The book is called "posthumous work", aiming to provide readers with a more complete and comprehensive picture of Nguyen Huy Thiep's literary career and life journey over a fairly long period, from the 1970s.
What is left of the hero is the result of the process of searching, selecting and introducing unknown poems by Nguyen Huy Thiep, some short stories that were published but for some reason were forgotten, film scripts, essays, sketches on ceramics, and valuable documentary photos that trace the writer's life.
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| Cover of the book 'What's Left of a Hero'. (Source: Nha Nam) |
The name of this posthumous collection is taken from a poem in the story Flow, Oh River by the author himself:… Then the river will wash it all away/ What remains of the hero.
The work is divided into three parts: Works - including the author's unpublished poems, short stories, essays, essays, and film scripts; Sketches on ceramics; Photo documents about Nguyen Huy Thiep, including some photos taken during the writer's life, photos of manuscripts and newspaper articles kept by family and friends.
Nguyen Huy Thiep began writing poetry early, and the first collection of poems in this book, “Sour Verses of Poetry”, was completed by the writer at the age of 27. Even though they were just like diary entries, satisfying the emotions and thoughts of a provincial teacher, reading them again, one can still see a unique voice and perspective.
The second collection of poems is selected from the verses the writer wrote after falling seriously ill to express his emotions, moods and keep his mind clear.
Among the three short stories selected for inclusion in the book, Co My and Vet Troi are two works written at the same time as Tuong Ve Huu , and Nhung Bai Songs is a work written during the "cap thoi vu" period that caused a stir in the literary world of Nguyen Huy Thiep.
The book also introduces two film scripts written by him: Retired General (completed and used by director Nguyen Khac Loi to make a film of the same name in 1988) and “No More King”, completed in 2002.
Nguyen Huy Thiep's essays and essays, most of which are published for the first time, will also help readers understand more about the writer's thoughts and concerns about life and literature.
Regarding sketches on ceramics, when he was young, Nguyen Huy Thiep liked to draw and studied drawing and newspaper illustration, but he drew most often and sketched on ceramics.
In the ceramic sketches in the second part of this book, readers will see many images of family, literati, close friends and great literary personalities that the writer loved such as Pushkin, Bui Giang, Trinh Cong Son, To Hoai, Le Luu...
He also redraws the covers and characters of his works on special occasions. He draws carefully and meticulously and has drawn hundreds of such ceramic sketches.
Part three of the book includes photographs of the writer at important milestones in his life, literary events he attended and meetings.
Readers will see pictures of Nguyen Huy Thiep from when he was teaching in Son La, when he opened Hoa Ban restaurant, when he received awards in Italy, at the French Embassy in Vietnam... and pictures of him with his family, writers, literary friends such as Nguyen Khai, Nguyen Duy, Nguyen Quang Sang, musicians Van Cao, Pham Duy...
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| Documentary pages in 'What remains of a hero'. (Source: Nha Nam) |
The last pages of the book contain photographs of some handwritten and typed manuscripts of the writer's works, some autographs, letters and photographs of handwritten/drawn versions of some poems that have been included in this posthumous collection.
And you will also see in this book a few “rhymes”, the last “scribbles” of Nguyen Huy Thiep when he was seriously ill. All of these “ordinary” things, before or after, were applied to his reputation as a writer as a matter of course, which he did not shirk or make a big deal out of.
Nguyen Huy Thiep (1950-2021) is the most prominent writer of modern Vietnamese literature. He wrote in a variety of genres, from poetry, novels, literary essays to plays, film scripts... but left a lasting influence and mark on the literary world, especially in the short story genre with The Retired General, Salt of the Forest, No King, The Water God's Daughter ... His short stories have been reprinted many times, translated and published in many countries around the world, helping the writer receive noble awards such as the French Medal of Arts and Literature (2007), the Premio Nonino Award, Italy (2008), and the State Prize for Arts and Literature (2022). |
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