Writer Trung Trung Dinh launches "The Sacred Child of the Forest" - a story inspired by the life of painter Xu Man.
The book is set in the 1930s, revolving around the main character Sieu Dong - a Ba Na boy. As a child, Sieu Dong witnessed his parents working for the village chief's house, and the whole family was sold to the Mor district chief. Although he showed a talent for painting, his talent was soon crushed when he became a servant for the Mor father and son.
Growing up, he continued to experience a series of unfortunate days, being oppressed to the point that his wife and children died. He resisted and then gave up, but neither choice brought him peace. The turning point was when Sieu Dong saw a "ray of light shining on the future". In the second half, the story focuses on his journey to wholeheartedly follow the revolution.
The writer said that the book was based on many real characters during the period when the nation was under the yoke of French colonialism and its henchmen. The prototype of Sieu Dong was the painter Xu Man, born in 1925 in An Khe town (Gia Lai). During his youth, he had to work as a servant to pay off his master's debt. When he reached adulthood, he joined the army, gathered in the North in 1954 and was sent to study culture.
In 1974, he completed his university degree and continued working. In 1983, he retired and returned to his hometown of Bong village, before passing away in 2007. The main theme of his works is the heart of the Central Highlands people towards President Ho Chi Minh. After finishing his paintings, the artist gave them to friends and audiences. To date, many of his paintings are kept in art museums in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Trung Trung Dinh once met painter Xu Man and soon became close friends. Those nights of chatting over rice wine and fire urged him to write. The Sacred Child of the Forest . For him, the work is not only the first book about the life of a great artist of the Ba Na ethnic group, once called "the sacred child of the forest" by the literary and artistic community of the Central Highlands, but also the crystallization of a friendship.
"He was a spark in the forest, an artist raised by the forest village of the Ba Na people in the Central Highlands since birth... The fire by the charcoal stove in his childhood nurtured Xu Man's soul, taking him there and back, following him throughout his life," the writer said.
To write the book, the author has done in-depth research on the culture and customs of the Ba Na and other ethnic groups in the Central Highlands. He observed their way of walking, talking, laughing, lifestyle, thinking, living habits, festivals, and learned about the tragedies they have endured. Therefore, the book helps readers understand more about the culture and history of the development of the ethnic communities in the Central Highlands.
He spent time describing the changes in Sieu Dong's psychology. The young man had to struggle internally between his desire to hold a gun and fight the enemy and his duty to go to art school and serve the spiritual life of the people and soldiers. From here, the book conveys the message: Once you have found your life's mission, devote yourself wholeheartedly to the end. "I believe the book brings young readers a lovely amount of information about an artist with a turbulent life, as well as about a land with a unique cultural tradition, despite suffering much pain due to war and natural disasters," said the writer.
The 75-year-old author, originally from Hai Phong, fought for many years in the Central Highlands battlefield during the resistance war to save the country. He graduated from the first course of Nguyen Du Writing School and worked as a prose editor for the Army Literature magazine. Since 2000, he has held the position of Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Literature newspaper before becoming Director of the Writers Association Publishing House.
He won the A prize in the novel contest of the Vietnam Writers Association (1998-2000) with the novel Lost in the Forest . 2000, novel. Soldier His work was awarded the Vietnam Writers Association Award. In 2007, he was awarded the State Prize for Literature and Arts. In 2012, his work Soldier continue to bring the writer the ASEAN literary award.
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