Epic poem about the anti-American period in modern Vietnamese literature - Nguyen Thi Lien Tam

epic lyricism. The “I” of Nguyen Khoa Diem in The Road of Desire , of Giang Nam in Lightning on New Year’s Eve , of Huong Trieu in Journey , of Thanh Thao in Those Who Go to the Sea, of Huu Thinh in The Road to the City , of Tran Manh Hao in The Sun in the Underground … are all collective “I”, the I of an entire generation of heroes.

As mentioned above; in an era where love and private life are temporarily put aside to make way for the national spirit that is fiercely rising, the poet's ego is still revealed. The ego is attached to the self, the individual is closely attached to the community. The image of the people is the most beautiful generalizing image of the modern epic poem. This is also a difference compared to the classical epic poem; it is not a single individual ego but a representative ego; a separate ego in the whole nation. The ego voluntarily integrates into the community, becoming a community person. The community person in each individual is completely suitable for the mentality of the times and the needs of the resistance war. That's right: " there is clearly a two-way relationship between the individual and the community [38, p.81]. And “ the beauty of our epic poems is not only the historical witness ego of the warrior poets, but also the typical portraits, very natural and complicated, but still whole and unique… and is an inevitable thing for a national epic” [38, p.88]. Class interests and national interests have created people with noble ideals, people who forget their “individual ego”.

That is the personal ego of Nguyen Khoa Diem , the ego of the youth taking to the streets, walking on the path that the people have chosen: “The people are marching up in ranks/ The endless battle of a thousand years of killing the enemy/ The fire has burned the ground red/ The ripe season of love, the ripe season of hatred!”. From his own personal pain, the poet-soldier ego has linked with many other individual egos to merge into a common ego : “ I am no longer the ego of pain / I am the homeland, I am the strength” (The Road of Desire).

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Thanh Thao's ego is also integrated into the image of young soldiers to become a common ego, the youthful ego of the youth during the anti-American resistance period, who knew how to live for the survival of the nation. They were willing to endure all hardships and difficulties to live and fight with all their might: "We live here in several dry and rainy seasons/ There are seasons of hunger and every season there are enemies/ The holes dug for cassava are so deep/ Our arms can no longer reach" (Those who go to the sea). That is the ego that has experienced, the ego that has witnessed, the ego that has participated, the ego that has transformed; because above all, Thanh Thao is a soldier during the anti-American resistance period.

Through research, we can affirm that the epic poem about the anti-American period has enough attitude, duration, intensity ... to express the ego of historical witnesses, to express typical portraits that only exist in combat life. Affirming the connections between the era and the nation, between the individual and the community is also determining the poet's responsibility to life and to poetry.

Also in the weekly Van Nghe Tre issue 36 (September 2006), in the article “ The values that remain forever…”, Phong Diep interviewed writer Vo Hong about the value of wartime literature. Vo Hong expressed his feelings: “ Vietnamese literature in the two resistance periods… left Vietnamese written literature with its own peaks… with its own strengths that touched people’s hearts… its propaganda mission, whose main target is people, however, people here are “collective” people, not “individual” people. Thus, the writer has promoted the collective and revolutionary nature, affirming that the dissection of personal human problems is rarely shown in wartime literature.

The connection between the individual and the community is most clearly expressed in the ideals, thoughts, and actions of each individual in the collective. That is the “Ego”. The ego, the awareness of each individual’s individual self, always exists; but each era, each society, each culture… has different manifestations. In the era of fighting against America, to protect the fatherland, all personal interests had to give way to collective interests. This explains why an entire team

Students in Mat Duong aspire to join the street in the heart of Hue city; explain why the girls in Song Nui Tren V Ai, the ten girls at Dong Loc intersection in Lua Mua Hang Ao , the boys in Nguoi Diu Bien , the young soldiers in Duong To Thanh Pho and even the soldiers who have experienced the resistance war against the French and then the Americans in Truong Ca Su Doan... are all willing to sacrifice their personal happiness, love... to contribute to the common cause of the nation. From the image of the Tuy Hoa mother in O Lang Phuoc Hau , the mother on the banks of the Red River, Ma River; to the mothers in Nguoi Diu Bien , the mother in Duong To Thanh Pho ... all had to act as they had acted; without complaining or being weak. In that era; if we thought differently, lived differently, acted differently from what we had thought, lived, acted... it would mean opposing the ideals and path of the whole community, the whole nation.

From the rear to the battlefield, the fire was blazing; the individual... with his ordinary ego gave way to the common self, the collective self. Literature in general and epic poems in particular participated in the great resistance war of the nation, were active weapons serving the resistance war effectively... and themselves contributed to the formation of a "modern epic literature". All were joined in ranks, closely linked to the team. The rear and the front were all groups, teams, cooperatives, and communities. That is why the common, the whole people, the whole army, the collective, the community... were a solid block, always placed above all. Living in such a social context, the anti-American poets mostly shared the same epic inspiration, the same way of thinking about the great war. The modern epic poems were truly bustling songs, marching songs that burned the hearts of those who went to battle, even though behind the victory there were losses and sufferings. It can be said that this is an extremely special poetic era without which modern Vietnamese literature would lack perfection and a part of its vivid reflection of historical reality .

