(HNMCT) - Professor, Doctor of Philosophy Thai Kim Lan has just released the book “The Realm of Going and Returning” - a collection of her articles in Tia Sang magazine over the past 15 years. The book is a gentle flow of emotions but full of experiences, thoughts and especially her deep affection for the country.
“The Realm of Going and Returning” devotes Part I to “Cultural Stories”. In it, she shares both broad and general issues such as “Tradition and Modernity”, “Promoting Culture”, “Cultural Ethics”… but also very specific ones such as “Old Ao Dai”, “Lang Lieu and the Dream of Banh Chung”, “Morning Tea and Late Vu Lan”… In the gentle yet profound style of the author’s pen, there is always a smoothness between philosophical coherence and sublimity.
In this cultural story, she gives many suggestions to readers. These are manifestations of unselective copying of Western culture as well as the phenomenon of rejecting indigenous culture. She cites: “The phenomenon that WFOgburn calls “cultural lag” - cultural lag, comes from the unintentional, unconscious, and unselective acquisition of “different, strange” cultural elements, leading to the risk of cultural assimilation when the mutual relationship between two cultures does not have appropriate standards of adaptation or integration, then this can hardly create a harmony and rhythm for that culture”.
Affirming that the policy of calling for a return to one's roots in our country in the context of globalization is not new, she pointed out that it is the tradition of a nation that "every second, every minute, on every inch of land..." fights for cultural "autonomy".
Also following the old way of thinking, thinking today, thoroughly but also cautiously, in other articles she shared her passion: “For a long time, the cultural field has not been properly placed in parallel with the trend and movement of global integration. Recent cultural phenomena show the surface of a culture that has emerged from the back alley without coming from a deep awareness of culture as national identity and character”.
A notable part of “The Realm of Return” by Professor Thai Kim Lan is “Author - Works” with 9 articles about the author’s story, works both at home and abroad. It is worth mentioning the novelty that the eyes of a philosopher did not miss in the classic work of the great poet Nguyen Du - “The Tale of Kieu”. That is, she analyzed two verses “Loi que mot chuc dong dai” and “Mua vui cung duoc mot sau trong canh”, pointing out that “loi que” is both a humble attitude but also an affirmation of the creative subject on the land of Nom poetry, not copying or following the pattern. Especially interesting, she cited the thoughts of philosophers, thereby helping readers have a more novel association about Nguyen Du and Nguyen Du’s poetry.
Prof. Dr. Thai Kim Lan is a native of Hue, so it is understandable that a large part of her returns are to Hue. Such as to “Nature and People” in Part III. There, she tells about a “surreal Huong Giang”, about “New Sunlight” or sometimes the memory of “A happy day on the top of... sorrow... winter” with the space, people and a bit of joy and sadness that is very Hue.
Sometimes, what remains in the reader’s heart are simple, sincere lines of reminiscence, like a repository of something very Hue, also a part of Vietnamese culture: “Hue Garden is an ecological repository for Hue kitchen, able to provide clean vegetables not only for daily meals but also for parties, from Vietnamese coriander shoots to figs, from Chinese celery shoots to pandan leaves, coconut leaves. All thanks to my grandmother’s silent care every day...”.
Professor, Doctor of Philosophy Thai Kim Lan was born and raised in Hue, went to Germany to study and defend her doctoral thesis in Philosophy at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. She has been teaching in Ho Chi Minh City since 1994. Readers know her through works such as "Burning that incense burner", "Letter to my child"...
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