Poet and folklore researcher Nguyen The Vinh: Books are both teachers and companions.

Poet and folklore researcher Nguyen The Vinh. Photo: Dan Vu

PV: There have been many studies about the meaning, role and value of books to people and life, but from the perspective of a poet and a Vietnamese cultural researcher, in your opinion, what is the meaning and role of books?

Mr. Nguyen The Vinh: In my opinion, books play an extremely important role in human life, deeply influencing personal, social and cultural development. Books are a huge treasure trove of knowledge, where human understanding, experience and inventions over thousands of years are preserved. Reading books allows people to access valuable information in many fields, such as science , history, culture, art and many other fields, helping to expand understanding and improve human thinking ability. Not only imparting knowledge, books also provide moral lessons, shaping personality and life values. Books also stimulate thinking and creativity. When reading books, readers must imagine, analyze and link information. This not only helps to train critical thinking but also stimulates creativity. Books are also a rich source of entertainment, playing an important role in preserving the culture and history of a nation, creating bridges between different individuals and cultures…

PV: As a poet, a Vietnamese cultural researcher, and then a writer, how important is reading to you in creating success on your creative and research path?

Mr. Nguyen The Vinh: I was born and raised in Song Lang commune, Vu Thu district, Thai Binh province. This is a culturally rich homeland, the homeland of the first-ranking scholar Do Ly Khiem (Le dynasty) and Doctor Doan Khue (later Nam Dinh province's Inspector of Education). As a land of learning, despite the difficult life, the elders always cared about the education of their children and grandchildren. Growing up in that environment, from a young age I was always conscious of finding books to read. Books were rare at that time, so whenever I found a book, I focused on reading deeply and carefully. My vocabulary, knowledge base, and way of thinking were probably formed from that... Later, when I worked as a journalist, wrote poetry, wrote prose, and studied the history of Vietnam, I focused on reading in the fields I was interested in to serve my work and this brought about very clear results. When reading books, I really appreciate the saying: "Hoc hai yeu nhi phong phiem tat" (the ocean of learning is vast and not learning is widespread) by Nguyen Khuyen.

PV: According to you, reading with concentration and purpose to serve your work and life is your way of reading. What has that way of reading brought you?

Mr. Nguyen The Vinh: For every person, from a young age, reading is to enrich vocabulary, form thinking, personality, and knowledge base. When growing up, in addition to reading for entertainment and to improve knowledge, no matter what profession or field you work in, you should read and focus on that field, learn what you need, to grasp deeply and thoroughly to serve your work, and contribute more to society. That is one of the great values ​​of reading. For me, when researching cultural heritage, I have to read a lot of books in this field; I have to read deeply, read carefully, and read with concentration. For example, when writing about a specific relic or famous person, I also have to read related books. Reading helps me gain knowledge, learn, and filter out valuable things, avoiding content that others have written. For the path of writing literature and poetry, reading books is a necessary job. I have read many books from East and West, ancient and modern, and have gained a lot of experience in writing literature and poetry.

Another important thing is that I not only read books that have been written and printed, but also look for "living books", which are people living in those cultural areas and relics to observe, talk to, exploit materials from them, listen to the way they speak to put into my work... Those "living books" are a treasure trove of folk culture, through which I have discovered many new, attractive, unique and interesting things... When writing the poem "Vieng Market", I went to the cultural space of Vieng Market in Vu Ban (Nam Dinh), visited Van Trang blacksmith village, grew mulberry and raised silkworms in Co Chat, to write the verses "The village weaves strong and durable squares of silk/The village forges thinly plated bronze". The words "squares of silk", "thinly plated", "bronze" are all typical folk words, since ancient times people in the village have called them that way. Putting these words into the article, the villagers will see that it is talking about their village, and outsiders will understand the cultural space here. Or like when writing about Nam Dinh traditional pho, I met many pork and beef butchers to know that "pork is delicious differently" (head, neck, shoulder, rump are priced differently, deliciousness is different); beef is "delicious" (during famine, the beef was divided among the whole village, each family got about 200 grams of meat, but everyone was happy because there was meat to eat).

