“The Grassland” and the multidimensional song about soldiers

The People's Army Publishing House has just published the novel "Mien Co Tranh" by writer Nguyen Minh Ngoc (May 2025), a fairly comprehensive book about the fight of our army and people in the resistance war against the US to save the country on the battlefield stretching from the South Central Coast, the Central Highlands to the Southeast through Phuoc Long..., from the time the Dong Khoi movement developed until the day the country was peacefully reunified (April 1975).

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With 360 pages, the novel revolves around the life of the main character - Muoi Luong, a soldier from the guerrillas who joined the main force, became a reconnaissance soldier of a battalion, was wounded and thought he would have a hard time surviving, unexpectedly still lived to do mass mobilization work in the villages of the M'nong ethnic group, later became the Platoon Leader of the Guard Platoon to protect the military region, then took on the position of Captain of the Reconnaissance Company and then Deputy of the Military Intelligence Department of the military region... In the midst of hunger, illness, bombs and bullets, he could sacrifice himself at any time, but with his brave and upright character, Muoi Luong and his comrades continuously overcame challenges, achieving many feats in the harsh circumstances of war. Not only that, many situations happened and influenced him, such as family matters in the countryside, matters related to his future wife, and matters stemming from the narrow-mindedness and selfishness of some leaders..., forcing Muoi Luong to find ways to fight and struggle to rise up and survive.

Writing about war and soldiers, there was a time when many authors tended to praise. Nguyen Minh Ngoc in “Mien Co Tranh” did not follow that path. The content of his novels is expressed in many ways, when talking about war, when talking about love, comradeship, and compatriots. Whether main or supporting, the inner thoughts of the characters are always deeply explored on both levels, both the good and the bad, the perfect and the imperfect in our army are all dissected and mentioned by him, making the value of the realistic picture become profound. Here, there are many brave and steadfast people who are devoted to their units and the revolution, but there are also braggarts, there are superiors who are not exemplary... What is special about “Mien Co Tranh” is that the setting of the novel is quite long, in a large space associated with many campaigns and many great events of epic nature, but the work is not dry because of that. Along with a fairly tight structure, writer Nguyen Minh Ngoc has shown himself to be quite skillful in harmoniously combining realistic elements interspersed with the reminiscences of fictionalized characters, with many details, creating softness throughout the work.

Nguyen Minh Ngoc is a military writer, a member of the Vietnam Writers Association, who has lived and worked in Nha Trang for many years and worked at the Khanh Hoa Literature and Arts Association before moving to Ho Chi Minh City. In addition to film scripts, he has had 16 published works released to the public in the following genres: novels, short story collections, and memoirs. The birth of "Mien Co Tranh" is a new breakthrough for Nguyen Minh Ngoc. This novel is like a song about soldiers, in which the content is portrayed very vividly, multi-dimensionally and quite attractive.

HOANG NHAT TUYEN

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/van-hoa/202507/mien-co-tranh-va-khuc-hat-da-chieu-ve-nguoi-linh-9a8214e/