Weaving Golden Threads: Huy Can and Nguyen Xuan Sanh buy books on credit

"Reading books to find life or to find your own image imprinted in them", artist Ta Ty concluded in his work Ten Faces of Literature and Art . The love for books has contributed to shaping the character and qualities of many people who later left their names in the world.

Portrait of Huy Can when he was young

Photo: Book Vietnamese Poets (1932 - 1941) printed in 1942

Vu Ngoc Phan loves reading Chinese novels.

The work I Learned by Myself by Thu Giang Nguyen Duy Can has a summary of the benefits of reading books, which, upon reflection, is truly true for many people who consider books as their close friends: "Books help us think, they show us that we don't have to waste time searching for something that others have found before us. That saves us a useless waste of time. We need to spend our energy to search for more things that others have found, and thereby make it clearer. Or it also shows us something that the world is looking for, but has not found yet." Whether a famous or anonymous person, when looking for a book, they all hope to find something.

Huy Can and Nguyen Xuan Sanh (Xuan Thu Nha Tap group) were passionate about books when they were students at Hue National School: "To find books and newspapers, there was Mr. Duong's library, or a friend's house. But the best and most favorite was still the Huong Giang bookstore of Hai Trieu and his wife"; "On Thursdays and Sundays, Huy Can and I often ran over to visit his bookstore. Many evenings, we also sneaked out of school to stop by and look at the new stack of books for a while", Nguyen Xuan Sanh recalled in Beloved Faces . Not only did they read books at Huong Giang bookstore, the two students were also lent books about socialism by Hai Trieu. Even when they got to know the owner of the bookstore, they were allowed to buy books on credit until the end of the month to pay, "Huy Can and I bought books in droves, even buying them on credit until the end of the month to be able to pay Ms. Tuyen [Hai Trieu's wife]", Nguyen Xuan Sanh recalled with emotion.

Also a writer, literary critic Vu Ngoc Phan can be considered a true bookworm. Vu read books from a young age and was obsessed with literature all his life. According to his memoir Those Years , Vu Ngoc Phan confided that when he was young, he loved reading Chinese novels, to the point that it influenced his life and writing. If Thuy Hu had Chuc Gia Trang, then the place where Vu lived was named Vu Gia Trang; in the "Preface" of Nha Van Hien Dai (Modern Writers) , the author concluded with the line: "Written at Vu Gia Trang, Thai Ha hamlet on Trung Thap day, Tan Ty year (1941)". Then Western literature also passed through this young man's hands, such as La Fontaine's fables, Mai Nuong Le Cot by Prévost, The Donkey's Skin by Balzac... Of course, with Vietnamese literature, Vu could not help but read Truyen Kieu, Chinh Phu Ngam, Cung Oan Ngam Khuc ...

Becoming famous with the series of novels Lau Tinh Mong, Love and Honor, Lord of Money and Silver ..., Mrs. Tung Long must have also been related to the first pages of books from her father's bookshelf. "Since childhood, I have lived with books, newspapers, poetry and literature"; the stories Tai Sanh Duyen, Tuc Tai Sanh Duyen, Chieu Quan Cong Ho, Binh Son Lanh Banh ... "were deeply imprinted in my childhood mind", Mrs. Tung Long confided in her memoir Writing is my eternal joy ...

Luu Trong Lu shares his thoughts about reading in his memoir Awakening at Midnight

PHOTO: TRAN DINH BA

Luu Trong Lu is fascinated by Omar Khayyam's poetry.

When talking about the poem " Autumn Sounds" with the image "The bewildered yellow deer/Treading on dry yellow leaves", readers will remember the poet Luu Trong Lu. To have immortal poems in Vietnamese literature history, Luu Trong Lu had equipped himself with a foundation of knowledge early on. Reading his memoir "Awakening at Midnight ", we see that during his student days, Luu was a regular visitor to the Central Library on Truong Thi Street. Here, Dostoyevski's works "grabbed my hair", and Persian poet Omar Khayyam's poems about wine and women "fascinated me".

Later, when he grew up and entered the path of poetry and revolutionary activities, Luu Trong Lu "thanked the "Marxist" bookcase of the Viet Minh of Central Vietnam, who evacuated to the war zone together - for captivating my days here", the poet of New Sunshine expressed his gratitude in the work Big Autumn .

In the South, Phan Van Hum was also a bookworm. During his time in Hanoi, Phan said in his memoirs "Prisoned in the Big Prison ": "On holidays and days off, people often saw me standing in the bookstores of Hang Gai, Hang Giay, Hang Bo, looking for old and tattered books, such as stories about Tre Coc, Trinh Thu, Phu Dung ... Later, when new books were published, I also bought a few, such as small books about the history of Sun Yat-sen... for the youngest children in the family to read."

Not only reading the books he had, to satisfy his knowledge and serve his career path, Phan Van Hum also borrowed books from Nguyen An Ninh's bookshelf. Still in the above memoir, when Phan had to tell the secret police about visiting Mr. Ninh's house, he said he borrowed books to read, and even brought back a few books such as Histoire du Christ ( History of Jesus Christ ), Les frères Karamazov (The Brothers Karamazov )... ( to be continued )

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/det-nhung-soi-vang-huy-can-nguyen-xuan-sanh-mua-sach-chiu-185250420200113795.htm