Truong Dang Dung - poet from the core

After graduating from high school, he was sent to Hungary to study. In 1975, at the age of 20, he wrote the poem “Am huong mua hanh” and sent it back to Vietnam to be published in the Van Nghe Newspaper (Vietnam Writers Association). In the fall of 1978, he graduated and returned to Vietnam. In 1981, he returned to Hungary to do research. During this time, he wrote his doctoral thesis and translated “Truyen Kieu” into Hungarian. And as a sudden sublimation, one winter morning in 1983, he wrote the poem “Nhung phan ky phan”. He translated this poem into Hungarian and it was published in the October issue of the Hungarian Writers Association’s magazine Uj irás (New Works). Since then, he has been persistently and enthusiastically involved in literature, smoothly and evenly handling all three genres of poetry, translation and critical theory research.

In 2011, nearly 30 years after writing the poem “Imaginary Memories”, Truong Dang Dung published his first collection of poems of the same name. The collection of poems only had 25 poems, thin but not light, further reinforcing the belief that “quality is more important than quantity” in literature. The collection of poems was warmly received by readers right from its release, and was awarded the Hanoi Writers Association Award.

Nearly 10 years later, Truong Dang Dung published his second collection of poems: “You are where I seek refuge” (Literature Publishing House, 2020). Like a multiplicity of expansions, the collection of poems continues to convey Truong Dang Dung’s existential obsessions and philosophical reflections.

The 20th century is the century of literary theory achievements. Looking back at Truong Dang Dung's published literary theory works such as "Issues of Literary Science", "From Text to Literary Work", "Literary Work as a Process", "Literary Text and the Instability of Meaning"..., we see that they are the result of a systematic research process, consistent in both academic thought and research object. These works of Truong Dang Dung have reflected on the discoveries about the linguistic nature of modern literary theoretical thinking.

The work "Literary Texts and the Instability of Meaning" (Literature Publishing House, 2021) by Truong Dang Dung was awarded the 2021 Vietnam Writers Association Award. This is truly a luxurious collection of essays by an erudite and intelligent theoretical researcher whose name is a convincing guarantee in the academic literary world. The book has the depth of scientific knowledge, the novelty of modern/postmodern theories, the openness of critical thinking, questioning, and stirring up dialogue... on the journey of philosophical reflection and inquiry on the ontological characteristics of literary texts, on the meaning-making mechanism of literary texts in relation to readers. The academic and aesthetic qualities of the subject bring readers pages that are both full of professional content and shining with the beauty of language...

By translating “The Tale of Kieu” into Hungarian at a very young age (Europa Publishing House, 1984), it can be said that Truong Dang Dung is one of the pioneers in promoting the “national spirit and essence” of Vietnam to the world. He also translated many foreign literary works into Vietnamese, typically the novel “The Castle” by Franz Kafka and many works of linguistic philosophy and literary theory by Martin Heidegger, Roman Ingarden, Hans Robert Jauss, Paul Ricoeur, Lukács Gyorgy...

Truong Dang Dung constantly explores himself, expands himself, to overcome limits, to grow in all dimensions in a synchronous way. He is a “multi-talented” writer, “many in one”, that is clear, but to me, he is still a poet. He lives in poetry, writes poetry, and in turn his other writings are as beautiful as poetry.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/truong-dang-dung-thi-si-tu-cot-tuy-701923.html