Art Space in Kim Lan's Short Stories

Chapter 2

ARTISTIC SPACE IN KIM LAN'S SHORT STORIES

2.1. Concept of art space

In poetics, artistic space is a category of artistic form, a way of existence and development of the artistic world. If the artistic world is a world of vision and meaning, then artistic space is a field of vision opened from a point of view, a way of seeing.

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Artistic space contributes to the integrity of the art form, contributing to expressing the artist's concept of the world and people in the process of capturing and reproducing reality through art. The element of artistic space is one of the elements within the artistic integrity that creates the poetic system in a literary work.

According to the authors of the Vietnamese Dictionary , space "is the basic form of existence of matter, in which objects have different lengths and sizes, one next to the other", is " the space that encompasses everything around humans" [15, p.147]. When referring to space in general, people often refer to it as a geographical space.

But art space is a completely different category, it belongs to art form, is " the way of existence and development of the art world" [56, p.42].

Artistic space is a creative product of the artist to express people and express certain concepts about life. Therefore, it is impossible to identify the space in a literary work with geographical space or physical space. “Artistic space is an artistic model of the world in which people live, feel their position and fate in it. Artistic space is closely linked to the concept of people and contributes to expressing that concept ” [55.p87]. Artistic space can be considered as

a mental atmosphere that surrounds human consciousness, is an inner spiritual phenomenon, not a geographical or physical phenomenon.

Professor Ha Minh Duc believes that: " Artistic space is the form of existence of artistic images" . That is, to depict the character's image, the artist always places it in a certain space, thanks to which the artistic space is not only the environment for the image to exist, but it also penetrates the image itself and reveals the ideology of the image.

The authors of the Dictionary of Literary Terms affirm: “Artistic space is the internal form of an artistic image that expresses its integrity. Description and narration in art always originate from a point of view, taking place in a certain field of view, through which the concrete, emotional artistic world reveals its entire extension: this next to that, continuous, intermittent, successive, low, far, near, wide, long, forming an artistic perspective. Artistic space has relative independence, cannot be reduced to geographical space” [12, p.162] .

Professor Tran Dinh Su also pointed out that “Artistic space is a creative product of the artist to express people and express a certain concept of life, so it cannot be reduced to geographical space or physical, material space” [55, p.87]. Because it belongs to the artistic world, the world of “ view and meaning” , artistic space is opened from a field of view, a way of looking. In the work, from the author’s perspective, from the narrator’s point of view, space is clearly present. Regardless of whose point of view it is, it is still subjective, thanks to this subjectivity, a spatial model of height-low, wide-narrow, far-near… is determined.

In that spatial model, each art form has a way of occupying different spatial dimensions. If “painting and sculpture depict objects statically, bringing out the primary features and spatial proportions

of them”, then “in occupying artistic space, literature has its own advantages compared to sculpture and painting. Using words to indicate objects, writers have the ability to move from one picture to another with extraordinary speed, easily bringing readers into different spaces” [24, p.26].

When researching art space, the authors also put forward specific criteria for classifying art space, including some of the following notable viewpoints:

* Professor Tran Dinh Su in Introduction to poetics:

- Based on the location and limits of objects, space is divided into: Point space (location); line space, plane space (block space).

- Based on the transformation and movement of phenomena, space is divided into: Internal space (timeless, unchanging, unless a disaster destroys it); external space (changing, impermanent, random).

There are also action and non-action spaces.

Thus, artistic space is the spatial model of the artistic world. The opposition and connection of spatial elements (domains, directions, dimensions, etc.) form artistic languages to express the conceptual world of the work.

* Author Nguyen Thai Hoa, when studying Poetic Issues of Stories, divided artistic space into specific types. According to the author, the existence of an object is its existence in space. Human perception is formed separately, expressed in words and "refracted" according to the speaker's subjectivity. It can be divided into the following types of space:

Setting space: is the largest space where the story takes place, including: natural setting, social setting, and mood setting.

Event space Psychological space Storytelling space Dialogue space.

* In the book Literary Theory - Problems and Thoughts , Associate Professor Huynh Nhu Phuong also divides artistic space into: Artistic space can be natural space or living space. And these spaces are always associated with human dreams, aspirations, and ideals. Artistic space can be open space or closed space. Artistic space can also be flexible space, diverse or multi-directional movement, or it can also be static space.

Thus, artistic space has an important meaning in the author's description of life, expressing and revealing human thoughts, feelings and souls.

In the short story"A Phu's Wife" , readers see the contrast between two spaces, which is the life of the character Mi in the house of the village chief Pa Tra, more broadly, the hell of Hong Ngai, and the land of Phin Sa of Mi and A Phu under the revolutionary enlightenment of the cadre A Chau. It is through the contrast between these two spaces that the lives and fates of the two characters Mi and A Phu have gone from "the valley of sorrow to the field of joy". Through that, we see more clearly the aspiration and the desire to live that is always latent in the characters, it will change in a good direction when the artistic space changes positively. Or in the short story " The Season of Lac" by Nguyen Khai, readers see the changes in the psychology and fate of the character Dao before two contrasting artistic spaces. That is the land before Dao came to Dien Bien farm, her life at that time "morning is home, night is bed, she always lives jealous of everyone and resentful of herself". When coming to Dien Bien farm land, a new space with the working life and production of the people there

Here, Dao's personality has completely changed, she lives in the love of new people with many noble aspirations. It can be said that, through the contrasting artistic space, the author has deeply expressed the change in the character's fate.

