Realistic Perspective in Old Hanoi Stories by To Hoai - 1

MASTER'S THESIS IN LINGUISTIC SCIENCE

Thai Nguyen - 2013

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

DO THI HONG VAN

REALISTIC SENSE

Major: Vietnamese Literature Code: 60220121

MASTER'S THESIS IN LINGUISTIC SCIENCE

SCIENTIFIC INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Mai Thi Nhung

Thai Nguyen - 2013

COMMITMENT

I hereby declare that this is my own research work under the scientific guidance of Dr. Mai Thi Nhung .

The content of the thesis research topic has not been published in any other work.

Thai Nguyen, April 2013

Thesis author

Do Thi Hong Van

INDEX

TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................

INTRODUCTION 1

SECTION 14

CHAPTER 1. WRITER TO HOAI AND THE FACTORS THAT CREATE THE AUTHOR'S SENSE OF REALITY 14

1.1. Writer To Hoai 14

1.2. Elements that create To Hoai's sense of reality 18

1.2.1. Concept of realism 18

1.2.2. Aspects of expressing To Hoai's sense of reality...19

1.2.2.1. Everyday human perception of people 19

1.2.2.2. Social perception through living scenes and customs 23

1.2.2.3. Perception of animal customs and activities 25

1.2.2.4. The simple natural sense has natural and objective colors 27

1.3. Elements that create a realistic perception of Hanoi in To Hoai's creative journey 29

1.3.1. Burning and intense love for Hanoi 29

1.3.2. Special customs 33

CHAPTER 2 SENSE OF SOCIETY, PEOPLE AND CUSTOMS

2.1. Social Perception 39

2.1.1. Hanoi with traditional cultural activities 39

2.1.2. Hanoi in the complexity of many cultural values ​​42

2.2. Human perception 43

2.2.1. Hanoi people in traditional cultural beauty 43

2.2.2. Ordinary people with diverse personalities and fates...47

2.2.2.1. Discovering Hanoi people from everyday reality, discovering diverse personalities 47

2.2.2.2. The fates of many people 50

2.3. Perception of customs in Old Hanoi Stories by To Hoai 57

2.3.1. Hanoi with beautiful customs 57

2.3.1.1. Hanoi with the beauty of festivals or the honor of spiritual values ​​57

2.3.1.2. Costumes and hobbies of an old time 60

2.3.2. Hanoi with its backward and childish customs 67

CHAPTER 3. THE ART OF EXPRESSING REALISTIC SENSE IN TO HOAI'S OLD STORIES OF HANOI 70

3.1. The storyteller knows how to listen to cultural sediments from the

everyday story 70

3.2. Natural language, with a colorful mix 78

3.3. The richness of art space 84

3.3.1. Discovering new spaces, revealing forgotten lives of bustling Hanoi 85

3.3.2. Artistic space has contrast, comparison between past and present 88

3.4. Valuable details - a strength of To Hoai's memoirs 90

CONCLUSION 97

REFERENCES 100

1. Reason for choosing the topic

INTRODUCTION

To Hoai is a writer with an important position in modern Vietnamese literature. He became famous early in the literary world and maintained his form through the harsh test of time. Until now, he is one of the few veteran writers who are still making contributions to the country's contemporary literature. His career is massive in volume, rich in genres and diverse in style. With more than 160 books, thousands of articles and essays, To Hoai is present in almost all genres of prose from novels, short stories, novels to memoirs, notes, literary portraits. He also had many award-winning works such as: Story of the Northwest - first prize for novels of the Vietnam Literature and Arts Association in 1956, The West - award of the Asian-African Writers Association in 1970, Homeland - A prize of the Hanoi Literature and Arts Association in 1980, Ho Chi Minh Award, first round in 1996. It can be said that To Hoai had a great influence on prose writers of the next generation. Even To Hoai's famous and difficult literary friends had to acknowledge the professionalism and determination of To Hoai's pen: "To Hoai's style is that of a great writer - although Xuan Dieu often praised no one - to be great, one must have many works, of course, both in quantity and quality. To Hoai met both of those standards. There are people who write very well but are not great, because their works are too few. They may be talented writers, famous writers but not called great". Writer Nguyen Tuan affirmed: “To Hoai is a person with a strong will. Once he writes something, he will not give up and will only stop writing until he has finished it. It seems that his works, in terms of number of books, are the best in the country!” [6; 29].

In To Hoai's writing career, the work Old Hanoi Stories plays an important role. This work was awarded the Thang Long Prize in 1997-1998 by the Hanoi People's Committee and is considered a collection of

A particularly valuable memoir about Hanoi in the past ten years. When mentioning books about Hanoi, we cannot miss Hanoi Old Stories by writer To Hoai. It is truly an old story, a story of colonial days with a tiring life, but it is not bland or out of place for readers of today's generation. Because it is not only a memoir but also considered a reference book on culture, customs, festivals and even a sociological research work. The work is considered a modern-day essay , because as a witness, To Hoai recorded the "many aspects of everyday life" of Hanoi during the French colonial period, a past that is not too far away but also makes readers surprised and unfamiliar.

The appeal of the unique sense of realism in To Hoai's works in general and the sense of realism in Old Hanoi Stories in particular has urged the author to choose the topic of Realism in Old Hanoi Stories by To Hoai. It is thought that examining this work, on the basis of discovering the writer's sense of realism, is a necessary task to contribute to determining the value of the work and to reveal more clearly the literary identity of a powerful writer of modern Vietnamese literature.

2. Problem history

2.1. History of research on author To Hoai and the sense of realism in the writer's works

Up to now, there have been many research works on To Hoai's works, in which, the author's sense of reality is the aspect that attracts many researchers. Professor Nguyen Dang Manh in the article To Hoai and the concept of "human is human " affirmed: "To Hoai's concept of human is human, just human, that's all". Therefore, his characters are exploited "all about private life, everyday life". Even his revolutionary characters, heroic characters are often not idealized. Researcher Nguyen

Dang Diep emphasized: "Writing about oneself, about oneself is the artistic orientation and also the aesthetic channel of To Hoai. More precisely, this is the core element that makes up his artistic concept. It makes To Hoai's writing have its own style and tone. It is a leisurely, humorous and mischievous narrative voice"

When introducing the To Hoai Collection, Professor Ha Minh Duc also made a profound comment, affirming the value of To Hoai's historical stories: "He wanted to return to the source of legends, miracles, and ancient stories to learn about the life of the nation in ancient times with feelings and forms of thinking, with creative actions of workers in the process of building and defending the country." [9;128].

With that thought, Vu Quan Phuong affirmed: “To Hoai has his own way when writing historical stories. Reading his stories, people are immersed in the traditional Vietnamese atmosphere. He is the one who preserves many old features, many old flavors without falling into nostalgia” [6;58]. Sharing the same inspiration to affirm the unique value of To Hoai’s historical stories, author La Thi Bac Ly in Stories written for children after 1975 wrote: “To Hoai has opened up a new direction of exploitation, the direction of exploiting history associated with legends, customs and culture” [6;24].

Phong Diep also realized: To Hoai's novels are images of the natural flow of life, flowing endlessly. Life appears in To Hoai's eyes as simple and natural as it is: there are all the things of everyday life, trivial things, the good and the trivial, there is social life, the movement of history and worldly life, and customs. The sense of everyday reality and the pen leaning towards customs are the unique characteristics of To Hoai, not only in novels . To Hoai is still considered a writer of "ordinary stories, ordinary people, ordinary life". But that does not mean that