Vietnamese Literature Research Articles

How Culture Affecting English - Vietnamese Book Translation

Translation plays an integral part in both Vietnamese literature and spiritual life. However, to reach well-translated works and documents, translators have to face many difficulties in handling cultural implications. This article discusses the relationship and the cultural factors of the updated translation process. The factors that would make the translated text change are staying the same, changing partially, or changing the whole context. Thanks to the article, the translators would be aware of how to prepare not only their background knowledge but also their translation techniques during the translation process.

The Integration of Vietnamese Literature with French Literature in the Early 20th century: The Case of Writer Hồ Biểu Chánh

To demonstrate some manifestations of the integration of Vietnamese literature (in the case of Hồ Biểu Chánh), specifically with French literature, this paper will highlight the intersection of global and national characteristics in Vietnamese literature at that time, particularly in Hồ Biểu Chánh's adaptation of French literary works. Additionally, the paper employs analytical and synthetic methods to break down the research problems, thereby providing a clearer understanding of Hồ Biểu Chánh's unique features. This approach emphasizes the inheritance, development, and originality in certain aspects of Hồ Biểu Chánh's integration with world literature in the early 20th century.

Ho Xuan Huong’s Nom Poetry and Its Significance to the Current Issues of Gender Equality

Ho Xuan Huong was a famous Vietnamese poet who lived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. She left behind many unique poems with a poetic style that is both thanh (right and pur vulgar) or tục (vulgar and dirty) and was dubbed “the Queen of Nom Poetry”. While nom poetry is a genre of poetry passed down from generation to generation without original text, Huong is considered one of the unique poets of Vietnamese literature. Many of her works have been lost; up to now, her poems still in circulation are mainly oral Nom poems. Her poetic system focuses primarily on promoting the role of women under the harsh regime of the feudal dynasty which is expressed to honor women while mocking and pointing out the negative aspects of the regime of “trọng nam khinh nữ" (male chauvinism, to value men above women). Using qualitative research methods and referencing several previous studies combined with a survey of some historical data, is the main method of this research. Researching feminism in Huong’s nom poetry allows future generations to have a more complete and comprehensive view of the condition of women under feudalism, ideas that are ahead of their time and humanely profound; from there, determine its value and significance to the current issue of gender equality.

Commodification of women’s landscapes in post-renovation Vietnam: the case of Endless Field by Nguyễn Ngọc Tư from novella to film

In what manner has the commodification of artistic works of women unfolded in post-renovation Vietnam? How does this contribute to our understanding of the relationship between gender and landscape in a market-oriented socialist country? This article analyzes two versions of a fictional landscape, the field, as discursive constructions in relation to female characters in Nguyễn Ngọc Tư’s novella ‘Endless Field’ and Nguyễn Phan Quang Bình’s film ‘The Floating Lives.’ Drawing on feminist philosophy on women’s love, feminist semiotics, and critiques offered by Laura Mulvey regarding patriarchal cinema, the paper argues that the process of commodification of women’s landscapes from an artistic novella by a female writer to a commercial film by a male director is also a process of gendering/regendering landscape. By providing a means to elucidate this process in Vietnamese literature and cinema in the post-renovation era, the paper aims to clarify its contribution in producing, reproducing, questioning, and reinforcing gender stereotypes.

Transformation of French literature into Ho Bieu Chanh’s work from the perspective of the polysystem theory