The artistic space in literary works is also conceptual. For example, in Nam Cao's novel " Song Mort" is a space of "Song Mort". He wanted to leave the poor, stagnant village where life was increasingly moldy, worn out, and oozing, to find a new horizon for his ideal. He could not stay in Saigon, so he went to the North, at first teaching at a private school, staying on the second floor, then had to go to the suburbs, living with San in a room next to the horse stable. But not long after, he had to leave Hanoi to return to his hometown. So that dream space kept shrinking and at the end of the novel, the character took the train back to the starting point.

Thus, artistic space is an important element of a literary work. Its role in the text is not limited to determining the place where events take place, where the plot is connected, where characters meet. It is also not limited to reproducing the characteristics of this land or that country. Artistic space is not identical to the real space that exists objectively, but it becomes a special symbol to express categories outside of time, or to express the character's mood or to evaluate that character in terms of morality and aesthetics. For example, L. Tolstoy described the Auxterlitx sky that Andrey saw when he was wounded on the Pratsen plateau to express his thoughts and soul. That sky is the space for Andrey to reflect on himself and awaken. He faces that sky, also longing to rise, longing to live with the sublimity and eternity that that sky brings. When he was wounded and before he fainted, Andrey managed to notice a sky: “There was nothing above him at that moment but the sky. The sky was high, not very clear, but still towering, with

The gray clouds slowly drifted by…how could I not have seen that high sky before” (War and Peace-volume 1, 577).

When he woke up, Andrey's first thought was " where is that high sky... now?" He opened his eyes. Above him, he saw the high sky again, the same sky, and the clouds floating even higher than this morning. Through them he could see the endless blue space..." In Andrey's eyes, the movement of the sky helped him realize everything. " Beyond that high sky, everything is meaningless, all is a lie". He realized the greatness of the space before him in contrast to the ridiculousness, smallness, and insignificance of his idol Napoleon, whom he no longer bothered to look at, only hearing his voice like " the buzzing of a fly". Andrey also realized the meaninglessness and falsehood of this war, he loved life more than ever... His soul was directed only to "the sky above, far away, lofty and eternally endless".

Thus, through the classification of artistic space, we see that the authors agree on the point of view: Artistic space is the form of existence within or the form of existence of the artistic world. And no character exists outside the artistic space. In particular, artistic space plays an important role in expressing the concept, ideology, revealing the mind, feelings and soul of the author as well as the character.

2.2. Artistic space in Kim Lan's short story

Artistic space is often associated with the perception of space, so it is subjective. Examining the artistic space in Kim Lan's short stories is inevitably inseparable from the subjective point of view of the writer. It is possible to examine the artistic space in Kim Lan's short stories in many ways of classification, but with the limited scope of the topic, we will examine the space narrated in Kim Lan's short stories in three aspects: context space, event space and psychological space.

Narrative space is the narrator entering the world being narrated, living in the space of the story. When telling a story, between the narrator and the surrounding world, a virtual space is formed with many interrelationships. The correlation between the narrator and the world of characters, events, relationships; between the narrator and the language of the characters; between the narrator and his own language.

Narrated space is the space told and described in the story.

Literary works have the ability to evoke an associative and imaginative space with a larger amplitude than real space. Stories have the ability to shorten or lengthen distances through the narrator's participation in each character's behavior and action.

2.2.1. The setting space in Kim Lan's short stories

The setting is the character's environment, a place with all the elements of nature, society, and people. There are 3 types of setting:

Natural setting: Includes natural phenomena surrounding humans such as: sky, earth, mountains, rivers... creating a vast and diverse scene. Nature is closely associated with the characters and their activities, and on the other hand is also closely associated with the narrator's mood.

Social context space: Social context includes the lives of different classes of people, individuals, generations... creating a complex social atmosphere.

Mood setting space: Mood setting is the inner world of the character. It can be the memories, joys, sorrows, dreams, obsessions, and concerns described in the work. Specifically, the mood setting in the short story Two Children by Thach Lam is the boredom, loneliness, and silence of two children in the district town; in Chi Pheo

are the dreams and desires of Chi Pheo for an honest life like other farmers.

During the creative process, the artist has handled this element as a necessary artistic means to recreate life and the structure of the work, thereby expressing a certain concept of life and people. Reading a series of Kim Lan's short stories, we see that the writer has quite successfully built the images of artistic space. Thereby highlighting the desolate, gloomy atmosphere of the Vietnamese countryside in the pre-uprising years. At the same time, expressing the writer's artistic thought. It is worth noting that most of the background spaces in Kim Lan's short stories are realistic spaces, modeled after his hometown Cho Dau village. To thereby recreate the gentle vitality of the Vietnamese countryside and the humanistic aspirations of farmers. In Kim Lan's short stories, we always encounter peaceful, gentle, and simple countryside spaces, which are the natural setting around Tu's house in the work The Con of the Concubine: "The afternoon has come, the fading sunlight has receded almost to the end of the yard. The sun was slanting down behind the house, the trees were casting shadows on the roofs. Occasionally the shadows of the trees with drops of sunlight would tremble in the wind. The surface of the pond in the garden was rippling, drifting the scum to one corner. On the bamboo bridge, a girl was washing rice, making the golden rays of the sun fall on the waves shimmer. A few gray thatched roofs jutted out from the banana bushes, the leaves shiny as silk, were leisurely emitting smoke. The smoke quietly rose up and drifted with the wind, imprinting a gentle, graceful line on the blue sky... . .

“ The afternoon has long since waned. The landscape has darkened. The wind rustles the leaves. The dark bushes sway against the dark sky” [37, p.14]

That beautiful sunset scene seems to evoke an extraordinary vitality or a beautiful story, but it is completely opposite to the reality of hunger that is weighing down on the life of the character Tu: "The scene is as beautiful as

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