Cover of the novel The Misty Region, the Deep Tunnel and the Deserted Island by Ho Tan Vu (Photo: XH)
Although I had previously read Ho Tan Vu's short stories published in various newspapers such as Tuoi Tre, Tien Phong, Lao Dong, etc., it was only with this novel that I was surprised by his passion and writing ability.
Burning gold for memories
As a journalist for Tuoi Tre newspaper, shouldering the responsibility of the newspaper's representative office in the region, Ho Tan Vu still diligently weaves words on blank paper. Nearly 14,000 words for a first novel is not an easy task, even for a professional writer. Yet Vu has written and can affirm that he has had initial success.
Ho Tan Vu was born in 1978, graduated from university with a degree in economics , but his passion for writing led him to journalism. Born in Nong Son, his poor youth was associated with the legendary Ca Tang mountain.
He struggled with hard jobs such as herding buffalo, farming, and gold panning to make a living before leaving his hometown to set foot in the city. That was the life experience and knowledge that Ho Tan Vu had to ponder and realize the “rural lessons” (Nguyen Huy Thiep), and put them into the book as a proof of his personal life.
The entire novel is a series of events and characters coming from Ha village, interwoven in the spaces of misty mountains and forests, gold mines, cities, and out to the ocean. The characters are so familiar that the reader can see them somewhere, thinking they have understood everything, but it turns out there are hidden thoughts that make the reader startled.
I have known and played with Ho Tan Vu for a short time but it is enough to realize that he is a multi-talented and multi-faceted person. It is not really intimate but it is enough to see that Vu is a person who pursues passions such as the journey to literature or music .
And above all, Vu always yearned for his poor village, his family, his clan, and his neighbors where he was born. So wherever he was, Vu always leaned his soul towards his memories, ready to sacrifice himself and burn his memories for himself.
Legendary Linh Son
Closing the last page of Ho Tan Vu’s debut novel “The Misty Area, the Deep Tunnel and the Deserted Island”, I almost forgot everything. I no longer remember the precarious sea and lakes from deep forests to the vast ocean; I also don’t remember much about the life of Tan - the main character who struggled for the rest of his youth before freeing himself or the strange fates, the haunting deaths of Mr. Lien, Mr. Hiep, old Nhan…
Author Ho Tan Vu
Spanning many spaces and times through the parts: Wind through Ha village (8 chapters), Dance in the deep tunnel (19 chapters), Lost islands (5 chapters), I only had time to see the figures of many people with obvious and absurd existence, between existence and desire, between nakedness and civilization, between leisure and danger.
Play and understand, I believe the main character in the novel named Tan is Vu (part of the pen name Ho Tan Vu). Then I will remember this character as Vu, born in the village at the foot of Chua mountain, where he looked up to the top of the mountain to see: The village is always forgotten no matter who is in charge.
Linh Son is real and also an illusion (according to the writer Hoang Phu Ngoc Tuong) because it symbolizes what is sacred and impossible, full of desire and then loses its mark.
Seeing and searching for the sacred mountain for each person is a journey across the human world to realize: Just like the forest it passes through, there are lush green patches and stunted areas. There are precious medicinal plants but also poisonous species living together. There are gentle animals but also ferocious ones. Snakes live together with flocks of peacocks and sparrows. Life is like that! (Excerpt from the novel).
The first, last, and only question of the novel is why the main character, and us as well, cannot find the legendary sacred mountain of our lives.
Ho Tan Vu has said a lot, by telling a story that is hundreds of pages long. But for me, the author has vaguely answered at the end of this book, which is the mist of ignorance: The beautiful village nestled along the river, where the fragrant rice fields run along and embrace the high mountain peaks surrounded by clouds. The souls of people in that place should be as peaceful as the mist of the mountains and as gentle as the scent of rice, but why? Why are the footsteps here always slow?
Is it because their souls do not pay attention to the feet that enter the current situation? “The eyes of the villagers keep looking at the misty mountain peak. That’s right, it’s all because of the mist. Because of that distant, mysterious mountain peak. It is the culprit and no one else. It is the cause of all the disasters that have befallen this land. All because of the mist. That’s right, because of the misty mountain peak… (Excerpt from the novel).
I was lucky to visit the hometown of author Ho Tan Vu. Holding a cup of wine in my hand, I looked at the Thu River upstream with the sacred depths of Hon Kem Da Dung, then raised my head to see the mist covering the forests and white clouds swirling on the top of Ca Tang mountain, and my heart was filled with emotion. The sacred mountain's shadow poured into the cup of wine in my hand.
Saying anything more is redundant. I believe that when Ho Tan Vu knows how to separate life into layers of human meaning, according to what Vu has experienced, his first novel "Foggy Area, Deep Tunnel and Deserted Island" is worth readers' hope and expectation for a strong writing force in the worldly literature genre.
Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/viet-duoi-chan-linh-son-3154520.html
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