right? - If we are not allowed to gamble for entertainment, what else can we do to pass the time? Or protest against the government? [74; p. 13]. It is no longer just a normal dialogue but a real ideological debate when the two voices belong to two opposing ideologies: one side enforces the law for the new social regime that promotes labor and the other side is the ideology of enjoyment of those who are used to enjoying from the old regime that remains.
Self-dialogue, debate with oneself: The type of character is intelligent, confident with analytical and evaluative thinking, so in their linguistic thinking, there is always a spirit of dialogue and debate. They are not only ready to debate with the interlocutor, but even when studying monologue, they always "split themselves" to debate and debate to affirm their "always right" nature. The thoughts of Tam: "I ate a few bowls of rice but I made it for her all afternoon, I am not begging" ( The adopted child ), or the thoughts of the deputy director of Tuy Kien cooperative: "I know you guys don't like me, think I'm a profiteer, but I don't enrich myself, I only know how to enrich the cooperative. I don't beg you guys, I buy and sell at will, for example, for you guys, that thing is just trash, but for us, sometimes it's... gold"; “Even if I dress in rags like a beggar, when I go out I am still the deputy director of the cooperative, and when I come home I am still your father” [68; pp. 504 - 507];
These self-dialogues and debates also take place with the “narrator”. With the role of both narrator and character, it creates a very familiar “semi-direct” language style in Nguyen Khai’s works. However, in many cases, without the appearance of the “I” character in the story, the narrator still reflects, dialogues, and sometimes even “overpowers” the character. For example, the passage “tells” about the character Dao in the work The Season of Lac : “Her first homeland was in Hung Yen, her second homeland was in Hong Cum farm, the happiness she had lost for seven or eight years, who would have thought she would find in a place where the war was most fierce” - this passage is a “semi-direct” voice, but here we only hear the narrator’s voice: “Here, in wedding ceremonies, people give each other a landmine with the fuse removed to make a pen stand, a mortar shell with the tip turned out, painted white to make a flower vase, a cigarette butt from a blockbuster bomb to hold the marriage certificate, birth certificates for future grandchildren, and small bracelets for children woven from very expensive parachute cord.
". Life arises from death, happiness appears from sacrifices and hardships, in this life there is no dead end, there are only boundaries, the essential thing is to have the strength to cross those boundaries..." [68; p. 265]. Or like the old woman's response to her nephew when he asked for experience in preserving the family tradition: "In this family, for three generations, no one knows the words "you" and "I". Can you learn? Nowadays, having a few hundred taels of gold is not difficult, nor is it long, but having a happy family takes several generations, requires several generations of education..." [77, p. 10]. The narrator "thinks" with the character, or more accurately, "for" the character, and sometimes, because of this "thinking for", it leads to a mismatch between the character's status and the character's level of thinking. For example, the author puts into the mouths of characters ordinary women the calculations and thoughts of philosophers as the thesis has been cited above. Or sometimes it is impossible to distinguish between the thoughts of the characters or the thoughts of the narrator, the author, such as the passage where the author is telling about Hai Tran, returning to his hometown and hearing about the reality of the local Catholic community:
A religion that, when founded, is not based at all on the great, urgent needs of a nation or a country, but only on chance (…) A religion whose doctrine, teachings, and laws, as well as its decisions on organization, rewards, punishments, and promotions, are all drawn and taught by the writings of gods, Buddhas, and saints, like a medium, is truly unimaginable… [74; p. 208].
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Before this passage, there is no dialogue or monologue, only the narrator plays the role of the person who “knows everything”, “sees everything” recounting the history of the formation and development of Cao Dai religion. The narrator plays the role of a character who not only tells but also participates in commenting, evaluating, dialogue, and debate, making Nguyen Khai's works always have a current and political color.
Summary
The philosophical and philosophical vein seems to have become Nguyen Khai's style personality from the first pages to the last pages of his literary career. The philosophical character is expressed in all aspects of the work: from the subject - theme to the plot, character type and narrative tone. Nguyen's Literature
Khai is always in the midst of life, a kind of "action" literature, contributing to the struggle, contributing to the construction, contributing to the beauty of life and contributing to the preservation and conservation of the cultural and humanistic values of the nation. Every time I read Nguyen Nguyen Khai, I realize the profound meaning from the issues he raises. Borrowing the words of a character in his story to comment on the characters in his story: "Journalists are just gossips. The profession of making a living is by making up stories". Nguyen Khai is not only good at "making up stories" but also good at discussing stories, and all about "big things". Many of his "stories" written decades ago are now seen to be correct. Many of his opinions (through characters) also from decades ago are gradually revealing their correctness and becoming more and more correct. Re-reading Nguyen Khai's works, therefore, I am not only interested in the writer of those philosophies that are deeply topical, but also very impressed by the issues ahead of their time that the author has raised, touched upon with philosophical thinking.