Around the middle of the 17th century, the national language script was born and developed thanks to the merits of Western missionaries such as G.D. Amaral and A. Barbosa (Portugal); A.D. Rhodes (France). However, Catholic literature in Vietnam over the next 200 years was still mainly written in Nom, Chinese, or Latin. When the French tried to consolidate their rule in Vietnam, the Quoc Ngu script was made official throughout Vietnam in the early 20th century in order to eliminate the influence of anti-French Confucianism in Vietnam. Among the writers of this period, Ho Bieu Chanh was the most successful. Commenting on Ho Bieu Chanh’s position in Vietnamese literature, the book Vietnamese Literature from the beginning of the 20th century to 1945 by the Publishing House of the University of Pedagogy wrote: “Ho Bieu Chanh is a pioneer writer of modern fiction. Vietnam in the first steps before the period of prosperity (since 1932) and also a strong writer with many merits. Ho Bieu Chanh’s novel has contributed significantly to the preparation for the formation of critical realism in Vietnamese literature in the following decade” [1]. This article studies Ho Bieu Chanh’s work as a case of how Vietnamese intellectuals received creatively French literature in particular and Western culture in general. This research inspects Ho Bieu Chanh’s works from the perspective of the polysystem theory to find out the acquisition of French literature as well as the author’s creativity in comparison with the original ones. As a result, the contribution of Ho Bieu Chanh in modernizing Vietnamese literature and his success will be affirmed.

NATURE IN THE POETRY OF DU FU (CHINA) AND NGUYEN KHUYEN (VIETNAM)

Tang poetry is a special poetic phenomenon of Chinese literature, including works that lasted throughout the Tang Dynasty, from the time Emperor Gaozu of Tang Li Yuan established the dynasty, until the collapse of the Tang Dynasty, a period of nearly 300 years (618-907). This is considered the golden age of Chinese poetry. In the Complete Tang Poetry published in 1707, there were 900 books, 30 volumes, and 48,900 poems by more than 2,200 poets of the Tang Dynasty. Tang poetry has a profound influence on Vietnamese literature, especially the absorption of the influence of authors such as Du Fu, Li Bai, Bai Juyi... Comparing the absorption of the influence of Tang poetry, China with that of Vietnamese poetry authors to clarify the absorption of the influence of foreign cultural and literary quintessence, and at the same time affirming the role and position of works imbued with the cultural identity of the Vietnamese nation is always a research direction of scientific and practical significance. Therefore, within the scope of this research, we will focus on comparing the theme of nature in the poetry of Du Fu and Nguyen Khuyen.

FRIENDSHIP IN THE POEMS OF DU FU (CHINA) AND NGUYEN KHUYEN (VIETNAM)

It can be said that Tang poetry achieved great and brilliant achievements in Chinese literature with two typical representatives, Du Fu and Li Bai. Tang poetry had a great influence on Vietnamese literature, leading to the birth of poetry of Tang rules. Referring to Vietnamese poetry of Tang rules, we must mention Nguyen Khuyen - "the poet of Vietnamese landscape villages". His poetry makes readers feel drunk in the simplicity but still retains its shimmering, magical, and unusually charming features, showing a profound reception of the influence of Chinese Tang poetry, especially from the poet Du Fu. Comparing Du Fu's poetry and Nguyen Khuyen's poetry clarifies the reception of foreign cultural and literary quintessence and affirms the role and position of compositions imbued with Vietnamese national cultural identity is always a research direction with scientific and practical significance.

STUDYING THE VALUE OF CHINESE POETRY OF THE TAY PEOPLE

Tay ethnic minority group has a long and rich treasure of literature in Chinese and Southern characters. Besides the literature written in Southern characters, their literature in Chinese characters is also highly appreciated. Many medieval and modern writers have left behind valuable poems in terms of content as well as art. Nature love, compatriotism, family love, couple love, friendship love, teacher-student love, ethical and humane lifestyle, pride in the nation's traditional culture... are prominent contents in the Tay ethnic minority group’s poetry in Chinese characters. It has developed along with the general development of the national literature and contributed to increasing the value of Vietnamese literature.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0051/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

RECEIVING INFLUENCE FROM CHINESE LITERATURE IN THE COMPOSITION OF TRUYEN KY MAN LUC (CASUAL RECORDS OF TRANSMITTED STRANGE TALES) BY NGUYEN DU (VIETNAM) AND THE VALUE OF THE WORK

Truyen Ky Man Luc (Casual Records of Transmitted Strange Tales) by Nguyen Du, born in the 16th century, is considered an ancient fairy tale of Vietnamese medieval literature. The work laid the foundation for the birth and flourishing of the folktale genre in Vietnam. Understanding the source factors affecting the creation of works and explaining why Truyen Ky Man Luc is so appreciated in Vietnamese literature is a matter of theoretical and practical significance. In particular, our research would like to introduce to international scholars one of the classic works of the Vietnamese people in comparison with Chinese literature, which is a useful document for in-depth research on ancient literature of Vietnam in particular and ancient literature of East Asian countries in general.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0006/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

