50 years, looking back and reflecting

Half a century has passed, time has been quietly and persistently doing its work silently and persistently. 50 years, looking back at a journey of Binh Thuan literature with many ups and downs and fluctuations, surely each of us has our own feelings, associated with the process of accompanying the activities of the Association. This article is considered as a memoir, expressing a narrow, subjective and flawed perspective of the writer.

The first difficult days

The Literature and Arts Association was established in the early 80s of the last century, during the subsidy period with many difficulties and shortages. However, the valuable thing here is the attention paid to the intellectuals and artists gathered into the Association. Right from the time of the establishment of the Organizing Committee, the Association's leaders thought of training the members in theory and creative skills. And a basic philosophy and aesthetics training class was organized in the campus of the Duc Thanh School - Phan Thiet relic site. Participating in the teaching, on creative theory was Professor Hoang Nhu Mai, the basic philosophy part was in charge of the lecturers of the Provincial Party School. The members who were famous artists before 1975, such as: NSNA Ngo Dinh Cuong, poet Nguyen Bac Son were also present in this class. To equip members with life skills, the Association has organized many field trips to the grassroots to get creative materials such as: Me Pu Cooperative (Duc Linh), Thu Duc Prison (Z30D), to seafood fishing and processing facilities, to industries and units that are full of living materials such as: Army, Post Office , Bank, Agriculture... The harvest of such trips is often a specialized Literature and Arts magazine or a literary - poetry - music collection, in which the main part is the "hot" compositions of the members. During the trips, there are sometimes veteran writers and poets accompanying such as: writer Thai Vu, poet Ta Huu Yen, writer Trinh Chi (Thanh Nien Publishing House). Although not many and not maintained regularly, the Association's leaders also pay attention to organizing talks on current literary and artistic events; Writer Vu Hanh, poet Vien Phuong, literary theorist - critic Mai Quoc Lien were often speakers at these useful professional activities. Nowadays, the volume of specialized information is extremely rich and diverse, it is impossible to update and digest it all; but at that time, for us, current literary and artistic activities were a "channel" with a very important position to supplement the knowledge of writers.

The Association also coordinates with the Department of Culture and Information (through the Provincial Cultural Center), the Provincial Youth Union (through the Youth Club) to organize the introduction of authors and works of members, especially young people. Such professional activities always receive the approval and response of a part of the audience and listeners who love literature and art in the central area of ​​the province. Not having enough budget to maintain the periodic publication of the Literature and Arts magazine, the Association cooperates with familiar partners in Ho Chi Minh City to publish literary publications to have a place to convey some of the literary and poetic works of members, creating motivation to help them maintain their passion for writing. The collections "Tuoi hoa", "Cao thom", "Van hoa va Gia dinh" ... published in the form of monthly magazines - are publications born in such a form of association. Through the process of writing, a number of books by members, both jointly and individually printed, were published one after another, such as: Collection of stories & memoirs (many authors) "A Place with a Beautiful Sky", Collection of poems (many authors) "Homeland Wind", Collection of short stories "Coastal Town" (Vo Hoang Minh - Mai Son), Collection of stories & memoirs "Confessions of a Hand" (Le Nguyen Ngu - Tran Duy Ly), Collection of poems "Sea of ​​Consciousness", Long poem "Those Years, This Battlefield" (Do Quang Vinh), Long poem "Valley of Fire and Flowers" (Ta Huu Yen); Collection of short stories "Where Love Passes Through" (Nguyen Nam), Collection of comics "Brave Soldiers of Charity" (words: Ta Huu Yen, pictures: Bay Tra)...

Above are some random memories of Binh Thuan literature in the early period. My personal impression of this period is the passion and desire for creativity of the members; the sympathy and sharing in each work, thereby creating motivation to help each other nurture the love for the province's literature and art.

Organizational stability, long-term development orientation

Through many terms of operation, under the leadership of writer Ho Phu Dien (BVD period), playwright Nguyen Tuong Nhan, poet Phan Minh Dao, writer Do Kim Ngu, writer Khanh Chi, painter Nguyen Duc Hoa, musician Dang Le The Phi - the later, the activities of the Association became more and more orderly and disciplined. After the first term with many efforts and struggles in all aspects, when poet Phan Minh Dao took on the role of Chairman, the activities of the Association became stable, creating a more favorable premise for the following terms. Specifically, core issues such as: operating costs, professional training, member development, periodic publication of Literature magazine, organization of creative camps... were fundamentally resolved. The activities of each specialized Association, including the Literature Association, were increasingly improved. Some localities with good creative movements and many core literary figures have formed branches such as: La Gi town, Ham Tan, Tanh Linh, Duc Linh, Ham Thuan Bac, Bac Binh, Tuy Phong districts and Phan Thiet City Literature Association. In addition to the annual funding support for publishing works of the Provincial Literature and Arts Association, La Gi and Tuy Phong branches have skillfully applied the socialization principle to act as a "midwife" for many publications of local members. In terms of organization, in the early stages, the connection between the Provincial Association Standing Committee and local branches was quite clear. However, later on, the level of impact gradually narrowed due to changes in organization and personnel in districts and towns that fluctuated with each term. On the other hand, the Provincial Association Standing Committee has not yet built a truly effective operating regulation for local branches. Of course, the activities of any organization or association sometimes experience ups and downs; Many problems arose that were no less complicated, even fierce. But the good news is that through such "unusual storms", the Association's activities continued to be focused on, strengthened, and overcome to move forward. As a provincial locality, socio-economic conditions always pose many difficulties and challenges in the process of construction and development, but the provincial leaders still pay attention to maintaining the Association's activities to this day, which is very valuable. Perhaps in the new period of the country, the activities of the Association of Literature and Arts at the provincial level will change to another form to be compatible with the synchronous streamlining of the apparatus from the Central to the local level.

Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/50-nam-nhin-lai-va-suy-ngam-129885.html