Only then, in the new life with so many complexities and changes, the relationship between “fate” and “human” is also considered meticulously and carefully. The writer is no longer a loyal secretary of the times (with the task of reflecting) but must be someone who ponders and delves into the issues of world affairs and human life. Writer Nguyen Huy Thiep spoke very well about the mission of the writer: “ The writer’s mission is not to speak the truth but to awaken the consciousness towards the truth or at least to awaken the feelings about human dignity in them ” [65, p. 38]
To do so, writers must be brave! In the hustle and bustle of modern life, writers with experience are not enough to thoroughly understand and discover the true meanings and truths in the depths of life and of humanity. A writer of the new era must be a culturalist and a social activist to be able to grasp contemporary life promptly and deeply.
1.2.2 Concept of the mission, nature and function of literature
Each era has its own concept of the mission of literature. Because literature always carries within it the breath of the era, the mark of the era and of the writer's generation. Over time, these two factors change. Literature after 1986 shows new concepts of the mission and function of literature.
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In the two recent resistance wars, literature and art have successfully fulfilled their tasks. Together with other arts, literature and art have contributed significantly to creating the combined strength of the nation and the Party to defeat the enemy. The war with the primary goal of national liberation. The fate of the entire nation overwhelms all other relationships. That also clearly marks: The common, the community, the nation are the most important; the private is almost not mentioned; there are no private rights... Professor, Doctor of Science Le Ngoc Tra has summarized quite accurately the characteristics of literature and art in the period before 1975 [70] "First of all, it is literature serving politics (...) Because of serving politics, literature also serves workers, peasants and soldiers , taking workers, peasants and soldiers as the object of description, the object of propaganda, considering workers, peasants and soldiers as the only and most important readers, the ones who evaluate the value of all artistic creations. (...) In terms of content, the works of revolutionary literature and art
The revolution focuses first of all on recording the achievements, exploits , and good deeds of people in labor and combat, that is, the new life and the new people. Literature only needs to reflect reality and honestly record life, which is enough and has great significance. Another requirement of the socialist realism method is to enthusiastically affirm and praise . Optimistic and heroic inspiration must be the basic inspiration of the work. Closely linked to heroic inspiration is the requirement of party spirit and people's spirit. This requirement requires writers in their works to openly stand on the position of the proletariat and the working masses, to protect the Party's thoughts, the State's lines and policies. Literary creation is considered a form of moral education and political propaganda, an aspect of reforming social customs.
After 1975, instead of a polarized world with specific, tangible enemies in war, there was a world with many sorrows of life and human hearts. Literature had to carry out a long and arduous struggle with all the hidden corners, dark corners, and the seeds of bad and evil budding in each person. In this war, identifying the right object to fight against was difficult, and removing it from one's flesh and blood, from one's dear attachments was even more difficult. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the topic of world affairs and private life emerged as a central issue of all creative efforts in contemporary novels. Even in works written about the theme of war and rural areas with a large, multi-layered, multi-faceted reality, writers still delved into the essential issues of life through the focal point of the characters. The joys, sorrows, gains, losses, etc. of people entered literature in a truthful, humane and benevolent way. Literature becomes thoughts and concerns about society, about the nation, especially about people, and it is no longer subject to strict judgment of the Party or the People, or the class. In addition, in the new perspective, literature increases the elements of satire, mockery, etc. to prove that it experiments with the concept of the "playfulness" of literature. According to Nguyen Thi Binh, art always has fiction and fabrication, but fiction in traditional literature is to convince readers to believe in the truth of the story.
The story is told. In the “novel game” today, the fiction and fabrication are deliberately made obvious to both distance the reader from the story and create doubt in them. Without aiming to convince the reader, the writer sets up a game, entering that game, the reader can both enjoy and experience. The angel opens with the note “ this book begins with an anecdote by the writer GG and unbelievable stories by the writer F ”. The chapters are like a random assembly of disparate “fragments” of reality, details that are “told wherever convenient”. The “structure play”, “character play” is made public right from the form of the text, from the way the chapters are named to the way the characters are modeled . Each character is like an experiment of a small “ego”, the character’s personality is not explained by the writer but is observed by the reader from their “game”. Ta Duy Anh confirmed the game nature in The Repentant Angel with the preface: “ This unbelievable story is about a child still in the womb. If you still don’t believe it after reading it, that’s okay .” The Eleven and One Nights by writer Ho Anh Thai has a contract that the author has drawn up for readers: “ You should read this entire book. After reading it, you can believe it or not, because the stories I tell can be very serious or very trivial .” In addition, the work is also a structural game. Nguyen Binh Phuong created for the Beginning a broken structure, constantly jumping, interweaving the unconscious with the conscious, highlighting the powerlessness of language. The Sorrow of War (Bao Ninh), Van Vy (Thuan), Blogger (Phong Diep)… interweave the manuscript of a character embedded in the main work. Like a game of looking in the mirror, the two texts reflect each other to multiply their meanings. The game nature of literature has helped the writer boldly create.
