The attraction of female writers' writings

Some works by female writers from Thanh Hoa.

Thy Lan is one of the few female writers from Thanh Hoa who have initially made their mark and shaped their style in the field of critical theory. For her, “creation and critical theory are like legs that reflect the shape of a literary “body”. A developed literature needs “legs” of creation and critical theory to develop in a balanced, healthy and rhythmic way as a support for moving forward, looking back, to the right, to the left, towards the destination of aesthetic value”.

She believes that writing critical theory is not a competitive assessment or ranking, but comes from “sincerity, openness in a constructive spirit; avoid being too strict, avoid being deferential, flattering,... It is necessary to take the text of the work as the basis for all evaluations. If you intend to write a criticism about a work, you need to read and read very carefully to discover its strengths and point out its limitations. Know how to respect every achievement, even the smallest, in the work; share the difficulties of the creator.”

For that reason, most of her essays and criticisms first start from a general view of her life, career, and the form of her work, then gradually explore the details, language, images, emotions... to bring out the sparkling "golden dust" that the writer has painstakingly sown into the work.

Also one of the few young female writers active in the field of literary criticism, Dr. Kieu Thu Huyen has the advantage of being born and raised in a family with a literary and artistic background, receiving formal training and living in the vibrant atmosphere of both the literary and journalistic life of Thanh Hoa province.

Recently, author Kieu Huyen has introduced to readers a book of literary portraits with the evocative name: "Staying awake by the lamplight" (2025, Literature Publishing House), a collection of 33 portrait sketches of typical people of Thanh Hoa in many fields, in which the author devoted most of the space to writing about portraits of famous artists who have made many contributions to the development of the province's literature and arts.

The literary portrait of author Kieu Thu Huyen has highlighted many interesting features. The beauty and appeal of Dr. Kieu Thu Huyen's literary portrait style is the flexibility and freshness in the approach and development of the problem, along with the interweaving and complementing of literary and journalistic qualities. Journalism allows the author to go deep and approach the character from multiple perspectives and angles, thereby providing readers with a lot of good information revolving around the character's life and career. Meanwhile, literary qualities are expressed in language, associations, and emotional expressions... In particular, the impressive point in the portrait style of author Kieu Thu Huyen is the interweaving of abundant information and emotions, contemplation, and thinking. Intimate yet profound, simple yet sincere, general yet not superficial, diffuse or "watching flowers on horseback", author Kieu Thu Huyen always has sharp - concise - delicate comments, calling out the soul of each person between the layers of words, sounds, dances, songs...

As for the female editor of the Thanh Land Literature Magazine - Nguyen Thi Thom (pen name Quynh Thom) impresses people with her gentleness, femininity, and whispering in every word she speaks. Graduating from the Academy of Journalism and Propaganda, Quynh Thom worked at the Thanh Land Literature Magazine and then fell in love with the pages of literature, memoirs, and short stories from there. It is also the Thanh Land Literature Magazine that is the home, the thread connecting Quynh Thom with a strip of Thanh land's border. Every creative field trip, every working occasion with the Thanh Hoa border guards, or sometimes an unscheduled trip, just to satisfy her steps back to the forest, all leave in Quynh Thom's mind many loving emotions intertwined with endless worries.

The memoir "The Borderland Where Humanity Deeply Affects" (2025, People's Army Publishing House) is her latest work to be introduced to readers, a collection of 13 articles. In it, she devotes most of the space to depicting the beautiful natural scenery of the highlands; the image of soldiers in green uniforms on patrol roads and their silent sacrifices; the warm, profound, and loyal affection between the army and the people along the border of Thanh's homeland, the simple yet noble examples of villages and hamlets... Readers love the natural scenery and the rhythm of life in the highlands through Quynh Thom's memoirs: "That misty borderland appears to me with its rolling hills, small villages, small houses wedged halfway up the mountains, halfway up the clouds, and terraced fields stretching far and wide." The peacefulness of the village is delicately captured in each sentence by Quynh Thom: “Peace from the green shirt color faintly visible in the misty morning mist on the patrol roads. Peace in the sunlight shining from the granite milestones thanks to the hands of the caretakers. Peace in the evening when the smoke from someone’s kitchen floats and blends with the remaining afternoon light on the purple border...”.

Readers love the way Quynh Thom gently sits beside, attentively listening to the confidences, opening up about life, career, and personal feelings of the characters in the essays like a warm, sincere child, grandchild, younger sister, or older sister. Then all the things she sees, hears, and feels are skillfully conveyed through her emotional writings: The "fires that never go out", The person "carrying two shoulders" along the long border, The fortress on the border, The person "passing the fire" to the Thai people, The "lights" of the sea...

Once they have freely let their emotions and thoughts roam free, the words of authors Thy Lan, Kieu Thu Huyen, Quynh Thom and many other female writers blend together in a very common source, creating valuable works, leaving an impression on readers and contributing to elevating the literary and artistic level of Thanh Hoa.

Article and photos: Nguyen Linh

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/suc-hut-tu-trang-van-cua-nhung-cay-viet-nu-260751.htm