Two more publications in the 'One Hundred Years of the Nobel' book series.

Launched in 2021 with the aim of honoring Nobel Prize winners in Literature and introducing valuable works to readers, the "One Hundred Years of Nobel" book series has just been expanded with the addition of two more works."History of Rome"by Theodor Mommsen and “Collection of playsby Jacinto Benavente.

Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen was a German professor who taught and researched in Classics, History, Law, and Archaeology. Mommsen's most celebrated work was his book, *Theodor Mommsen*."History of Rome"In 1902, at the age of 85, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Normally, the prize is awarded for a lifetime achievement, but Mommsen is one of only nine Nobel laureates (as of 2022) whose work is mentioned in special recognition, and that work is "History of Rome".

These are the two newest works in the "One Hundred Years of the Nobel" book series.

According to Theodor Mommsen's original plan,"History of Rome"The work will consist of five volumes, from the origins of Rome to the time of Emperor Diocletianus (305 AD), when the Roman Empire was divided into Eastern and Western halves. The first three volumes (divided into five books) were published in 1854, 1855, and 1856, with a timeline extending to the Battle of Thapsus in 46 BC and the reforms of Julius Caesar. In 1885, Mommsen published what is considered the fifth volume of the series."History of Rome"named"The provinces of the Roman Empire from the time of Caesar to the time of Diocletianus."

Although Volume IV was incomplete and not written, Mommsen still prepared many lectures on the Roman Empire period for university teaching, which were transcribed by his students. In 1992, 90 years after Mommsen was awarded the Nobel Prize, German historian Alexander Demandt published Volume IV.“reconstruction”of the department"History of Rome"under the name“Römische Kaisergeschichte”(“History of the Roman EmpireThe Vietnamese translation of "History of Rome" consists of 5 volumes, published sequentially. Volume 1 (translated and introduced by Nguyen Qui Hien) was published this year, and its contents include: Book I: The period from the origins to the dissolution of the monarchy; Book II: The period from the dissolution of the monarchy in Rome to the unification of Italy.

Jacinto Benavente (1866-1954) was a Spanish playwright, director, and actor. He is considered the greatest Spanish playwright of the transition period between the 19th and 20th centuries. During his lifetime, Benavente profoundly influenced and transformed Spanish theater, both in writing style and stage performance. His plays dominated the country's theaters for half a century, and his talent was recognized by both professionals and the general public. In 1922, the Swedish Academy awarded him the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature "for his masterful writing style, through which he continued the glorious tradition of Spanish theater." Throughout his literary career, Benavente wrote more than 170 plays, along with several volumes of poetry and other literary works.

Jacinto Benavente's "Collection of Plays" includes 5 plays:The Governor's Wife, A Rose in Autumn, The Bonds of Interest, The Little Princess, The Child of an Unfortunate Fate.The five plays in this collection were all written during his heyday, notably including his two best: *The Bonds of Interest* and *The Unfortunate Child*. All five plays have been translated from English, based on the collection.“Plays by Jacinto Benavente”,Translated by John Garrett Underhill, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1917; the original Spanish text was referenced during the translation.

Here, readers will find a Benavente imbued with liberal ideals, a deep understanding of human psychology, and a particular veneration of women. His female characters often play very important roles, whether set in the upper class or the poor working class of the countryside. Most of Benavente's plays are set in the upper class, a class of people who are outwardly glamorous but inwardly rotten, a class he was all too familiar with from his childhood, along with the familiar city of Madrid. The distinctiveness of Benavente's plays lies not only in their content but also in their dialogue and the way they express the characters' psychology. This work, translated and introduced by Nguyen Tuan Linh, includes 15 new illustrations, evenly distributed among the 5 plays, drawn by artist Le Tri in a scratchboard style.

Last year, Dong A Publishing Company completed the full translation of the first poetry collection, "Poems & Poems," the work that established the name and literary status of the French poet Sully Prudhomme (1839-1907) on the international literary stage, with the desire to convey more of Sully's abundant poetic inspiration to Vietnamese readers. In 1901, he became the first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature "for outstanding literary values, lofty idealism, perfect artistry, and the wonderful combination of emotion and talent." The collection is divided into two parts, including 103 poems in the first part, "Poems," and 14 poems in the second part, "Poems." The book was translated from the original French with a new translation by Tran Chau, Dat Nhan, and Khac Do.

With"Poetry and Poems",Last year, Dong A Publishing Company also released new translations of two representative works from two periods of Anatole France's (1844-1924) writing:"The Crimes of Sylvestre Bonnard and Penguin Island".This publication was translated by Tran Chau. It is her debut novel."The Crimes of Sylvestre Bonnard"Published in 1881, *Penguin Island* brought great success to Anatole France, establishing him as a novelist and earning him a prize from the French Academy. *Penguin Island*, published in 1908, marked a major turning point in Anatole France's literary career. Previously, he had been immersed in his own thoughts, focusing only on the beauty of the distant past; now he devoted more attention to contemporary political issues and frequently directed satirical criticism towards the Church. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1921 for...“Magnificent works of literature, characterized by noble style, profound empathy, grace, and a truly Gaulish spirit.”

According to Ms. Hoai An, representative of Dong A Book Company, the book collection expands every year."One Centenary of the Nobels"It will include one or more works by the author who received the Nobel Prize in Literature exactly 100 years ago, excluding the years in which the prize was not awarded.“For voluminous works spanning multiple volumes, we will print one or two volumes first, with the subsequent volumes following. All works printed in this series are produced in limited, numbered editions, as a fitting tribute to these precious literary gems of humanity.”Ms. Hoai An stated.

Thus, Vietnamese readers will have the opportunity to rediscover their beloved authors and works, from Henryk Sienkiewicz to Hermann Hesse, from Rabindranath Tagore to Albert Camus, in a new light.