Chapter 4. MEETINGS AND DIFFERENCES IN THE PHILOSOPHICAL WRITING STYLES OF NGUYEN MINH CHAU AND NGUYEN KHAI
With the same passion for philosophy and having created an attractive artistic style, Nguyen Minh Chau and Nguyen Khai belong to the generation of writers who matured after the August Revolution, influenced by the aesthetic principle: literature stands in politics, obeys politics. Therefore, in their philosophical writing style, there are similar encounters, but they are talented and courageous writers, so they find different ways in the method of reproducing ideas. To reveal this, the thesis wants to contribute to affirming the creative personality of the two great literary talents of the country.
4.1. Meeting points in the philosophical writing style of Nguyen Minh Chau and Nguyen Khai
4.1.1. Meeting in perspective: promoting the ideological nature of literature
It seems that by coincidence, both writers Nguyen Minh Chau and Nguyen Khai highly value the ideological and philosophical elements in literary works: "Literary works live by ideology" (Nguyen Minh Chau). Literature is "the science that expresses the human heart", "the religion of beauty" (Nguyen Khai). Their concepts of literature show that both authors are passionate about their profession and responsible for their pens. The "ideology" of the work reveals the worldview, outlook on life, life experience and talent of the writer. The more profound and broad the work is with noble humanistic ideology, the more it proves the thinking, education and open-mindedness of the author's personality. With rich humanistic and compassionate ideology expressed in an attractive way, the author is not only participating in literary life but also participating in social life in the role of organization and creation. A genuine literary work is always a place to affirm profound and new ideas about the human world and life through the inspirational power of art. The artistic thinking of the writer and the ideas of the work have a close relationship, both a cause-and-effect relationship and a mutual relationship on the creative journey. A work with profound ideas is often the result of a unique, new and profound artistic thinking.
Nguyen Minh Chau and Nguyen Khai both grew up after the August Revolution, and were insiders who witnessed the "earth-shattering" changes caused by the revolution.
The “lowly and voiceless” people, oppressed people, suddenly stood up to become masters, deciding their own fate and that of their people. Therefore, the most important and sacred “ideology” that both of them aim for in their role as creators is: Writers are “to do the work of being the one who lifts up the sleep of those who are at the end of their rope, who are driven to the wall by evil or bad fate, people who are both mentally and physically rejected and humiliated, who have completely lost faith in people and life, to defend those who have no one to defend” [71; p. 45]; Writers “are also thinkers, social activists by their own means, humanists” [31]. It is easy to understand why this ideological theme always dominates their souls and dominates their pens. Nguyen Minh Chau once passionately expressed:
Any writer can have bad qualities, but I cannot imagine a writer who does not have a love for life and especially a love for humanity (...) Holding that love within himself, a writer has the ability to deeply sympathize with the suffering and misfortune of people, helping them overcome spiritual crises and stand firm in life [22; p.186].
Nguyen Khai is also very strong and determined with this goal: “... to speak out on human issues. In the face of injustice and evil, he has no right to be indifferent or ignore when people are tormented, wronged, and wronged” [65]. Their mindset towards their professional responsibilities makes people admire them even more:
“We have the duty to care for and preserve for our country those things that are very old, durable, and also very fragile: honesty, sincerity, belief in humanistic customs, the shyness of women, the sense of national community that creates heroic spirit, honesty and simplicity” [57; p. 456].
To achieve that idea, both authors raised the issue of affirming the direction of the pen. More than once, Nguyen Minh Chau frankly proposed: to have great works, we must "accept the pen characteristics of a great artist with great thinking that is always too bright with truths that are not always easy to hear, even turning all concepts upside down with the torments
"The petty, great concerns surrounding the obvious surface and the nine layers of deep earth of human life on this strip of land" [31]. Nguyen Khai clearly defined the goals of striving and the directions of artistic products:
A writer must have his own philosophical ideology, his own worldview, from which he will build his own artistic world with his own system of characters, ideas, language and structure. They will go to the end in their artistic world, in their unchanging beliefs [72; p. 615].
They became philosophical writers because of this awareness: “Writers and journalists live with the times but must also know how to separate themselves from the times to recognize the long-lasting brilliance of many details in the times, live with contemporaries but must use the eyes of later generations to measure many values, many things that seem very trivial, meaningless to contemporaries” [72; p. 634]. And achieving this, “writers appear with the full stature of artists - thinkers” [62; p. 117].
Sensitive hearts and talented aspirations, they met in the perspective of using literature to "act" for people and life and for the values of truth - goodness - beauty.