The anti-American poets - the poets who composed long poems, were called " choirs ". According to Le Thanh Nghi: "The "choir" itself contains two contents: the "collective " content (no longer individual) and the " single voice " content (voice of praise)" [58, p.13] . Indeed, to raise themselves to the level of the times, the poets of the anti-American period sang together "voices of praise". Thus, each poet of the anti-American period was an individual voice in the choir of the whole community. And so, almost all the names of poems and large poetry collections of this period began with the two words "song, song, song" such as Song of the Hero, Song of Viet Bac, Lullaby of the babies growing up on their mothers' backs ...

The self here is both similar and different from the self of the Middle Ages. Because from the Ngo, Dinh to Tien Le dynasties, the citizen has strived to preserve the newly regained independence. For centuries, the biggest issue related to the survival of the country was the issue of national destiny. Literature of this period followed the command of the heart to write about the issue of national destiny as a call for the whole army to fight the enemy. Works that can be called epic poems of the Middle Ages include: Proclamation of Generals by Tran Hung Dao, the heroic epic of Binh Ngo Dai Cao by Nguyen Trai... The lyrical character carries the mindset of the citizen self - although that self has the direction of a commander, a leader. At that time, our ancestors still appeared in literature as a citizen responsible for the country and the people: "I often forgot to eat at mealtimes, pounding my pillow in the middle of the night, my stomach ached like it was cut, my tears flowed, I only regretted not skinning and drinking the blood of the enemy. Even if a hundred of these bodies were exposed in the wild, a thousand of these corpses were wrapped in horse skin, I would still do it" (Proclamation to the Soldiers - Tran Quoc Tuan).

And here is a special parallel passage rich in epic qualities in Nguyen Trai's Proclamation of Victory over the Wu : "Heroes are like the stars in the morning/ Talents are like autumn leaves/ The carriage's old carriage is still reserved on the left/ Yet/ Looking at people, they are becoming more and more absent/ It is as hazy as looking at the vast ocean/ I, myself, must devote myself, hurrying as if saving a drowning person...", the passage expresses the concern for the people and the country of a

The national hero, both literary and martial, expressed the self as a citizen for the people and the country. King Ly Nhan Tong (1064 - 1127), the eldest son of Ly Thanh Tong and Nguyen Phi Y Lan, in the Edict left before his death , commented on himself: " little virtue, did nothing to bring peace to the people", when he died "did not want the people to worry about funerals, wasted public funds, saved money and did not allow the construction of a private mausoleum... " are all typical examples of exemplary citizens who devoted themselves to the people and the country [96, p.440]. All the issues raised aim to affirm that the literature of the early medieval period highlighted the image of the individual but also the citizen serving the ultimate interests of the national community; expressing the heart, the will, the morality of the "moral" self.

In the late medieval literature period, the egoless man changed to the egoistic man. During this period, the ego-conscious man rose, so literature about the individual ego tended to develop and create unique literary values. Many ballads and poems appeared and lived forever because they mentioned an issue that was always new, always accompanying human life: that is the issue of love and fate. Typical examples are: Chinh phu ngam - Dang Tran Con, Cung oan ngam - Nguyen Gia Thieu, Doan truong tan thanh - Nguyen Du...

During the anti-French period, literature continued its mission of accompanying history. Many valuable poetic works were born. Of course, there were not many epic poems (such as From the nineteenth night - Khuong Huu Dung), but they also contributed to reflect the nation's long and arduous resistance war. The citizen's ego was also affirmed quite clearly in a number of poems such as Comrade - Chinh Huu; Nho - Hong Nguyen; Hoo chien si Dien Bien , Viet Bac - To Huu, Dat nuoc - Nguyen Dinh Thi... And it was also different from the ego of New Poetry which carried many individual personal imprints, mainly expressing the lonely and sad lyrical ego.

During the anti-American period, the epic poem described typical citizens for the entire citizen community , with personal feelings imbued with revolutionary ideals.

network. The collective, the common, the community… are always put first. Perhaps that is why the poets of the anti-American period were called the “ choir ” of the era, singing the collective song, praising the country and the people.

Individuals integrate into the community, the community elevates each individual to stand side by side with each individual to create strength. From generation to generation; continuously and continuously, like a continuous flow . From the way of living, eating and living; to the way of thinking, the way of doing; from ancient traditions to modern times today. Individuals combine with individuals to create a collective that is organically and closely connected to each other . That adhesive was created long ago in the legend of " The Hundred Eggs Sac ", in the meaning of "compatriots " forever at peace and was brought into the Road of Aspiration by Nguyen Khoa Diem . That is the unity between individuals and communities, of many communities with the nation.

