(QBĐT) - Writer Tran Cong Tan passed away at 8:30 p.m. on September 7, 2024 (August 5, Giap Thin year) in Ho Chi Minh City, at the age of 92.
His passing has left readers and writers with endless sorrow. He has left in the minds of Quang Binh writers many unforgettable memories. Every time he took his family to visit Quang Binh - the land where his family had been attached to throughout the fierce war against the US, he called poet Hoang Vu Thuat, poet Van Loi, me and many others to meet him warmly and give him new books and souvenirs.
Until now, I still remember clearly the days I lived with him for a month in a writing camp in Nha Trang. That time, I arranged my work and was able to fulfill the invitation to participate in the writing camp of the Vietnam Writers Association of the Ministry of Public Security . The camp was held in Nha Trang City in October 2011. The most precious thing for me was to meet many familiar people, all of whom were in their 20s or older. Many of them had not seen each other for nearly twenty years, such as writers: Luong Si Cam, Duong Duy Ngu, Huu Uoc, Van Phan, Ton Ai Nhan, Mai Vu, Phan Que, Nguyen Quang Ha... Especially writer Tran Cong Tan, whom we had not seen for nearly 40 years, but the two brothers still recognized each other and hugged each other tightly as if they were brothers.
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He was born on May 19, Quy Dau year (1933). At the age of 11, he worked as a secret liaison to serve the revolution, then joined the army, worked as a scout, intelligence soldier, combat commander; joined the Vietnamese volunteer army to fight in Laos and Cambodia, and was adopted by Prince Souphanouvong. After 1954, he returned to Quang Binh to do propaganda work, in charge of cinema and projection... then became one of the five people: Le Khai, Duong Tu Giang, Tran Cong Tan, Van Nhi, Cam Lai who led the founding of the Quang Binh Literature and Arts Association (in 1961) and continuously served as a standing member of the association from its founding until the day the South was completely liberated.
I met him during the years when I went to the Quang Binh Literature and Arts Association in Phu Vinh from the early 70s and attended the association's 2nd Congress in 1974.
After the complete liberation of the South (1975), he brought his whole family to Ho Chi Minh City, and only now have we met again. I admire his generosity, always caring for the growing association, taking care of his brothers wholeheartedly, and even more so his passion for creativity, a lifetime of dedication to literature.
After more than 60 years of writing, writer Tran Cong Tan has published: The Elephant God and the Elephant God (short story, 1958), The Gunner Girl (memoir, 1966); The Road to the Wide Sea (memoir, 1967), Voices under the River (memoir, 1968), Cool Stream (short story, memoir, 1969), Stream in the Forest (novel), Lightning in the Sea (memoir, 1970), The Meeting Place (short story, 1972), Sun Grass Flowers (film, 1971), Where is Da Ra (novel, 1980), Broken Love (1988), Floating Water Hyacinth (1982), Love and Love (novel, 1998), Prince Souphanouvong and the Land of a Million Elephants (translation, short story, memoir, 1999), Three Husbands (short story collection, 2000), Ha Van Lau - The Man Who Went from Sinh Village Wharf (documentary novel, 2004), The Red Prince - The Hero of Laos (memoir, translation, 2004), Keeping the Xang Kham Peak (short story, memoir, 2005), Legendary Rivers (2010).
After the novel about Ha Van Lau, which was over 600 pages long, he wrote continuously for two months to finish the book "Nguyen Chi Thanh - Bright as a pearl, a person" which was over 700 pages long and was published by the Literature Publishing House in 2009. He continued to write without stopping and continuously published works: Fighting far away from the Fatherland (2011), Fighting at the foot of Chua Chan mountain (2013), The sound of the flute on the top of Sa Mu (stories and memoirs, 2020)...
Hearing the news of writer Tran Cong Tan's passing, writer Nguyen Quang Thieu, Chairman of the Vietnam Writers' Association, shared on his Facebook page: “He is one of the writers I have never met. His first work was published before I was born... Just those works are enough for me to imagine his life. Quietly living humbly and quietly writing simple things like his own writing style. That is what his heart vibrates, what he ponders about people and life. He writes to let himself live. It seems that people who have lived through many events in their personal lives and national lives will understand the price of life and literature. Writer Tran Cong Tan is like that.”
He has won many literary awards: The Elephant God and the Elephant God , the official award for Deep Memories in the Life of a Soldier from the General Department of Politics; Party Cell Meeting, award from the Army Literature and Arts Magazine (1963); Those Who Changed the Forest's Clothes , award from the Vietnam Women's Union in conjunction with the Writers' Association; The Meeting Place , award from the General Department of Forestry and the Writers' Association; Our Ship Has Whistled Through the Ben Hai River , first prize for the essay of the Liberation Literature and Arts Newspaper (1977); was awarded 10 novels and memoirs on the topic of Laos, and 1 Second Class Labor Medal from the Lao State.
On September 10, 2007, at the Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia writers conference held in Hanoi, he was one of five Vietnamese writers awarded the first Mekong River Literature Award.
Living with him for a month in the writing camp, I admired his writing even more. He wrote passionately, writing at every opportunity, forgetting his old age and fatigue. Every meal I had to knock on the door to call him before he stopped writing. Pitying him for still being busy with literature at his old age, I tried many times to come and sit with him to relax. Out of respect, he brought the precious tea and coffee he had made to invite him and chat, but then I was informed by another writer friend that Mr. Tan was very reluctant for me to come and waste his time, so we had to meet to chat after hours or at the park by the beach during morning exercises.
According to him, he has a writing room at home. When he sits down to write, no one bothers him. In this camp, although he brings a computer with him and always puts it on the table, he writes by hand, clearly, beautifully and neatly.
I admire him and am very happy that there is a person who founded and led the Quang Binh Literature and Arts Association for nearly 15 years in the homeland of "Hai Gioi" during the resistance war against the US to save the country, full of bullets and bombs, full of pain, full of resounding victories and outstanding in the country's literary forum.
Farewell! Farewell to a virtuous and famous writer of the country!
Diamond
Source: https://www.baoquangbinh.vn/van-hoa/202409/vinh-biet-nha-van-tran-cong-tan-2220835/
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