4.1.2. The subject and theme of the work often reveal its "thesis" nature.
A work with a "thesis" nature means that the thesis covers the entire work, from the content to the way of expression. The work focuses on proving and discussing an issue that is receiving social attention or has a strong, profound impact on social life. The more influential, long-term, and universal the "issue" raised by the work is, the higher the value of the work. Writers who always determine the social responsibility of their pens, whose works always focus on issues of noble humanistic significance, each work always contains a "thesis" nature. For example, the masterpiece Don Quixote - Knight of the Manchuria by the great writer Cervantes with the conservative ideology of Spain during the Renaissance; Les Miserables by Victor Hugo with the social situation of France in the first twenty years of the 19th century; War and Peace by Lev Tolstoy with the reality of Russia in the Russo-French war, etc. Nguyen Du's masterpiece The Tale of Kieu also opens with the philosophy of the theory of "talent - fate" in contrast: A hundred years, a hundred people are like this/ Talent and fate are cleverly against each other .
The poems of Nguyen Trai and Nguyen Binh Khiem also contain many philosophical declarations about the principles of life and morality:
The phoenix tree is still high, the kite still soars. The flower often withers, the grass always stays fresh.
(Nguyen Trai) If the cutting board is smelly, flies will land on it. If cast iron is not greasy, ants will crawl on it.
(Nguyen Binh Khiem)
Writer Nam Cao, a writer who is always concerned with the fact that people are being humiliated by hunger, human dignity is distorted, trivialized because of food, which is revealed right from the subject and theme of his works: A Full Meal, Poverty, Blindness, The Death of the Squid, Children Are Not Allowed to Eat Dog Meat, Qualities of a Mole, Since the Day Mother Died, etc. The thesis is the ideological orientation of the work, this ideology is often revealed right from the title, governing the structure of the plot, characters... all to prove that ideology. Nguyen Minh Chau has many works with thematic nature: The source, The last moon in the forest, The soldier's footprints, Those who come from the forest, Burning land, The painting, The woman on the express train, Reeds, By the road of war, The boat in the distance, The hometown wharf, etc. Nguyen Khai is also very typical with the way he titles his stories: Conflict, The season of lac, Let's go further, Far vision, Revolution, The hidden side of people's faces, Life is always happy, A drop of pale sunlight, The law of heaven, Changing life, Life is suffering, House rules, Fame, A tiny human whistle, etc.
The thesis story should have a clear direction. The idea that leads the main storyline emerges, overpowering other storylines, if not to say that the other storylines only add to the shine of the "thesis" storyline. For example, Nguyen Minh Chau's stories (especially works written after 1975) are quite polysemous in terms of theme. Above, the thesis has analyzed a number of stories, such as: The boat in the distance, The hometown wharf, The woman on the express train , etc. to see this polysemy. However, the polysemy does not blur the main structure of the storyline, meaning that it does not "disperse" the story's ideas. The boat in the distance can have up to four or five themes: Family happiness; The life of a part of the population making a living by sea; Feminism; Domestic violence; The relationship between practice and art... Not to mention the above topics themselves are also thesis-based, but more importantly, all of the above topics focus on the main idea of the story:
The author “discusses” the category of Beauty, what is true beauty, the Beauty in “paintings”/works of art or the beauty in real life? The true value of Beauty? Is Beauty associated with Ethics? The distance between beauty in the work and reality? All the details, details, characters and images in the work serve that discussion. The beauty in the painting of the sea, the image of the boat and the fisherman - the owner of the sea appearing in the early morning mist has a beauty that is both romantic and majestic, but the truth is revealed right after that when the dawn has passed, when the fisherman goes ashore and the torture of his wife takes place. The illusory Beauty disappears. In reality, another Beauty appears: the beauty of Motherhood. The woman embodies the beauty of Motherhood: tolerance, protection, sacrifice. This beauty is not only shown to her children but also to her husband. The woman behaves with the rest of the world with maternal instinct. Nguyen Minh Chau ignores the external beauty to "study" the internal beauty - the "original" beauty of gender. This Beauty - Essence carries the core moral value. It turns out that values originating from the core, the foundation are sustainable. A woman who is ugly in appearance but beautiful in soul, is the savior because of her selfless sacrifice. The image of the fishmonger woman in the short story The Boat Out at Sea reminds people of the philosophy: Because God cannot be present everywhere, God gave birth to mothers!
The story The Woman on the Express Train is the same, readers can easily get "lost" in the attractive plot details: a beautiful woman is placed in the middle of the battlefield, in connection with bombs, death, the harshness of war and with fellow soldiers. The love stories are both sweet and fierce, both "real" and "illusory"... However, those plot details are only to guide the ideological goal: the author "discusses" the search for virtual values. When people set up virtual "values", fantasize that they are real and then wander, tirelessly searching, like Ms. Quy (character's name) living in a "sleepwalk" looking for the ideal man in her imagination, putting herself on an indefinite train to reach the destination in the imaginary illusion. Writing this story, Nguyen Minh Chau seemed to want to "refute" his perception of a time, a time when the author was passionate about creating ideal, perfect characters like Nguyet, Lam in The Last Moon in the Forest , Y Khieu in The Source , Khue in The Soldier's Footprints ... That is a virtual "reality", believing in that, people will forever live in "sleepwalking".