What do writers and researchers say about Bao Ninh's The Sorrow of War?

Many writers and critics expressed their emotions with the 14 literary works honored among the 50 outstanding Vietnamese literary and performing arts works after the country's reunification, especially Bao Ninh's The Sorrow of War.

Writer Bao Ninh (left) and writer Nguyen Binh Phuong both have works honored as outstanding works. Photo at the conference "Reviewing literature about the resistance war against the US after 50 years of liberating the South and unifying the country", organized by the Army Literature magazine on April 9 in Hanoi - Photo: T.DIEU

Among them, Bao Ninh's The Sorrow of War has just been honored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a typical and excellent work after more than 30 years of receiving the Vietnam Writers Association Award (1991) and a number of international awards.

Many writers, critics, and admiring readers expressed their joy and special emotion when their favorite novel was deservedly honored.

A typical representative of the brilliant literary period

Associate Professor Dr. Pham Xuan Thach - School of Interdisciplinary Sciences and Arts, Hanoi National University - said the 14 literary works honored this time have reminded us of the long and vibrant history of development of Vietnamese literature over the past half century.

Nguyen Minh Chau's Reed Grass , Ma Van Khang's Falling Leaves in the Garden , Huu Thinh's Road to the City , Thanh Thao's People Going to the Sea ... all signaled the innovation of literature at that time.

In which, the short story collection "Reed Grass" can be considered as the spiritual testament before Nguyen Minh Chau passed away, completely signaling the innovation that would come in Vietnamese literature, where the personal and worldly nature in literature would replace the epic nature.

The list of honors also includes the most important works of Doi Moi literature such as The Sorrow of War, The Distant Times, The Wharf Without a Husband, and The Land of Many People and Many Ghosts.

If Le Luu's Time of Absence explores the journey of people returning from the community crowd to face their personal fate, Duong Huong's Wharf without a Husband explores the pain of war of women in the countryside and the rear.

The Water God's Daughter is a very unique work by Nguyen Huy Thiep, both bare, harsh and fierce, sad and anxious in the journey to find the sacred with the human desire for what is transcendent and beautiful in life.

Writer Duong Huong received the award for outstanding work for the novel The Wharf Without Husband - Photo: T.DIEU

The honor given to Nguyen Binh Phuong's "Me and Them" and Nguyen Ngoc Tu's "The Endless Field " is a worthy recognition for writers who have innovated their writing style, signaling a "new configuration of literature" that is clearly present in Vietnamese literature after 2000.

Mr. Thach also highly appreciated Nguyen Xuan Khanh's honoring of Mau Thuong Ngan . This is a multi-story novel with very profound thoughts about the countryside and Vietnamese culture in the East-West cultural collision.

These works, when published, created a strong resonance among the public; evoked different reading and evaluation trends; at the same time, created a stirring force, causing literature to change, stimulating the creative potential of literature, stimulating the creativity of contemporary writers.

The Sorrow of War is a masterpiece that not only many writers desire but also many countries desire to have for their literature. Like all great works, it always overcomes layers of prejudice to contribute pure gold to the readers.

In a narrower sense, I think this work contributes to making our literature about war more multidimensional and diverse.

We should be proud that we have such a work.

Writer NGUYEN BINH PHUONG (Vice President of Vietnam Writers Association)

Bao Ninh's The Sorrow of War has been translated into more than 20 languages ​​around the world.

The Sorrow of War, a Special Peak

In particular, Bao Ninh's The Sorrow of War created a new poetics in approaching reality, depicting not only heroism but also the pain that people have to endure in war.

Mr. Thach remembers reading The Sorrow of War as a young man, preparing to enter university. He was immediately overwhelmed by the novel’s particular aesthetic: a splendor, a lyricism, an extreme pain.

This is a moving literary work with musical literary beauty, poetic quality and uniqueness of language, the ability to express to the utmost the pain as well as the happiness of people in battle.

Later, when working in literature, Mr. Thach assessed The Sorrow of War as an extremely unique Vietnamese literary work in the early period of renovation, a special peak.

The Sorrow of War is profoundly innovative as it creates a very new style of writing, an aesthetic mechanism that still "bears the traces of the era in which Bao Ninh lived, extremely painful but also very glorious".

Dr. Do Hai Ninh, Institute of Literature, expressed his opinion that writing about war from the experience of a person who participated in the war, survived and suffered mental trauma, if All Quiet on the Western Front is considered a masterpiece of Remarque, then The Sorrow of War is also a unique masterpiece of Bao Ninh.

The Sorrow of War depicts the soul of a soldier with "his own war" and the human condition in the Vietnamese war against America. Bao Ninh was probably influenced by All Quiet on the Western Front and other works of war literature from Vietnam and the world.

But in his realistic depictions of the horrors of war, he also surpassed his earlier works with masterful novelistic artistry.

The Sorrow of War is a work that accompanies literary innovation in Vietnam, expressing new artistic thinking and opening a new trend in contemporary Vietnamese literature: recreating war from personal experiences, allowing for approaches to war from many sides.

The sadness of war shows the depth of Eastern culture in general, Vietnamese culture in particular, in the souls of small, ordinary people in war, the most affected but still surviving, still yearning for humanity and human nature.

The literature The Sorrow of War also shows the appeal and success of a typical contemporary Vietnamese literary work reaching the universal level of world literature, paying attention to human pain and loss, always skeptical, questioning and calling people to humanity, love and peace.

One notable thing, according to Ms. Ninh, is that the fate of the two famous novels The Sorrow of War and All Quiet on the Western Front both received reactions and criticism from politically oriented readers in their respective countries. However, with excellent artistic style and the crystallization of unique cultural values, over time both have established a worthy position in the hearts of readers.

Poet Tran Dang Khoa receives honor for his book Sunken Island - Photo: T.DIEU

Poet Tran Dang Khoa - Vice President of the Vietnam Writers Association, who was honored this time with his short story collection Sunken Island - commented that the works honored this time are all worthy, especially the two works by Nguyen Huy Thiep and Bao Ninh.

He affirmed that The Sorrow of War is a good book. It is no coincidence that it has been translated by more than 20 countries and is in the library of the Nobel Prize Committee along with several other books by Vietnamese authors.

The work caused heated controversy because of the author's point of view. Bao Ninh wrote about war from a humanitarian perspective. According to Mr. Khoa, Bao Ninh should be awarded the State Prize for Literature and Arts in the near future.

According to Tuoi Tre

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/cac-nha-van-nha-nghien-cuu-noi-gi-ve-noi-buon-chien-tranh-cua-bao-ninh-a469263.html