In Anh Ngoc's Unknown Chorus , the image of Uncle Ho - the number one citizen of Vietnam during the anti-American war is described very closely and familiarly. The distance between the leader and the people, between the individual and the community was erased when he read the Declaration of Independence in the sunny Ba Dinh Square: "Who are you? / Where did you come from? The whole nation was surprised in the first minute of meeting Uncle Ho / He said the simplest thing / and also the most important thing in the world : He and the people are only one". Many individuals create a community, many communities form a nation with many things in common: origin, class, leader, and common heart to fight the enemy.

In the epic poem about the anti-American period; the elements and events of a community nature are built quite clearly. The people living in harmony in that community also have private moments of daily life. They still love, still sing, still laugh, still live according to the way of life of an individual, no one is the same as anyone else. But when faced with important events related to the collective, to the honor and shame of the fatherland, they become representatives of the nation, of the community. They sing the song of war in unison, a unified block ready to live.

died for the people. Therefore, the war against America to save the country is a people's war ; fighting for the people, for the community. The lyrical quality in the epic about fighting America is revealed more and more strongly later. The main thing is still the individual , but each person is a small vein in a big heart. The fate of the country, the fate of the nation is closely linked to the fate of each individual, to the love of couples, to the great love of the people.

It is no longer a private concern but a common concern of many women in our country during the war . The longing sometimes lasts for twenty long years with the passionate summers of eighteen betel villages, during the whole youth of a girl. It is an individual but it is also the whole community of women whose husbands went to war: " She buried her youth in her dimples " (Huu Thinh - The Road to the City).

The moment of farewell of the individual ego is also the common feeling of children who are about to leave their homeland and mother to go to war. The poet has harmonized the individual and elevated it to the common. That feeling is expressed very delicately: “When I told my mother/ The rain is flying and blurring our fields/ Tomorrow I will leave/ The smoke from our kitchen suddenly stops on the thatched roof” (Those Who Go to the Sea - Thanh Thao).

Time seemed to stop, the scenery seemed to linger. The farewell was nostalgic but not at all sad. That special moment was recorded by the poet in a simple yet touching way. Who can count how many farewells there were? The private yet very common farewells of Vietnamese mothers who love their children and their country were reflected in the long poem. There were mothers who had a long farewell that lasted their whole life: " I love my mother, I love her all my life, I see her off/ This enemy ends, another comes/ Mother carries her through all the resistance wars/ I know her children go, even if they don't come back" (Land of Lightning).

In the long, silent nights in the sky, the transport girls in the River and Mountain on their shoulders, the young volunteers in the Fire of the Drying Shirt season , lived wholeheartedly for their homeland and comrades; ready to accept danger upon themselves:

“Em Man/ Refused to change shifts/ Standing as a road sign/ Eyes with dark circles/ Looking up at the halo of the moon”. The entire group Nu, Ngan, Xoan, Thao, Cuc, Hoa, Dao, Cai, Que, Net, Ngo shared the same aspiration: “twelve hearts/ twelve red balls of fire/ From the chest of youth/ Incubated in the Hoang Cam kitchen” (Le Thi May). These are beautiful images expressing the individual ego merging into the collective ego.

The prose verses in Van Cong Hung’s The White Horse Fly Back also convey the feelings of nostalgia for a female youth volunteer who has forever remained in the mountains and forests. The verses of “myself - and also of those who pay tribute” sound so gentle and burn in the hearts of the readers:

“This May, the wind blows along Truong Son, I quietly walk through each forest of fallen leaves. The old dipterocarp trees are pensive in the quiet afternoon, the wind blows forever, so heartbreaking, oh wind. The day we parted, you clipped your slender hair, your small figure glanced quickly. Leaning on the side of the carriage, the rain filled the dark alley, the faint scent of magnolia flowers wafted from the back of the summer house. You are gone forever, my mother is waiting forever. In the afternoon, I lean against the door, looking longingly in that direction. Oh, that direction, that direction is my longing. Truong Son is hazy, a distant color” (The White Horse Flys Back).

Each silent and voluntary sacrifice of each individual in the national community has created miraculous vitality and victory, even though that victory sometimes had to be paid for with blood and tears.

Obviously, “ there is a two-way relationship between the individual and the community... a response to the voluntary attachment of each member to that community ” [38, pp.80-81]. It can be said that, from the early days of the epic genre, in those ancient epics, we saw the image of each individual voluntarily attached to the community and the nation. Today, in modern epics, the relationship between the individual and the community is still maintained and strongly developed.

Epic poem about the anti-American period in modern Vietnamese literature - Nguyen Thi Lien Tam - 9

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