Coming to Nguyen Du is a great joy and happiness.

After writer Nam Cao and President Ho Chi Minh, a new name came to me - that is the Great Poet Nguyen Du, as the destination and great happiness on the final leg of my career journey, throughout the entire second decade of the 21st century...

Professor Phong Le. (Photo: Minh Thanh)

In late 1959, after graduating from the Faculty of Literature - Hanoi University, course I (1956-1959), I was assigned to the Institute of Literature of the State Science Committee. In early 1960, I was assigned by critic Hoai Thanh - Deputy Director of the Institute and Editorial Secretary of the Literary Research Journal to do research internship at the Modern Vietnamese Literature Group.

The first author who captured my passion and enthusiasm was Nam Cao, the creator of Chi Pheo in 1941, and left behind a manuscript of the novel Living in the Rain, completed in 1944, before going to the Viet Bac War Zone - "In the Forest" and sacrificing himself during a business trip to the enemy's rear area of Inter-Zone 3 in 1951 at the age of 35.

From the first two articles to the first book: Nam Cao - Sketch of career and portrait (Social Sciences Publishing House, 1997), and finally: Nam Cao - Career and portrait (Information - Communication Publishing House, 2014) is the length of nearly 55 years I have pursued the name Nam Cao - the person with the mission of "gloriously ending the realist literary movement". That is, the person who had the first merit, or stood at the forefront of a team of writers who created the spectacular harvest of 1930-1945. A team in all three streams: romantic, realist and revolutionary, who optimally fulfilled the modernization requirements set for modern Vietnamese literature, with a journey spanning over 100 years, through the historical milestones of 1930, 1945, 1975... until 1995 and 2000...

But for Vietnamese literature, for Vietnamese literature and scholarship, besides the need for modernization to reach a high level of civilization to keep up with the West, there is another, equally urgent need, which is the need for revolution to free the nation from the situation of losing its country after 80 years of slavery and a thousand years of stagnation. This need was also resolved very soon with the name of a pioneer, then a guide - whose first name was Nguyen Ai Quoc and later Ho Chi Minh, through a journey of exactly 30 years abroad (1911-1941) along with 50 years of writing in all three languages: French, Chinese, Vietnamese, starting from the Demands of the Annamese People (1919) through The Revolutionary Path (1927), Prison Diary (1943), Declaration of Independence (1945) to Testament (1969). A 50-year journey, with a literary career that optimally satisfied both the requirements of modernization and revolution, with Nguyen Ai Quoc and Ho Chi Minh being almost the only names standing at the forefront.

So after Nam Cao, along with dozens of typical writers before 1945 who made up a golden generation from Ngo Tat To, Nguyen Cong Hoan, Nguyen Tuan, Vu Trong Phung... to Xuan Dieu, To Huu, Che Lan Vien, To Hoai..., it was not until the 1970s that I had the happiness to penetrate the world of Nguyen Ai Quoc - Ho Chi Minh's poetry and literature, through the first article: Uncle Ho's poetry and literature: the foundation and quintessence of Vietnamese socialist realist literature in Literature Magazine No. 2 - 1977; and then, 9 years later, the first book: President Ho Chi Minh and modern Vietnamese literature (Social Sciences Publishing House, 1986).

In 1990, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Ho Chi Minh's birth, which was also the year UNESCO honored Ho Chi Minh as a World Cultural Celebrity, as the Director of the Institute of Literature, I was honored to be invited to participate in the Organizing Committee of the Anniversary Ceremony and Scientific Conference on Ho Chi Minh of the Vietnam Social Sciences Committee; then I was assigned to edit the Cultural Celebrities section in the Committee's joint work, titled: Ho Chi Minh: National Hero - World Cultural Celebrity (Social Sciences Publishing House, 1990).

In 2000, based on the synthesis of research results on Ho Chi Minh's poetry and literature career over more than 20 years, I published a book entitled: Nguyen Ai Quoc - Ho Chi Minh: Journey of Poetry and Literature - Journey of the Nation (Labor Publishing House, 2000 - People's Police Publishing House - reprinted, 2006). This is a work aiming at a portrait of Ho Chi Minh in two capacities: National Hero and World Cultural Celebrity; and with the optimal response to the two requirements of modernization and revolution set for modern Vietnamese literature. 12 years later, I continued to write the book Ho Chi Minh's Poetry and Literature: Eternal Values (Ho Chi Minh City Culture and Literature Publishing House, 2012); then 7 years later, the book Half a Century of Ho Chi Minh's Literature and Poetry (Information and Communication Publishing House, 2019). Both of these books received the A Prize in the Campaign to Study and Follow Ho Chi Minh's Thought, Morality and Lifestyle of the Central Propaganda Department in 2014 and 2020.

