Ngoc Le: The person who "breathes" life into her works

Recently, the short story "Country Women" by author Nguyen Thi Ngoc Le (member of the Tien Giang Literature and Arts Association) won Second Prize in the 2023 Mekong Delta Short Story Contest. The award she won somewhat encouraged Tien Giang prose writers after a period of seemingly being "inferior" to poetry.

Writer Ngoc Le writes as a way of life, without making a fuss, each short story that "appears" more or less wins the sympathy of readers. The author has boldly expanded the topic, has a multi-dimensional explanation and analysis, delving into the inner world of the characters.

Author Ngoc Le (left cover) on the day of receiving the 2023 Mekong Delta short story award.

The writer also boldly brings the reality of life into the work, making the short stories more vivid, more diverse in content and expression methods, especially the image of Southern women. In the short story collection "Stars on the Sea" , readers can easily discover the image of grandmother, mother, sister, neighbor, close friend... existing in it. She has realistically and vividly recreated from the living conditions to the way of thinking and acting of women who are confused with the changes in life.

No one can deny that mother's love is sacred, nothing can replace it. This is also a topic that many writers and poets put into poetry and short stories to express respect and gratitude to parents.

In the short story “Tet cua ngay xua” , the author uses the title “ma” which is typical of the South instead of “me” like in many other short stories. In the family, “ma” always teaches the sisters how to behave, speak, eat, and especially not to forget to buy Tet clothes for the children. Each gesture and action is described meticulously, making the reader implicitly understand that she is describing her own “ma”.

Although life is difficult, every mother still gives her best to her children. Loving memories of relatives and warm family activities constantly reappear, making readers feel both happy and nostalgic.

Perhaps readers will feel sad and emotional when reading the last part of the short story: “Season after season! My mother, a tolerant and honest country woman, always struggled with food and clothing for her large number of children. Her eyes still looked far away and tears filled her eyes when her children did not return home for Tet. When I became a mother, when I had to steer my own life, I understood why my mother and the women in the poor neighborhood only lit torches, carried baskets, and went to the market late at night on the 30th of Tet. Every night, when I faced myself, my heart was filled with sadness when I remembered my mother's eyebrows and burnt hair back then, and I sobbed for "the little me" in the past, who always showed off anything strange, so my mother scolded her lovingly: "She is something I have never seen before, with a pair of flimsy pants, dogs barking all night long". Reading the above passage on the days approaching the Lunar New Year 2024, surely readers cannot help but feel sad and emotional when remembering their mother. my hard work in the past

Writer Ngoc Le.

If the image of women in "Tet of the old days" appears with the beauty of maternal love and the kindness of the soul, then in the short story "Nguoi ruoc" , the character of the mother (Tam My) appears with immense love, not only for her children and grandchildren but also for those around her, which has become the highlight of the work.

It is the kind-hearted soul of the mother who “gets angry and then forgets it” with a Southern accent that wins the sympathy of readers. We see there a woman with inner turmoil and turmoil, torn between tradition and modernity, between personal aspirations and social rules and norms. Having just gotten angry with her daughter, she rushed back to her hometown, but when she heard her husband, Tam, mention her daughter, Tam My felt heartbroken, wanting to run straight to the city, to the boarding house with her daughter.

It was the sincerity of that “country person” that won over the neighbors in the boarding house, especially Ms. Phuong, who had no feelings for Tam My, but was moved by “how she resembles her mother”. On the day of parting, Phuong’s voice choked up: “Seeing you, Phuong misses her mother! It’s been a long time since I’ve been back to my hometown”. Those words made “Tam My’s nose sting. Looking up, tears streaming down her face, a pale blue sky seemed to be trying to lift the tall buildings that caught Tam My’s eyes. She saw a few stars glistening with tears as if they sympathized with her”.

With the recent short story “Country Woman” , author Ngoc Le exploits the beauty of women in another aspect, which is the beauty of loyalty and love for children. Chua is a hard-working person, working hard day and night and never thinking about herself.

That mother may be hungry, but she is willing to give her children the best. Her husband died, Bé Chùa stayed single to raise her children. That is a story that we can see anywhere in everyday life. But through the author's realistic writing, it exudes the beauty of maternal love more than ever. "With two children beside her, Bé Chùa slept better. When she woke up, she would rearrange the pillow, cover herself with the blanket, then look at her children, kiss their hands and feet, and feel peaceful and happy. Then Tim and her sisters went to school, listening to them study, showing off their high scores, her heart was filled with joy. A country woman who became a widow early, was happy with her children's happiness, so all the hardships were nothing to her." Although her family's life was not highly regarded, Bé Chùa always tried her best to help her children, to give them a better life.

This shows the love and sacrifice of a mother for her family. The author's good point is to include Ba Ca's whisper at the end of the story as a conclusion about the qualities of rural women in the South: "Most rural women are like that! They live for their husbands and children. Tim is the same, she resembles her mother from appearance to thinking."

In her work, author Ngoc Le has skillfully created the character of a woman with the rustic features of the South but hiding many feelings and aspirations. What makes the author successful is the discovery of the private life and inner depth of each character. The female characters in Ngoc Le's stories are not simply images created by her, but they are portraits of many women in the past and present.

She observes and filters details to write about women, each with its own unique personality, no two are alike, through focusing on spoken language or using specific words to describe each character... Through her exploration process, the author has expressed sympathy and understanding for the difficult-to-express feelings of many women in different situations.

With her simple and rustic writing style, she has “breathed” the breath of life into her work, making it closer to the readers. Hopefully in the future, author Ngoc Le will continue to make her own mark with works that explore the land and people of the South in general and Tien Giang in particular.

QUANG HUY

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Source: http://baoapbac.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/202401/ngoc-le-nguoi-thoi-hoi-tho-cuoc-song-vao-tac-pham-1001189/