Slow down and think deeper

“Marrying Myself” ( Da Nang Publishing House, 2025) is the 15th book by poet Ly Doi, from Dien Ban Town, Quang Nam Province. Photo: TY

“Marrying Myself” is a collection of 44 essays in a book of less than 200 pages. Most of the works are under 800 words, with a clear writing style, no hidden meanings, and easy to read. This is a work that continues the spirit of “I argue, that means I exist” that poet Ly Doi has pursued in many books, articles and compositions. For example, in the article “There is no poet named Nguyen Du”, he analyzed that “thanks to the international fame of Truyen Kieu, Nguyen Du was honored by UNESCO as a “ World Cultural Celebrity” in 2013.

For the majority, this is an obvious truth, but in fact, during his lifetime, there was no book signed by the pen name Nguyen Du. From another perspective in “I am one, I am alone, I am the first”, the author analyzes that loneliness is inherent, the nature of all species, all things and the entire universe. So there is no need to avoid or fear loneliness, but rather to cherish and accept it. Only when we are bold and at peace with the state of being one, alone, and the first, can we truly live with ourselves. And only then can we truly share the loneliness of others, including our own blood relatives.

If the author were to define the elements that make up the book, he would choose three words: knowledge, experience and experience. The essays in the book, whether about life, culture or philosophy, are all filtered through a personal lens, from what he has learned, encountered and contemplated. He said that in the process of reading/studying The Tale of Kieu, he tried to memorize all 3,254 sentences, but only memorized about 1,000 sentences, and was already happy.

“If memorizing 1,000 sentences were knowledge, then at that time I wouldn’t have understood how many of the sentences I had memorized, but thanks to my experience and literary experience over the years, recently I have gradually realized the beauty of the sentences I have not memorized, or no longer like some of the sentences I have memorized. In this book, I have written some essays about the Tale of Kieu, and also discovered that in the past, no poet had ever used the pen name Nguyen Du,” poet Ly Doi concluded.

Poet Ly Doi has 5 personal poetry collections and more than 10 joint collections. His poems have been translated and published in English, French, Spanish, Romanian, and Czech, becoming a research topic for students and researchers at home and abroad. Photo: TY

Because of the nature of his work and his love for literature and art, Ly Doi reads and writes almost every day. He said this helps him have many quality works to contribute to newspapers, or simply to post on Facebook. Each article, according to him, is just to inspire or create an excuse for readers to ponder in their own way. Besides that, there are works of fiction, science and philosophy, if you take the time to think and analyze, you will find them extremely meaningful. “Marry Yourself” does not shout slogans, does not preach anything grand.

The articles are like small slices, inviting readers to look back at how they are living, thinking, loving or being lonely. Just like the author affirms, “I write because I have to write, but whatever I write, I write for myself.” That is the “me” of a middle-aged person entering the lowlands of life, where old questions return, beliefs are reflected, and all judgments seem to need to be questioned. This philosophy of life can be seen in the works: Chau ve hop pho, Boundary of good, Is it true that “only with real can we uphold the way”?, Strangers with them, Disconnected from memory, Good people - good people and skillful people, The difference of civilization, Monument to the place of awakening, Second place is not a competition …

Before publishing the essay “Marrying Myself”, poet Ly Doi had 5 personal poetry collections and more than 10 joint collections. His poems were translated and published in English, French, Spanish, Romanian, Czech, becoming research topics for students and researchers at home and abroad. He is also known for his role as a researcher of fine arts and culture, as the author of thousands of articles and 3 books on the topic of Saigon, nearly 20 books/collections on painters, exhibitions, and the Vietnamese fine arts market.

In addition, he also works in the fields of journalism, publishing, art consulting, exhibitions, film and theater commentary... In the midst of the hustle and bustle of daily concerns, "Marrying Yourself" is like a small pause for readers to temporarily put aside chasing news, arguing or trying to show off. Likewise, the author does not require reading from beginning to end. Just a few random pages, you can also come across sentences that make you pause, such as in " Stranger with the same surname" , " Second place is not a competition" , or " Monument of awakening" .

This was also analyzed by researcher Truong Nguyen Nga (Hoi An), when he said that the everyday stories were interpreted by the author under a philosophical lens, with a simple, specific, easy-to-read and accessible writing style. According to him, these are articles on many existing topics, not short, not long, concise but effective.

SWALLOW

Source: https://baodanang.vn/tac-gia-xu-quang/202505/song-cham-lai-va-ngam-sau-hon-4006325/