Not seen in his works, especially novels, is the reflection of social and historical issues, in a unique way, society and history are seen and reproduced in events, details of daily life, world affairs, naturally connected with daily life, with work, the joys and sorrows, and changes of human destiny [6;54].
There is a more elaborate and comprehensive work that has examined To Hoai's artistic style, which is the monograph by Dr. Mai Thi Nhung, in which To Hoai's sense of reality has been meticulously researched on basic aspects. Accordingly, the author of the work pointed out that the core of To Hoai's artistic style is the sense of everyday reality, including: everyday humanistic sense of people, sense of society in the natural flow of daily life and customs, sense of daily life and customs about animals, sense of simple nature with natural, objective colors (24). These are comprehensive research results with profound scientific significance, considered an important basis for studying and examining many works of To Hoai. Our thesis is also developed based on important suggestions from that research work.
2.2. Initial research results on Old Stories of Hanoi
Old Stories of Hanoi, first published in 2000, is a collection of memoirs about Hanoi. The 1986 edition includes 42 stories, the 1994 edition includes 64 stories, the new edition includes 114 stories, some stories are taken back from Hanoi and Hanoi (1996), such as Vuon Hoa , the old name is Vuon va Hoa, the flower tree. But this is still not all of To Hoai's writings about Hanoi, for example, there is no excellent article Doi net Ho Tay in Hanoi and Hanoi . The 2000 edition is not only supplemented but also revised and it can be said that the whole thing has new content: the two previous editions were memoirs, with social or ethnological value about the Hanoi locality, while the later edition has a clearer ethnological application.
Following the example of the ancients: "The famous scholars Le Quy Don and Pham Dinh Ho, in their time there were no subjects of sociology or customs, but they were aware of carefully recording hats and hats, because hats also showed the distinction of human status" [14; 150]. The space of the work was expanded, the time was extended, the stories of life and people also became richer and more attractive. If in the first printing, the stories leaned towards the suburban land as a natural part of To Hoai's inspiration, then in this publication, the writer achieved a significant "balance" when revealing a diverse, arduous, luxurious and splendid inner city. To Hoai expanded the topic of Hanoi to the national cultural field in both historical and current events, such as the poem Dat talking about tools made of clay, the use of clay in national life or the poem Tieng Trong, Dinh Lang, and Hat Xua going beyond the perimeter of Hanoi. Articles like Dung and Quyen speak of the fate of people who have been ups and downs in history: painter Ngo Thuc Dung, who graduated from the College of Fine Arts in the same class as Nguyen Do Cung, after 1954 sold tickets for the tram on Buoi Street, no longer recognized his friends, and was so bored that he no longer wanted to recognize them . The work soon attracted the attention of researchers and those who love literature and Hanoi.
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In general, To Hoai's pen favors the rustic lifestyle. Old stories of Hanoi are mainly stories of the poor, starting from the countryside drifting to the city to earn a living, working as servants, tailors, porters, singers , and wine sellers. To Hoai recorded the urban lifestyle, from the bicycle , the tram , to the rickshaw passing through Hang Dao Street , Hang Ngang Street , from the scene of the human trafficking market to the food at the head of the chair , the joys of poor children, of To Hoai in the wild grass period: bird trapping, bird playing, climbing tamarinds , climbing crocodiles , to the hobbies of adults, the bustling festivals , especially the hobby of playing kites . As a modern person, To Hoai paid attention to economic life, the ups and downs of handicrafts and wrote a lot about markets, from the suburban markets to the central markets, the buffalo and cow markets. He counted, at the end
In 1995 , Hanoi had 135 large-scale markets, not counting green markets and flea markets [14;504]. He recorded large and small customs, not necessarily pure customs. Customs such as Tet , Weddings , New Year's Eve , are not unique to Hanoi. Especially Hanoi has daily characters, with names in anonymous life: Mrs. Viet, Mr. Pho Ngac , a hired tailor, Mr. Khan , a widower, Mr. Am , a broker, Ms. Ba Ty , a medium, Mr. Do Huych, who was captured by the French... are the vivid and touching images of a time. The images affirm that Old Stories of Hanoi - a social memoir, is a literary work in the full sense of the word literature.
In the introduction to Old Stories of Hanoi , Hanoi scholar Nguyen Vinh Phuc asserted: “It can be considered a kind of modern-day essay , because with short stories, To Hoai, as a witness, recorded the “many aspects of everyday life” of Hanoi during the French colonial period. Although it has only been six or seven decades, it seems that few people remember it anymore, and it has even become a story of the past” [16]. In this comment, Nguyen Vinh Phuc pointed out the characteristic of To Hoai’s everyday realism when writing about Hanoi, and at the same time affirmed its value not only in terms of literature, but also in terms of culture and history.
