Literature teacher in Ho Chi Minh City writes historical novel in 3 years

Students came to congratulate Ms. Nguyen Thu Ha at the launching ceremony of the historical novel Huyen Su Tran Chau Huyet - Photo: HH

On the afternoon of March 20, at the book launch ceremony of Huyen Su Tran Chau Huyet , author Luu Dieu Hong (real name Nguyen Thu Ha, head of the literature group at Ngo Si Lien Secondary School, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City) shared:

"When I was in school, I loved reading historical stories like the Trojan War in the Iliad; the battles between Chinese nations in Phong Than Dien Nghia, Tam Quoc Dien Nghia...

Each country has its own extremely large and rich history. It contains all the quintessence, culture, customs, habits, the process of nation building, wars to expand the territory or protect the territory...

Later, when I started teaching, I saw many students reciting Chinese historical figures and stories in detail. Meanwhile, many students could not remember Vietnamese history. The reason was because they watched Chinese historical films, read Chinese historical stories…

Looking back at the four thousand years of Vietnamese history, every period has its stories of outstanding heroes. It would be a pity if those periods and those people were only on the dry, academic pages of history.

I wrote the book Huyen Su Tran Chau Huyet with the desire to turn dry historical pages into more vivid and attractive stories for young people in particular and Vietnamese people in general."

The novel Huyen Su Tran Chau Huyet is 654 pages long, consisting of 15 chapters about the historical period from the time of Hung Kings - An Duong Vuong - Trieu Vu Vuong (Nam Viet Vu De).

The story revolves around real wars in the land of the Vietnamese people such as the Viet - Qin war (Qin Shi Huang conquered the land of the Viet people); the war between the Viet people (the Au Viet people fought the Lac Viet people).

"This is not only a story about the struggle for power and territory between men, but also contains sad love stories and the unfortunate fates of women in troubled times," said Ms. Thu Ha.

Keep historical data intact

According to Ms. Ha, the legends and myths about this period are all in small, fragmented form.

"In my novel, I have strung together a continuous storyline. Such as the stories at the end of the Hung King period (the story of the 18th Hung King choosing a son-in-law, the story of Chu Dong Tu - Tien Dung, Mau Thuong Ngan La Binh...); supernatural stories circulated among the people during the An Duong Vuong period (like the citadel built by the Immortals, the battle between the Golden Turtle and the White Rooster Spirit...)...

Basically, I kept the historical data intact, only creating some additional characters to connect and decode the magical elements in the story. In addition, the book also includes historical knowledge from my direct field trips.

For example, the tomb of Princess Ngoc Hoa - My Nuong, daughter of the 18th Hung King in the legend of Son Tinh Thuy Tinh, why is it located alone in Chuong Xa commune (Cam Khe, Phu Tho) and not in Tan Vien mountain (her husband's house) or in the capital of her father; The fascinating feng shui theory about the most important temple of Co Loa citadel", Ms. Ha shared.

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HOANG HUONG