When literature knows how to renew itself while still maintaining its national core, when writers have faith and the will to create, when readers find their emotions again, that is when Vietnamese literature truly enters a revival.
That is the comment of Chairman of the Vietnam Writers Association Nguyen Quang Thieu in the conference "Vietnamese Literature after 1975: Achievements, problems and prospects" held on October 6 in Hanoi .
Soothe post-war wounds
Looking back at the flow of Vietnamese literature over the past half century, poet Nguyen Quang Thieu, Chairman of the Vietnam Writers Association, said that Vietnamese literature has recorded many outstanding achievements in both creative and critical theory: diversity of genres and content; national consciousness and humanistic aspirations; integration thinking, and the maturity of the artist team.
According to the Chairman of the Vietnam Writers Association, Vietnamese literature from 1975 to present has gone through extremely important stages.
The first stage was after 1975, the country was unified, the appearance, level, and portrait of Vietnamese literature were different, including literature from the northern and southern provinces and overseas literature.
The important period of Vietnamese literature after 1975 is the Renovation period. This period has many trends, schools, and new aesthetics of art in all genres, in literature, in poetry, in critical theory, in translation. Translated literature is an extremely important part, having a great impact on the creation of Vietnamese literature, contributing to the diversity of trends, structures, and genres in the creation of Vietnamese literature.
Looking back at pre-1975 literature in both regions with a more objective historical spirit has helped complete the map of literary history, helping the next generation have a more comprehensive view of traditions and forgotten values. Along with that, regional literature, ethnic minority literature, children's literature... are increasingly interested and spread thanks to the growing network of publishing, libraries, and bookstores.
“After 1975, the reality of the country's life opened up a rich and diverse picture from the renovation and industrialization process to thorny issues such as corruption, crisis of trust, environmental change... that is a source of vivid material for artistic creation,” said Mr. Nguyen Quang Thieu.
However, Vietnamese literature still has limitations: uneven quality, lack of strong criticism, content sometimes fails to highlight national identity and modernity, while market mechanisms and support policies still have many shortcomings. These challenges require innovation from writers, readers and cultural management agencies.
Mr. Thieu pointed out that the biggest obstacle to literature is the writers themselves. Many writers are still afraid of change, content in their comfort zone, lacking commitment and criticism.
According to him, Vietnamese literature can only make a breakthrough when each writer dares to reflect courage, dares to go to the end of creativity, overcomes the beaten path to create works with moving power and profound ideological value.
According to writer, Colonel Nguyen Binh Phuong, Editor-in-Chief of the Army Literature Magazine, in terms of humanity, over the past 50 years, literature has fulfilled its mission and duty well. Literature has portrayed the situation of the nation and also the fate of human beings in the turbulent flow of historical development, even in peacetime . Literature has also courageously dissected the most burning issues of society, "patched up" post-war wounds, and created its own cultural features.
On the contrary, there are strict opinions that in the past 50 years, our literature has not fulfilled its function in creating a humane and good spiritual life for society. It has not promptly rung the alarm bells about the falsehoods of society and people, as well as in terms of morality, ideals and dignity.
In terms of art, literature over the past 50 years has been truly rich, diverse, and even daring. Literature has created its own unique features compared to previous periods, and at the same time created a large group of authors with many works. Literature has also measured the depth of the soul of modern Vietnamese people. But there are also opinions that literature is still mainly a general flow in the same direction. There are few diverse voices, few movements of searching in a drastic and thorough way; there is a lack of valuable works of life, and even a lack of authors capable of bringing Vietnamese literature to the world and standing on par with the world.
Nurturing a generation of young writers
At the conference, delegates had many frank discussions and comments on achievements and suggested solutions to develop Vietnamese literature.
Professor Phong Le believes that after 50 years, Vietnamese literature is waiting for a generational transition. Accordingly, the main force in the writing team today must be the generation born around 1990. This generation is almost not subject to any pressure from tradition or history, but only to the greatest and only pressure, which is the pressure of the times.
He believed that “only a young generation, both a product of circumstances and a subject of circumstances, could bring literary life into a revolutionary turning point.”
Chairman of the Vietnam Writers Association Nguyen Quang Thieu said that we are entering a new era, the era of artificial intelligence and digital technology. There is now evidence of some works using AI to a certain extent.
However, according to Chairman Nguyen Quang Thieu, when writers write with their own creativity, opinions, emotions, and intelligence, that is the most important weapon to fight against the intervention of AI and robots in literary creation.
“If we let artificial intelligence replace writers, it means we have ended literature, ended literature in its essence,” poet Nguyen Quang Thieu shared.
Accordingly, in the context of a strong shift in reading culture and life values, Vietnamese literature needs to keep the inner flame - authentic, creative and humane, to continue to open up, guide and nurture the souls of Vietnamese people in the new era.
“When literature knows how to renew itself while still maintaining its national core, when writers have faith and the will to create, when readers regain deep emotions and empathy, that is when Vietnamese literature truly enters a revival, moving towards a new stature: Modern, humane, imbued with identity and integration,” Mr. Thieu said./.
Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/van-hoc-viet-nam-sau-1975-dung-ngon-lua-nhan-van-thoi-bung-khat-vong-doi-moi-post1068446.vnp
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