The movements of historical novels

In recent years, historical novels have had a significant influence on literary life. Along with the generation of famous writers such as Nguyen Xuan Khanh, Hoang Quoc Hai, Tran Thuy Mai, Ly Lan... a new force has emerged, the 8x, 9x generation, who are passionate and have initially achieved success. That is also the topic that attracted many discussions in a recent literary discussion.

Writer Hoang Quoc Hai is known for his massive historical novels, such as: “Storm of the Tran Dynasty” and “Eight Ly Dynasty Kings”. (Photo: qdnd.vn)

“Historical novels - movements” is the topic of the discussion organized by the Hanoi Writers Association at the end of August 2023. Two speakers, writer Hoang Quoc Hai and writer Phung Van Khai - representing two generations of writers, shared stories about historical novels.

Writer Hoang Quoc Hai is known for his massive historical novels, such as: “Storm of the Tran Dynasty” and “Eight Dynasties of the Ly Dynasty”. In response to the concerns of experts and readers about historical novels, he believes that there are three main writing styles: writing according to official history, writing according to unofficial history, and writing from a neutral perspective of the two above writing styles.

Specifically, historical novels are not told in historical order but in the folk way, depending on the narrator's emotions, they can add other elements. The writer believes that historical fiction is not inferior to official history, but depends on the writer's talent for recreating. Regarding historical fiction, the work "Don Quixote" by the great writer Cervantes is a typical example. Regarding official history, "War and Peace " by the great writer Lev Tolstoy is a representative.

Writer Hoang Quoc Hai emphasized that talented writers will be masters in decoding history. Thus, with official or unofficial history, the important thing is whether the writer can write the face of the era or not. Many readers ask: Does fiction distort official history? Writer Hoang Quoc Hai believes that the mission of literary works is fiction and the thoughts of historical figures are faithfully recreated through fictional characters. Although "Don Quixote" is a fictional character, the character's thoughts and social context are completely authentic.

Discussing the atmosphere of historical novel writing in recent years, writer Phung Van Khai compared: the atmosphere of historical writing in literature is like the atmosphere of... football. It is an atmosphere where everyone wants to be on the field and be completely proactive. Besides agreeing with the sharing of writer Hoang Quoc Hai, writer Phung Van Khai wants to add another style of historical novel writing that is receiving a lot of attention, which is the "martial arts" school.

Although the amount of fiction in these works is very large, they also respect history. Through that, the writer also affirms that the writer of historical novels must first of all be a history lover, must have extensive knowledge about the historical period he writes about, the historical characters he writes about, the context, life, culture, and ideology of that time...

Recently, we can mention writers of the 8x generation who have been successful with this genre, winning many literary awards, such as: Le Vu Truong Giang, Dinh Phuong, Nguyen Thi Kim Hoa...

According to critics, there are many attractive things that historical novels invite writers to, however, choosing to write in this genre is always a brave choice. Because besides the abundance of historical documents, the interesting characters, the grandeur of the dynasties... the writer must face the problem of how to make what is already available under his pen become attractive, creative without falling into the situation of "distorting history".

Besides, writing historical novels requires dedication and passion, because time has passed, history always has many hidden corners, looking back to history to decode is not for superficial people and taking advantage of hidden corners to speculate. Those hidden corners for real writers will be a place for fiction, for interpretation in a thoughtful, artistic, and cultural way.

The discussion received attention from experts as well as readers, revolving around the following issues: historical works foster patriotism; historical novels must first respect history, era, data and characters; how to create and make fiction without being unfamiliar with the history that has happened...

The close relationship between literature and history has always been affirmed. History provides writers with endless inspiration so that excellent works will make history more vivid and attractive. Although many writers have tried and more or less made their mark, not everyone can say that they have succeeded convincingly.

Writer Hoang Quoc Hai believes that the problem is not a matter of age or experience and expectations: Young people born after 2000 can still write historical novels, as long as they have enough talent and enthusiasm.

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