Remembering the warm letters of To Hoai

Listening to Huu Thinh recount, when receiving the wine, To Hoai said: "This wine is for drinking at the end of autumn". I was very happy, because for connoisseurs of wine, one must choose the right time and season to drink.

To Hoai was truly a natural-born prose writer, although when he first entered the writing profession, he wrote poetry under his real name Nguyen Sen. But he stopped at the right time and immediately switched to prose, so that we have a great prose writer like today. It has been 10 years since To Hoai passed away (he passed away on July 6, 2014 - TN ). I still remember, in 2014, when I went to Hanoi , I went with translator Luong Le Giang to visit To Hoai at house number 21 Doan Nhu Hai street. Actually, Doan Nhu Hai is a small street, more like an alley, called an alley in the inner area, rather than a road or street. I did not meet To Hoai because he was in the hospital, but luckily, I met his wife, Cuc, who had just come back from the hospital to visit her husband. I looked at the small dining table and saw a bowl of cold noodles, half-full, Cuc said that because her husband was in the hospital, she spent more than half a day in the hospital taking care of her husband, so she only ate instant noodles to save money. I brought a bottle of good wine to give to my uncle. Uncle Cuc was happy and told him to leave the bottle on the altar. He would drink it when my husband was well and discharged from the hospital.

Nhớ những dòng thư ấm áp của Tô Hoài- Ảnh 1. — Writer To Hoai (1920 - 2014)

I did not expect that less than a month later, I would hear that To Hoai had passed away. So the bottle of wine I gave him became a wine offering, and I would never see him again, a person I admired so much.

Remembering To Hoai, I remember the warm and very specific letters he wrote to me. To Hoai's innate prose quality was also reflected in those small letters. Short and specific. I would like to present to readers one of those small letters that To Hoai sent to me dated August 10, 2007:

" 10/8/07

Thanh Thao

I just wrote an essay about a deceased friend, sent to Song Tra, after reading Thanh Thao's article "Reading Duong Thi Xuan Quy's Diary" (Song Tra July).

I often read Song Tra magazine (borrowed from the Hanoi Literature and Arts Association library). Thanh Thao is very good at making magazines, her articles bear the mark of Song Tra but the whole country can read them, they are good to read, many newspapers in the centers are far behind. And when do I have time to write about politics , society, and play football for the newspapers? I haven't been well for a while now, I stay home with my daughter and let her take care of me, I write occasionally just for brain exercise.

To Hoai

C3-108

Nghia Tan Ward

Cau Giay - Hanoi

Nhớ những dòng thư ấm áp của Tô Hoài- Ảnh 2. — Letter from writer To Hoai to poet Thanh Thao

Writing about To Hoai's writing career would probably take forever. In 2020, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of To Hoai's birth, I wrote a poem with his name as the title. I would like to present it to readers, to remember a great writer of our country:

TO HOAI

I almost never actually met him.

He and I almost only wrote each other a few letters.

I sent you some small bottles of wine.

He praised: "This wine is for drinking in late autumn."

It seems that everyone has a small bottle of wine in their life.

drink sometime

but with To Hoai

i think he never ends

but how to catch up

dreams?

when he told the story "Three Others"