Literature with the aspiration for national reconciliation and harmony

Nearly 70 papers with many perspectives of writers on poetry, prose, criticism and translated literature were published at conferences of the The 4th Conference on Literary Theory and Criticism with the theme of Literature 30 years of innovation, integration and development.

The conference was organized by the Vietnam Writers Association in Vinh Phuc from June 24 to 26. In his introductory report, writer Phan Trong Thuong emphasized: “In 30 years of literary innovation, Vietnamese writers have overcome with the desire to create, the desire to change and the desire to renew the entire literature from concept to inspiration, style, genre poetics and artistic expression methods”.

	A house is always closed, when we open the door we see a new breeze, then we need to open other doors. Literature is the same, it needs more innovative motivations to continue to have top-notch works.
Writer Tran Ninh Ho

In the essay “The issue of national reconciliation and harmony in recent war novels”, writer Van Chinh commented: “The war has been over for more than 40 years. The country has been reunited, but time has not been able to cover up all the problems of history. There are still aspirations and issues of national reconciliation and harmony in terms of culture, humanity and humanities. Literature, with its noble and sacred mission, cannot refuse to face that noble aspiration of the entire nation”.

3 "seeds" of the novel

Writer Pham Hoa commented: “From 1986 to now, after the renovation milestone, in terms of professional awareness alone, writers have thought much differently. They are freer and bolder in expanding their choice of topics and areas of reflection. They are less afraid of themselves right on the manuscript page, they clearly recognize that the attitude and mindset in the work is the most important thing. They even pursue to the end the existences that are harmful to the country. Therefore, the ability to discover and predict is quite clear.”

Commenting on the ups and downs of Vietnamese novels during the renovation period, critic Bui Viet Thang mentioned three future “seeds” in the field of novels: Ta Duy Anh, Nguyen Binh Phuong and Thuan. Each of them refracts a direction of contemporary Vietnamese novels, although the ultimate goal is to discover the “essence” of modern man. Ta Duy Anh emphasized: “Novels still have a place to live and their era still exists. However, to maintain that, they must make changes to adapt. The trend of short novels, narrowing the width but deepening the length, polyphony of dialogue, many layers of meaning, the tragedy of the era compressed in an ordinary life without imposing the truth are easy to see”.

Regarding the case of writer Thuan (residing in France), there are many conflicting opinions in the assessment, Bui Viet Thang commented: “Conservatives certainly do not like to vote for Thuan to join the Vietnamese literary community. But in reality, there is a whole group called “Overseas Vietnamese Literature” that we cannot help but accept and pay attention to research. Up to now, Thuan has published 6 novels in Vietnam: Chinatown, T is missing, Paris 11/8, Van Vy, Saigon Elevator, Only 4 days left until the end of April…”.

Need innovation motivation to have top-notch work

A question arises: Why in the first 10 years of renovation (1986 - 1996) did we have a number of prose works that shocked the literary world and public opinion by writers Nguyen Huy Thiep ( Retired General) , Bao Ninh ( The Sorrow of War ), Le Luu ( The Distant Time ), Duong Huong ( The Wharf without a Husband ), Nguyen Khac Truong ( The Land of Many People and Many Ghosts )... but in the last 20 years (1996 - 2016) have we not seen such outstanding works appear?

According to poet Bang Viet, Chairman of the Hanoi Literature and Arts Association: “Before the renovation, our literature was somewhat voluntaristic. In the early stages of the renovation, literature became more open, freed itself and followed the rules more, so there were a number of successful works. But then the literature of renovation stagnated because it had not found a breakthrough, had not found a way to transform works from a social demand into its own urgent creative needs. After the socialist realism creative method, Vietnamese literature turned to new creative methods from Western Europe and Latin America. However, we have not yet synthesized or found the most suitable creative method for Vietnamese literature today.”

Agreeing with this statement, writer Tran Ninh Ho said: “A house is always closed, when we open the door we see a new breeze, then we need to open other doors. Literature is the same, it needs more innovative motivations to continue to have top-notch works.”

The emergence of the second generation of new poetry

The discussions on poetry all talked about a generation of poetic innovation with contributions to contemporary literature. Among them, poet Tran Nhuan Minh attracted attention when he said that in the past 30 years, there were two very different poetic fields by two completely different groups of authors, therefore, it was necessary to rename them differently: Poetry of Innovation and New Poetry of the second period.

The Doi Moi Poetry Generation is the class of poets who fought against the US, entered the renovation process and renewed their own poetry such as: Huu Thinh, Nguyen Khoa Diem, Thanh Thao, Bang Viet, Vu Quan Phuong, Tran Dang Khoa, Nguyen Duc Mau, Vuong Trong, Thi Hoang, Y Phuong, Ngo The Oanh, Nguyen Trong Tao, Hoang Vu Thuat, Ngo Minh, Nguyen Thuy Kha, Van Le, Y Nhi, Nguyen Duy, Tran Manh Hao, Tran Nhuan Minh...

The second generation of New Poetry (different from the first New Poetry period 1932 - 1942 with names such as Xuan Dieu, Huy Can, Che Lan Vien, The Lu, Luu Trong Lu...) mostly wrote poetry after 1986. They had nothing OLD to change into NEW. They were born new, from the first line of poetry, from the first aesthetic perception, they were new. They were well-educated, easily accepting and integrating with many trends of foreign modern literature. This generation has many poets such as: Nguyen Quang Thieu, Tran Quang Qui, Nguyen Viet Chien, Nguyen Linh Khieu, Mai Van Phan, Nguyen Binh Phuong, Dang Huy Giang, Vi Thuy Linh, Le Vinh Tai, Ly Hoang Ly, Nguyen Thi Anh Huynh, Dinh Thi Nhu Thuy... and many other poets.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/van-hoc-voi-khat-vong-hoa-giai-hoa-hop-dan-toc-185572075.htm