The journeys of acculturation of Western culture in Vietnamese travel writing in the first half of the 20th century

Western culture has had a profound influence on Vietnamese culture and literature during the colonial period, especially in the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. During this historical period, records appeared about the journey of Vietnamese people to France with different purposes. Based on this context, the article studies the attitude of Vietnamese intellectuals towards French culture to see the acculturation of Vietnamese to Western culture. Based on the cultural approach to studying travel writing, the article explores the French cultural awareness of some Vietnamese intellectuals such as Pham Quynh, Dao Trinh Nhat and Nhat Linh. Each story of their journey as an explanation for the purpose of the journey is the expression of aspirations: reforming Vietnamese culture, awareness of colonialism and feminism, and renewal of novels. These are current issues of contemporary Vietnamese culture and literature. From that, it is possible to recognize the characteristics of the travel writing about the journey to France representing the travel stories of the colonized people to the Western imperial countries and the process of escaping from slavery norms of Western culture. With an interdisciplinary approach to studying travel history, the article also provides a view of the process of modernizing Vietnamese literature in the first half of the 20th century.

Linguistic Expression Represents the Male Image in the Medieval Vietnamese Literature from the Perspective of Cognitive Metaphor

Based on the medieval Vietnamese literary works from the beginning of the 10th century to the end of the 19th century, the article has examined 494 linguistic expressions about male images, of which 328 expressions belong to the metaphor and 166 expressions belong to the metonymy. Based on that, we obtain the following results: (1) Set up seven source domains and three target domains; (2) determine the conditions for selecting things in the source domain; (3) explain the factors affecting the selection of the source domain; (4) interpreting the network of metaphorical structures; (5) analyze the author's cognitive characteristics expressed in these metaphors. The article reveals the cognitive characteristics of the medieval Vietnamese literary writers in building linguistic expressions about the male, contributing essential documents on the relationship between languages - native culture.

The plot and artistic language of Vietnamese short stories in the early 20th century - transitions towards modernity

From the late 19th century, Vietnamese literature started to change and transform from the medieval to the modern. In the early 20th century, especially from the 1920s onwards, Vietnamese literature gradually entered the trajectory of modern literature quickly and comprehensively with the appearance of many talented writers with remarkable artistic innovations. This is clearly shown in the short story, the “short narrative” genre, which is dynamic and can easily catch up with the changes of society in general and of literature in particular. The process of modernization of short stories in this period was revealed in many aspects, especially in terms of plot, and artistic language, which will be elucidated in this article.

ĐẶC ĐIỂM VỀ CẤU TRÚC THỂ LOẠI CỦA TIỂU THUYẾT NGẮN ĐƯƠNG ĐẠI VIỆT NAM

The change in genre structure is a noticeable point when the novel changes from a largescale narrative to a small-scale narrative. Therefore, the problem of genre structure is posed as a fundamental problem when studying the characteristics of the short novel form. Within the scope of this article, applying new theoretical issues about the genre, combining analysis and comparison, from a poetic perspective, we will clarify the main points in the genre structure of the trend of short novels in contemporary Vietnamese literature. Innovations in the genre structure of short novels such as: replacing the historical-event structure with the historical-soul structure, and breaking the one-line structure… must be recognized and evaluated as an attempt to achieve the novel’s function with a limit on page numbers. From explaining the basis of formation, to analyzing and clarifying this feature in the structure of the short novel, the article contributes a famous democratic dialogue about a novel form that is not too unfamiliar but still poses issues that need to be studied in depth.