Coming to Nguyen Du is a great joy and happiness.

The book Nguyen Du - Ho Chi Minh and People of Nghe An (Photo: Internet ).

After Nam Cao and Ho Chi Minh, a new name came to me - Nguyen Du, as the destination and great happiness on the final leg of my career journey, throughout the entire second decade of the 21st century.

It was a very special time, or very rare, to celebrate two important moments for the history of national culture in general and for Nguyen Du in particular. That was the 250th anniversary of Nguyen Du's birth in 2015 and the 200th anniversary of Nguyen Du's death in 2020. The time required or created an opportunity for the birth of a professional association called the Vietnam Kieu Studies Association, with the goal of approaching, popularizing, promoting, and honoring Nguyen Du's humanistic, timeless values as its mission.

10 years - from 2011 to 2020, when I joined the Executive Committee of the Kieu Hoc Association and was assigned the position of Permanent Vice President, assisting President Nguyen Van Hoan - from 2011-2015, then took on the position of President of the Association from 2015 - the year Associate Professor Nguyen Van Hoan suddenly passed away, until 2020, that was 10 years I had the happiness to come to a cultural - spiritual heritage at the peak of national and human values named Nguyen Du - who was honored by humanity twice, in 1965 - on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of his birth and in 2015 - on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of his birth. Besides that great honor, I also have the warm happiness of being a small descendant with the same hometown as Nguyen Du - named Nghe An in general and Ha Tinh in particular.

10 years - in the position of Permanent Vice President and President of the Kieu Studies Association, I and my colleagues in the association have done a number of meaningful tasks contributing to the discovery, promotion and honoring of the immortal spiritual values in Nguyen Du.

These are the 8 national conferences that I chaired or co-chaired with the introductions and summaries along with the book titles or proceedings published immediately after the conference. These are 2 competitions: Composing the Funeral Oration of the Great Poet Nguyen Du and Readers Knowing Kieu, along with a Selection of Good Books about Nguyen Du and the Tale of Kieu (2011-2022) - with a large coverage, receiving enthusiastic responses from many readers nationwide...

Along with the role of organizing and chairing the general activities of the association, in close coordination with the People's Committee of Ha Tinh province, Voice of Vietnam Radio, and the Vietnam Writers Association, there are articles about Nguyen Du aimed at spreading and deepening the endless values of Nguyen Du for the homeland, the nation and humanity, such as the articles: If there is a Kieu Studies Association..., Nguyen Du's life reading and Nguyen Du for life reading, Great poet Nguyen Du and the masterpiece "Truyen Kieu", A position on Nguyen Du for today and forever, Remembering Nguyen Du for a thousand years later...

Next to the articles is a book title Nguyen Du - Ho Chi Minh and the people of Nghe An (Vinh University Publishing House, 2008) which received the Nguyen Du Literature and Arts Award in 2020 from the People's Committee of Ha Tinh province.

Not being or not yet being an expert on Nguyen Du and medieval Vietnamese literature, but just a follower of Nguyen Du like any other Vietnamese citizen, I can only reach small goals in a great happiness of being able to participate in the choir, the symphony orchestra honoring Nguyen Du for more than 10 years, through 2 terms of operation of the Vietnam Kieu Studies Association. Thanks to that, as a fate, I have had a career path, full of busyness but also full of excitement and warmth as a researcher of modern literature in particular and national literature in general; and also as a son of Nghe An who has spent 18 years in his hometown of Ha Tinh and more than 65 years in his hometown of Thang Long - Hanoi, both in connection and even more connected in the final stage of his life and career journey.

With this article, on the occasion of the New Year 2024, I would like to express my gratitude to all the masters and fellow professionals over the past 60 years; along with my parents whose hometown is Son Tra commune (formerly known as Don My), Huong Son district, Ha Tinh province. And, I would like to express my gratitude to my hometown Ha Tinh - a proper name that suddenly became very dear and extremely precious to me, because that place has a sacred address for the whole country and the world to look up to. That is Tien Dien - Nghi Xuan, the ancestral home of Nguyen Du - Great national poet, World cultural celebrity.

Professor Phong Le

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