Through meeting "living books", I also learned that, in the homeland of Pho Co (a dish originating from Giao Cu village, Dong Son commune, Nam Truc district, Nam Dinh province), on the eighth day of the third lunar month, people only need to bring a Van Trang brand meat slicing knife to a pho restaurant in any province or city to be considered a guarantee to be hired as a head chef...

Reading helps each of my poems not only be emotional, the sublimation of words and ideas, but also contain a lot of knowledge about folk culture as well as current activities. Therefore, for me, books are both teachers and companions in my study and work.

PV: In the era of technological development, in addition to having more advantages for reading books with the presence of e-books, audiobooks, smart reading technology... but there are many opinions that the reading culture is gradually fading away; people are increasingly reluctant to read deeply, read long and are used to reading short, reading quickly, watching videos , images instead of reading. What is your opinion?

Mr. Nguyen The Vinh: This situation does exist. The worrying thing is that reading short, reading quickly, watching videos and images instead of reading will erode deep thinking, affecting the quality of work at work as well as the quality of life. The brain also needs to rest and be entertained to nourish the spirit. Reading helps reduce stress and soothe the soul after tiring hours of work or study. Literary books and novels can take readers on interesting adventures, bringing joy and comfort. Reading only short, quick information, watching videos and images has a very negative impact on the development of each individual's abilities as well as the quality of spiritual life. In addition, in the era of technology and information explosion, readers are often caught in a "matrix" of good books - bad books, mixed information - wrong information. Therefore, in my opinion, reading must be selective, reading by topic, reading what you need, not reading too much.

PV: Books and reading are of great importance in social life in general and in human development in particular. But how to nurture, maintain and spread the reading movement requires specific solutions, right?

Mr. Nguyen The Vinh: In my opinion, this first of all has a very important role for the family, school and society. Parents reading books will have a positive influence on their children. Since the time their children are in the womb, many young parents now talk to their children, let them listen to music, and read books to them. When their children are young, when they go out, parents should take them to bookstores, book stalls in supermarkets for them to see and choose a few books to buy. Gifts for children, in addition to toys, clothes, etc., should also include books. If you want your children to grow up to be comprehensive, live happily, live humanely, have solid, scientific learning and working methods, think thoroughly and deeply, etc., you need to form the habit of reading books from an early age. Books teach children and provide them with very important foundations in forming their personality, thinking ability, learning and working later on.

The same goes for schools. In addition to studying in class, it is necessary to widely promote and encourage the movement of reading, self-study, and self-research among students and teachers. Currently, many schools have responded quite well to the Reading Culture Ambassador contest, organizing meaningful activities on Vietnam Book Day to spread the love for books... However, in my opinion, these activities need to be more practical and effective; the school library system needs to be diverse and rich in books suitable for students' ages, regularly updated with new books, and coordinated to have more bookcases in the schoolyard, in the classroom... so that students can have books to read immediately when they need them.

Along with that, authorities at all levels and cultural sectors have paid attention to developing reading culture, consolidating the library system towards digitalization, bringing books closer to people through book circulation, implementing mobile library models, organizing competitions to spread reading culture, etc., but it is still necessary to form more and replicate the model of bookcases and libraries in families and communities. Some units, such as the Provincial Journalists Association, regularly organize the annual Spring Newspaper Festival at the grassroots level and donate newspapers to village libraries. This is very valuable and needs to be promoted.

Books are not only documents containing knowledge but also important companions in the development journey of each individual as well as society. Maintaining the habit of reading and appreciating the value of books is necessary to raise awareness, understanding and educate future generations.

PV: Thank you very much!

Do Hong (Implementation)

Source: https://baohanam.com.vn/van-hoa/van-hoc-nghe-thuat/nha-tho-nha-nghien-cuu-van-hoa-dan-gian-nguyen-the-vinh-sach-vua-la-nguoi-thay-vua-la-nguoi-ban-duong-158337.html