable woman, whom, at a century ago, had thoughts and views that was ahead of her time, and would put many a narrow-minded modern woman to shame.

    She has such high ambitions and a big heart, and it was such a pity that her life was cut short by her untimely death, shortly after the birth of her son. I often ponder silently–if she had lived, perhaps for many decades longer, how much more could she manage to achieve? I’m sure she would be one of the glorious names that would adorn the pages of many history books.

    I’m longing to get to know her better–not in person, for that is impossible, but through the lines of her writings. Her writings were originally in Dutch, but it has been translated to English–or I wouldn’t have been able to understand it. Once I’m done, I will blog more about this wonderful woman–who was indeed an outstanding character, one whom could never be forgotten, whose voice will never be drown out by the passing of time–as long as her volume of letters continue to live on.