1.2.3 Concept of reality
Literature always reflects reality. Reality is considered the environment, the land for writers to analyze, explain, and contemplate life and people. Each literature, each stage of literary development has great, all-encompassing realities that attract the attention of society in general and writers in particular. Reality before 1975 was political and social life with two main contents: the struggle for national defense and justice.
the construction of a socialist society. These are the realistic pieces that gather the most important events, phenomena, and developments of social life, expressing the most essential features of that historical period. The limitation in the scope of reality makes it difficult for writers to fully develop their abilities, and at the same time encounter many difficulties in reflecting the true and complete face of history and life. The reality of writing before 1975 shows that the greatest object of reflection of literature is political and social life. Depending on their life experience and strengths, each writer finds a separate land to use their skills: Dao Vu, Nguyen Khai, Chu Van .... exploit the theme of working life building socialism in the North ( The brick yard, The winter-spring rice crop, That path , Conflict, Quiet countryside ... ). Those are the rear areas bustling with combat information, filled with revolutionary and patriotic spirit; are the rural areas enthusiastically involved in the construction of socialist life... The writers have brought optimism to the new life, to the good changes in people's lives, to the good relationships between people. Nguyen Thi, Phan Tu, focused on expressing the theme of war. The historical context of the heroic and glorious resistance war of the Vietnamese people against the American imperialists and their lackeys has been truly reflected by the writers in their works. That is the greatest reality in The Mother Holding a Gun (Nguyen Thi), The Soldier's Footprints (Nguyen Minh Chau), ... . Man and I (Phan Tu) ... These works have revived important moments of the nation's history in the heroic atmosphere of marching, showing the strength and belief in victory of the whole nation. And no matter what topic is presented, through it, readers can see the great stature of the Vietnamese people - people who fought for independence, and those same people who reached for the future with extraordinary strength.
The war is over, for the writer, a region of reality needs to be re-examined. There are questions surrounding this issue: what is reality? the level of understanding and reflecting reality? the scope of reality?... Many researchers discuss the concept of reality.
Writer Nguyen Ngoc is concerned that Innovation is first and foremost about alertness, saying:
“Don’t use the word innovation , but use the word return. There was a time when we perceived incorrectly, acted incorrectly, not in accordance with reality, not in accordance with the law. Now we return to the right place. Innovation is not making up something new, something that has never existed before, but returning to perceive reality in a more sober, more objective, more realistic way, reality as it is, without embellishment, without concealment, without cutting. Perceive soberly and courageously. Today’s reality is diverse and complex, to exploit it we must approach it from many sides, in many ways” [12]. Writer Nguyen Tuan believes that Looking straight at the truth, telling the truth will produce many good works : “ For a long time, people have been referring to a one-sided reality, not reality as it is, I call those works following a “magical” reality (...) virtual reality (...) Innovation in literature, in my opinion, must call things by their true names, must reflect reality in its comprehensive, multi-dimensional, multi-faceted appearance, not just one-sided ” [12]. Thus, we can see that the two opinions above have mentioned the issue of changing the way of looking at reality. First of all, there needs to be a new way of thinking about reality: a correct, complete perception of reality. Writers must both deeply explore the nature and at the same time expand the scope of reflection of reality.
Writing about war, before 1975, reflecting the fate of the community through war was a task; after 1975, historical events were only external factors in relation to individual fate. If the issue raised in Hon dat (Anh Duc), Man and I (Phan Tu) was the great power of the people's war, the revolutionary heroism in each character image, then in Chim en bay (Nguyen Tri Huan), An beg di quang (Chu Lai ), Noi buon chien tranh (Bao Ninh), .... readers felt: war as external factors deeply influenced the fate of individuals. Therefore, the way of evaluating war also changed. Readers deeply realized the cruelty of war imprinted on the fate of each person.
The theme of farmers and the countryside also has a new look. It is still the familiar villages, but the atmosphere is stifling and tense. The writers
The period of renovation bravely wrote about the countryside during the great events of history: land reform, the correction of mistakes, the subsidy period, bringing farmers into cooperatives, the 10-contract in production... Reading The Land of Many People, Many Ghosts by Nguyen Khac Truong, The Wharf Without a Husband by Duong Huong and The Sugarcane River by Dao Thang, readers all feel the oppressive, chaotic atmosphere of the land reform period. The urgent rhythm of the drums, of the accusations bring readers back to the Vietnamese countryside before 1945, the period of tax collection. More poignantly, Nguyen Khac Truong portrayed a "land" that was truly "full of people, many ghosts" - big and small ghosts flourishing in the rural space of the accusations. People seemed to lose their humanity in such a dark context.