Conceptual Metaphor “WOMEN ARE ANIMALS” In 20th-century Vietnamese Literature

From the perspective of Cognitive Linguistics, the paper analyzes the conceptual metaphor WOMEN ARE ANIMALS in 20th-century Vietnamese literary works. The theoretical framework for this study includes the Conceptual Metaphor Theory of Lakoff and Johnson (1980), the Great Chain of Being model of Lakoff and Turner (1989), and the Metaphor Identification Procedure of Pragglejaz Group (2007). Through a survey of 50 short stories and novels written by famous Vietnamese authors, 6 low-level metaphors as well as the mapping mechanism from the source domain to the target domain, is discovered and explained. The findings reveal that women are mainly portrayed as wild animals, livestock, pets, or birds. Metaphorical linguistic expressions, then, convey a biased view towards the low and inferior role and position of women in the family and society. Negative ideological values in the representation of women are explored to show that women are considered to be small, weak, dependent on men, and serve as their recreation. Vietnamese people's thinking and cultural characteristics are also reflected in this metaphor.

Thanh Tâm Tuyền and the literature of freedom

Thanh Tâm Tuyền (1936–2006) was a great writer of South Vietnamese literature in the 1954–1975 period. His works are extremely diverse in genres, having made remarkable contributions to the modernization of Vietnamese literature in many aspects. However, in general, critics have drawn more attention to Thanh Tâm Tuyền’s unique innovations in poetry rather than his prose fictions whose achievements are also very notable in fact. On the basis of reading Thanh Tâm Tuyền’s short stories and novels from the perspective of narratology, poetics and existentialism, the paper contributes to analyzing, explicating and interpreting his narrative art. Specifically, we argue that freedom is an important core in Thanh Tâm Tuyền’s fictions and even in his entire writing career. Firstly, Thanh Tâm Tuyền had a special narrative style, with which he did not create narrative worlds, situations and characters as the mediums of his ideological statements and conclusions, but very discrete ones, sometimes full of structural flaws and incompletedness, which, however, can stimulate his readers to freely figure out and contemplate various metaphysical problems in their own way. Second, the article presents an understanding of the nature of life suggested by Thanh Tâm Tuyền’s prose fictions, which is also related to the concept of freedom: his short stories and novels, to some extent, indicate human suffering of living without freedom, with the term understood as being honest with oneself to escape from illusions and invisible impositions.

Narrator in the novel “Village Ghost” by Trinh Thanh Phong

In Vietnamese literature, the role of the narrator in novels written about the countryside during the renovation period is usually the narrator in the third person and the narrator in the first person. The article studies the character of the narrator in the novel "Ma làng" (village ghost) by Trinh Thanh Phong. Research results show that there are two narrators: the latent third-person narrator and the first-person narrator. The narrator is the one who leads and guides the reader to better understand the background or events in the character's life. To be able to cover the reality reflected in the work, the narrator must choose for himself an authentic point of view.

