The world is behind him.

When people are young, they think differently.

Although it's only the second volume, it has already introduced a writing style and a literary sensibility that seems to have been nurtured for a long time, waiting for the moment to be revealed.

When people are young, they think differently.

In Le Khai Viet's world , history may be a thing of the past, but it is a story that never truly ends.

People keep going back and forth between those two lines of historical records, as if squeezing through a narrow window separating reality from dreams, searching—but searching for what?

The thirteen short stories in "When Young People Think Differently" present different situations, in different timelines, but all the characters seem to stand before the abyss of the past, wondering what lies beneath and what lies beyond.

The world these characters live in is steeped in doubt, in a hazy mist of reality and illusion, in a geographical area that, while firmly established as existing, feels as if it could drift into the realm of the unreal at any moment.

In this unreal realm, humanity is trapped, becoming prisoners of the past and constantly crying out for liberation.

The saying "when young, people think differently" is not only a lament for a lost time but also a sorrow for those young people who lacked youth. Prematurely ripened fruits, lost dreams, no second chance to return.

The tragedy lies in the constant illusion.

In the book "March Flight," the author uses many photographs printed alongside his stories.

These photographs sometimes serve as the primary source of inspiration, sometimes merely as a backdrop. At times they are illustrative, as if to demonstrate the "authenticity" of the story the author tells. The book "When Young People Think Differently" does not include such images, even though Le Khai Viet is perfectly capable of doing so.

The only reality on the page is language, language that builds dreams, language that recreates space, language that becomes the only tool the author has to cling to reality. Even if it is an emotional, threatening reality, where the sky is "uneasyally blue" (from the story "When Young People Think Differently").

Le Khai Viet's characters may have names or be nameless, sometimes shrinking into symbols like J, K (in the story "Left and Right and...") like cards in the hands of fate.

The author realized that "Tragedy lies in the constant illusion of being an outsider, a marginalized person," and to reject that illusion, the characters embark on their journey with eager hearts, albeit tinged with doubt.

Le Khai Viet's imagination is rooted in life itself. We can still see current issues such as environmental pollution and epidemics. The things of today are intertwined with the events of yesterday. Through writing, Le Khai Viet wants to live fully and understand this life to the fullest.

It must be reiterated that this is the work of someone who is no longer young. The short stories reflect the experiences of someone who has lived through many things, and also the bewilderment of someone curious to explore .

Therefore, while Lê Khải Việt's stories may not be groundbreaking, they hold promise, like the shepherd in the story "The Gods and What Happened Beyond the Prairie": "And the shepherd awoke. Around him was darkness. Beneath his feet was the desert. But behind him was the world."

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/phia-sau-anh-ta-la-the-gioi-20240331164536651.htm