The deepening of reality in familiar topics has brought to the novel a developmental trend: the trend of recognising the past.
In the trend of wanting to perceive the truth, to tell the truth, reality in literature after 1975 has changed. It is a reality that has been expanded: from a reality limited to the control of a system of oriented topics to a more complete reality with a rich diversity of topics. Topics ranging from political reality to private life, from the great life of the whole community to individual destinies with many complexities... have brought to literature a new face, authentic, full of humanity and truly close to people.
The contemporary generation of writers finds inspiration in everyday events. There is no longer a concept of forbidden zones for writers. Generations of writers are increasingly exploring new areas of reality. Since then, the subject of literature has become richer and more diverse than ever. Historical novels such as Ho Quy Ly , Mau Thuong Ngan by Nguyen Xuan Khanh, Gieng Trieu Vo Thi Hao, etc. have taken readers on a journey into the wild, mysterious lands of the spiritual world... Ma Van Khang has explored a land capable of strongly stirring the generation who want to prevent the erosion and corruption of traditional morality, who want to protect and preserve traditional morality in the family ( The season of fallen leaves in the garden, A wedding without a marriage certificate ...).
Not only is reality expanded, in the new trend, reality is also
creative. Because, there is a new world, different from the common perception: the world of crazy people, psychologically abnormal people, the world of dreams. Writer Ngo Tu Lap also said: " Even reality is just a dream, a chaotic, endless dream, a dream with the flight paths of a maze " [45] . In innovative literature, the writer himself is also a reality. More and more works of autobiographical nature appear. Reality is the experience of the individual. Writers have the opportunity to express their own thoughts, perspectives and voices before the urgent demands of life's reality. A tiny human world (Nguyen Khai), A distant time (Le Luu), A wedding without a marriage certificate (Ma Van Khang), The sadness of war (Bao Ninh), ... although light or dark, all have an autobiographical nature, showing the personal experience of the author before the problems of life and the world. Literature rejects illustration and one-dimensional reality, creates a diverse reality, creates reality through personal experience, evokes thoughts about morality, personality, and explains the motivations of different behaviors and life concepts. Ho Anh Thai once believed: " Reality is not enough to see, hear, or experience. Reality is also what we feel " [63, p.269].
Changes in the concept of reality have led to new approaches to reflection that are different from the tradition. Reality is not expressed simply in the same direction as before, but is diverse, rich and illuminated by many experiences, both community experience and personal experience with different humanistic perspectives. The concept of reality has been expanded, and many tendencies to perceive reality have appeared: There is a tendency to re-perceive reality; there is a tendency to ethics, world affairs, and a tendency to philosophize about all issues of life. Literature is increasingly moving towards a dialectical and comprehensive concept of reality. The character Doai in No King (Nguyen Huy Thiep) spoke very briefly and accurately about life: " I offer this cup of wine to life. The wine is both sweet and spicy. Whoever accepts life, please hold it up. Life is a monkey but wonderfully beautiful ." Life is like that! Reality is opened up with many contents, many characteristics,
contains paradoxes that require writers to be very clear and honest in order to grasp and express. Thus, it can be seen that the concept of reality of writers after 1975 has changed greatly. Reality is both real life, psychological reality and even spiritual reality. However, no matter what form it takes, that reality still carries the breath of contemporary life, still reproducing the fate of individual people. The change in the concept of reality has led to a diversity of methods of reflection. And with it, a new world opens up before the eyes of readers with many types of people becoming new types of characters in literature.
1.2.4 Concept of human
The artistic conception of man is the core issue of artistic consciousness, governing the entire system of artistic conceptions of the writer. Therefore, the artistic conception of man is a very important point in the writer's thinking. " The artistic conception of man is the explanation, interpretation, and feeling that man has been transformed into means and measures to express man in literature, creating aesthetic value for character images " [22]. Thus, the artistic conception of man is the explanation and discovery of man, that is, the writer's view and perception of man, his comments and assessments of it, but that "feeling", explanation, and assessment has been transformed into principles, means, measures... to express man in literature, it must create artistic-aesthetic value for the character. The artistic conception of man is the central issue of literature. It is the principle of explaining the world through human destiny. Literature from 1945 to 1975, with its epic inspiration, was mainly concerned with and explored man as a revolutionary driving force, an important part of the community. He was also a social man, a man of class and strata.
The change in literary interest is the cause that governs the innovation of artistic conceptions of man because it means the change in the position of man in literature: from the role of a point of view for writers to observe social history to the role of the writer's object of observation (from means to objects).
After 1975, human nature is "the sum of social relationships"