명·청대 4종 고시선집에 나타난 ‘陶淵明’ 選詩 비교와 베트남 한문학에서의 ‘陶淵明’ 詩歌 수용 연구

Do, Yeon-myeong is a poet who had experienced the period of the dynastic transition of Dongjin and Yusong. He threw away the government post. And, by returning to the countryside, while living the life as a hermit, he left the works of art that sung about the retirement. The influences of the works of art that Do, Yeon-myeong left can be found not only in China, but, also, in the Vietnamese literature, too, that had shared the Chinese poems.BR In order to find out about the influence of the poems and songs of Do, Yeon-myeong, four kinds of collections from Myeongdae and Cheongdae were selected. And, among them, by organizing a list of the poetical works by Do, Yeon-myeong that were recorded in advance commonly, the contents had been taken a look at. From ‘Goshigi’, which is a collection from Myeongdae, and ‘Chaesukdanggoshiseon’, ‘Goshiwon’, and ‘Goshisangseok’, which are the collections of Cheongdae, from the poems and songs of jindae, regarding the ratios that had been captured by the Do, Yeon-myeong market price, it appeared as around 11% (173) forBR‘Goshigi’, around 16% (159) for ‘Chaesukdanggoshi’, around 41% (81) for ‘Goshiwon’, and around 43% (75) for ‘Goshisangseok’. And, through these, it was able to know that the evaluation regarding the Do, Yeon-myeong poems and songs had been heightened the more that it went to the posterity. Also, among the collections of the 4 kinds that were selected, by organizing the poems and songs of Do, Yeon-myeong that were commonly recorded in advance, a total of 60 titles had been obtained. And, as a result of taking a look at the contents, it was possible to know that the reflection of the situation of the times and the contents that sung about the life of retirement had materialized the mainstream.BR As a result of taking a look at the influence of the Do, Yeon-myeong poems and songs on the Vietnamese literature, in the Chinese poems, too, by the poets in Vietnam, it was possible to confirm the appearance of the intellectuals who had worried about the situation of the present politics while retiring, also, after choosing the life of the retirement aggressively without chasing after the government, fame, and fortune like Do, Yeon-myeong.BR I, the writer, have organized that the life of the retirement that Do, Yeon-myeong chose had been an aggressive resistance of the intellectuals that deal with the confusing politics, which is called “the royal family replacement period’ and not having been a passive reaction to the life of the politics and the reality that he had faced. In the Chinese poems, too, in Vietnam, in order to win over the political situation at the time in the same way, at the time of having lived the aggressive life of retirement, the traces of the intellectuals could be seen. And it shall be said this is the meaning that the influence of the poems and songs of Do, Yeon-myeong has.

Differences in knowledge expression in teaching Vietnamese literature for international students

The article focuses on eight differences in the process of academic interpretation of Vietnamese literature for international students as opposed to teaching Vietnamese students. The first is to explain the course outline in detail and with simple vocabulary, the second is to classify students into cultural areas and develop a strategy for softening lectures on culture, third is to quantify Vietnamese vocabulary (literary terms) in a lesson, fourth is to thoroughly apply cultural and literary comparisons in teaching and learning, fifth is to respect the initiative and creative spirit of international students, sixth is to apply the Kaizen philosophy to encourage students to understand the lesson, seventh is to provide detailed material for each lesson with selected references, and eighth is to pay special attention to linguistic and literary practices inside and outside the classroom. Those eight differences directly affect the teaching method and quality of teachers, as well as the learning efficiency and the participation of foreign students when studying Vietnam, its language, and its literature.

ZOBRAZOVÁNÍ MODERNÍ ŽENY A MOTIV SEBEOBĚTOVÁNÍ V NOVÉ VIETNAMSKÉ LITERATUŘE

In this article, we follow up on a commentary on the anthropology of social relations in contemporary Vietnam. The topic was presented at a literary conference in Spain under the title “New Forms of Devotion and Self-Sacrifice of Beautiful Women in the Vietnamese Romantic Literature of Tự lực văn đoàn”. The theme of the self-sacrifice of heroines in literature helps to illuminate how the authoritative norms of traditional Vietnamese society interact with the influences of Western culture. The issue is touched upon at two levels: at the level of historical change and in reflection of the “Tự lực văn đoàn” literary movement. First, we characterize the literary movement as a whole. After introducing the writers and their typical heroes, we focus on one author: Khái Hưng, and the main features of his work. In the commentary, we discuss the content of his novel In the Midst of Spring. By characterizing the protagonist, we try to interpret the position of women in Vietnamese literature and society during the colonial period. She mirrors strong social tensions. Ultimately, literary works have contributed significantly to a better perception and position of women in Vietnamese society.

I AND THEY (MINH VA HO) BY NGUYEN BINH PHUONG AND PARANOIA (HOANG TAM) BY NGUYEN DINH TU – FROM HAUNTING BY WAR

Border war literature (including the Northern border war and the Southwest border war) has made an important contribution to the development of modern Vietnamese literature. In this article, we explore the hauntings of war in two typical novels of the above literature: I and They (Minh va Ho) (Nguyen Binh Phuong) and Paranoia (Hoang tam) (Nguyen Dinh Tu). With the inspiration of psychoanalytic theory, we deeply analyze the obsessions of war crimes, the loneliness of people during and after the war. Through this, we have a deeper insight into the issue of the human being, the spiritual life of the human being, and the relationship between the individual person and the social person.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0597/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>