Literary theorist and critic Huynh Thu Hau: Persistent with passion...

With youthful, fresh, and individual poems published in her first poetry collection “Canh Dong Mat Ngu” published in 2013, Huynh Thu Hau is considered an impressive face of Quang poetry. It was thought that she would continue to walk with poetry, but then she turned completely to critical theory, with an increasingly fuller appearance...

Critical theorist Huynh Thu Hau. Photo: NVCC

The fiery coal

Being “passionate” and having early achievements with poetry, when she turned to the field of theory and criticism, Huynh Thu Hau surprised and regretted many people. But instead of explaining, she continued to work. With diligence and a serious scientific spirit, she gradually asserted herself on her new journey. She felt that poetry did not abandon her, but at the same time she also realized that she seemed to have a connection with the hardships and sufferings of theory and criticism.

“I don’t see any contradiction between writing poetry and writing criticism; or in other words, criticism is not dry, it doesn’t eliminate the sublimity of poetry. Because criticism is a blend of reason and emotion, of science and art, and as Roland Barthe said, criticism is a discourse about another discourse, a meta-language” - Huynh Thu Hau shared.

In addition to a collection of poems, she has her own collection of critical theories including the collection of critical essays "The Adventure of Words" (Writers' Association Publishing House 2017), the monograph "The Art of the Paradox in Vietnamese Novels" (Writers' Association Publishing House 2018) and the collection of critical essays "Literary Discourse - Different Beauties" (Writers' Association Publishing House 2020). Therefore, in the first days of the new year 2024, good news came to Huynh Thu Hau: she was admitted to the Vietnam Writers' Association , majoring in critical theory.

Besides her theoretical and critical research works, for many years Huynh Thu Hau has been the almost sole representative of Quang Nam at many national scientific conferences on literature - especially conferences on academic issues, reception, adaptation, poetics translation and very new creations of Vietnamese literature...

PhD, literary critic and theorist Huynh Thu Hau, born in 1979, member of the Quang Nam Literature and Arts Association, member of the Vietnam Writers Association, is currently a lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities - Quang Nam University.
From 2013 to present, Huynh Thu Hau has been awarded a number of awards: the second Quang Nam Literature and Arts Award for the poetry collection “Canh Dong Mat Ngu”; the C prize of the 2017 annual award of the National Committee of the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations and the C prize of the 2017 Quang Nam Literature and Arts Award for the collection of critical essays “The Adventure of Words”; the C prize of the 3rd Quang Nam Literature and Arts Award for the monograph “The Art of the Paradox in Vietnamese Novels”.

Talking about being admitted to the Vietnam Writers Association, Huynh Thu Hau said that for her, it is a joy, a reward after a long journey of tireless efforts and that joy will certainly give her more energy to create, to stick with literature, with the field she has chosen.

Since high school, Huynh Thu Hau dreamed of becoming a critical theorist. During her university years and after starting work, she continued to nurture and pursue that dream persistently, determined to make it come true.

She quietly writes theories, criticisms and publishes them in specialized journals, both to test her abilities and to "explore" them, as well as as a way to find her strengths in research and criticism.

She is also a very "hard-working" person, as from 2014 until now, she has never been absent from the training courses on critical theory organized by the Central Council for Criticism of Literature and Arts (CLA) and the Vietnam Union of Literary and Arts Associations - courses that she believes have contributed to "more systematically shaping her path"...

In particular, many times Huynh Thu Hau herself sought out leading professors and doctors at major academic centers in the country to ask to "study" and learn. Then, she successively overcame the challenging "gates", becoming a master, then a doctor...

“I think I was right when I asserted that passion needs to be maintained by determination, by the persistence of the coal, not by the impulsive burst of the fire” - Huynh Thu Hau confided.

A special journey

Dr. Huynh Thu Hau’s determination to pursue a career in theory and criticism while not giving up on poetry is something special. But her journey to becoming a professional literary theorist and critic is even more special.

That is, instead of just being absorbed in a certain topic or literary issue, she has different paths on her journey, which, according to her, is "to approach new things, to challenge herself, to realize her true nature more".

Works by author Huynh Thu Hau. Photo: B.A — Works by author Huynh Thu Hau. Photo: BA

In 2001, while still in university, Huynh Thu Hau chose to research the poetess Xuan Quynh as her graduation thesis. The reason: Xuan Quynh is a poet that she feels is very compatible with her personality, and more importantly, studying the personality and poetic career of Xuan Quynh, she found unique, different and rich beauty.

However, just one year later, when she decided to pursue a master's degree, instead of "upgrading" her undergraduate thesis to a postgraduate research topic like many people do, Huynh Thu Hau decided to research the writer William Faulkner - a famous American writer, author of many works "dealing with universal values, such as life and death, the issue of human status in the technocratic era, the issue of fighting racial discrimination, and environmental protection".

It was Faulkner's unique ideological values and distinct, new poetic features compared to the Vietnamese literary biosphere at that time that attracted and urged her to move forward. "The process of "looking out" at foreign literature was also a way for me to broaden my knowledge, challenge myself, and satisfy my desire to conquer and discover new things..." - Dr. Huynh Thu Hau said.

After that “realization”, in 2013, Huynh Thu Hau began her doctoral research, and the topic she chose was not one of the two topics she had worked hard on before. “Odd?”. Many people exclaimed in surprise and somewhat concern when they learned that she chose this issue - which was too new and strange in the life of Vietnamese literary criticism at that time - to research.

But it was also the emotions of others that urged her, making her more determined: to commit, to explore, to discover new things... And then in 2017, Huynh Thu Hau became a doctor with the topic "The art of paradox in Vietnamese novels from 1986 to 2012".

Looking back on her zigzag journey on the road to literary theory and criticism, Dr. Huynh Thu Hau said she had to lose many things, especially her personal joys.

But in return, she had a "happy journey", because for her, literature helps people live more beautifully, better, and "the creative journey is a happy journey", especially when there, she had a lot of academic experiences, was more herself at work, more confident and proud of her bold decisions...

She confided: “Above all, I feel lucky to be a student of teachers who love literature passionately and always know how to inspire creativity, from my high school years to my years at the Faculty of Literature of Hue University of Education, Faculty of Literature - Hanoi University of Education, Faculty of Literature of Hue University of Sciences... I also have many generous and sincere literary friends who have always encouraged and motivated me to commit myself...”.

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