Although he wrote a lot, To Hoai always returned to two lands: the people and the customs of the suburbs of Hanoi and the Northwest, where he was deeply attached during the French resistance and returned to many times after that. Therefore, researcher Nguyen Dang Diep said: "Deeply rooted in the lands that had become his destiny, To Hoai calmly peeled off each layer, and when that "seamstress" connected the pieces of culture and the destinies in an artistic organism, we were suddenly surprised by the richness of the land and people, of time and space, of culture and national spirituality" [5]. That is the calmness, quietness and patience of a person who believes in the core of literature and the experience of life.
his own experience. Regarding Hanoi, To Hoai is a great writer. Along with Nguyen Tuan, Thach Lam, Vu Bang... To Hoai left behind many excellent pages of literature because his words not only express the culture and customs but also the "soul" of Hanoi people. Not only Hanoi today but also Hanoi "old stories" are all expressed by To Hoai. No one is better than To Hoai about the suburban land, but few people can surpass To Hoai about the life of Hanoi's artists. He talks about them in a somewhat strange but sincere and loving voice. It seems that To Hoai has prepared himself for a perspective: life is like that, too much stress, too much embellishment is just like that. Reading To Hoai, researcher Nguyen Dang Diep thinks of Nguyen Tuan and realizes: "The two writers are very different. One side tries to create its own style with unique ways of speaking, with repetitive associations, with free strokes, strong impressions, the other side writes leisurely, with novelistic details, the distance between the narrator and the characters is close, casual, and non-epic. But both of these giants have their own views on life. Nguyen Tuan seeks beauty imbued with ideals. It can be a famous beauty, it can be a beauty in the present, but on that present background, all beauties appear majestic and strange. As for To Hoai, beauty appears in everyday life" [5]. To Hoai does not polish his writing in the way of pressing flowers in a cabinet or being overly fussy to create a bonsai style of words, but he trims and polishes sentences, creating new syntactic structures to bring his writing closer to life. Rather, for him, language itself is a living entity, it does not act as a material to carry content in a simple mechanical way. Therefore, his language is soft, free-spirited, and full of folk qualities. That is the sophistication of a skilled writer, the consciousness of achieving simplicity of a great ingenuity. That is why To Hoai's writing does not wear out over time. Tube
To Hoai's glasses are both sharp in reproducing details and capable of creating a reasonable flow between the segments, the colors of travelogue and autobiography blend together very vividly. To Hoai is not really familiar with the upper class, he is only close to the common people, therefore, he is familiar with their temperament, those who were born in slums and poverty. Talking about them, telling about them is essentially also talking about himself, telling about himself. To Hoai is like that, only writing about things that he is really familiar with, things that he has seen. In Autobiography , To Hoai said, even "those seemingly strange animal stories are not beyond the bustle or silence of the garden in front of the door". What makes To Hoai close to Vu Trong Phung, Nam Cao is right there: "You want novels to be novels. I and writers with the same aspirations as me want novels to be real life". The only thing is, as talented writers, the realization in their eyes is different. Reflecting the picture of the old society, for Vu Trong Phung, it was the nonsense, the hypocrisy, the deception of the Westernized period in the urban environment, for Nam Cao, it was the misery of the peasants, the degeneration of personality and the tragedy of being denied human rights in the rural society before the Revolution. As for To Hoai, it was the everyday stories that he had encountered and seen in the suburbs of Hanoi. That land, in essence, was still a pure countryside. But just stepping out for a moment, it touched the urban life. Therefore, the story of the countryside's scent blowing away more or less, the story of having to face the hustle and bustle and being affected and influenced by the urban lifestyle faster than other rural areas is also understandable. And so many heartbreaking stories that happened in Ke Buoi land during the early 20th century transition were viewed by To Hoai from the perspective of world affairs and private life, therefore, his details were sharp, the stories in the book seemed like real life stories.
Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Thi Chien in the article " The Cultural Features of Old Thang Long in Old Hanoi Stories" by To Hoai also stated: "A valuable literary work is always the answer to people's needs about the Fatherland, family, the appearance of each era of each nation. That is also the cultural aspect of literature. The history of Vietnamese literature has shown that there are many works that have achieved this, including "Old Hanoi Stories" by To Hoai. This is a unique memoir, attracting readers with a truthful narrative, a thorough and sincere perspective, imbued with deep, sorrowful love but still full of hope for the old Thang Long land of To Hoai" [2].
Also knowledgeable about To Hoai's Old Stories of Hanoi, Doan Minh Tuan affirmed: "To Hoai is a veteran writer in Hanoi, he thoroughly understands the nooks and crannies, customs and practices. The book Old Stories of Hanoi is nearly 300 pages long, he writes from the new streets, the old streets, to the 36 streets, the alcohol collection, the night cries, the poll tax, dog meat, to climbing tamarinds, climbing crocodiles, then digging for alcohol, singing, catching rats, trapping birds, playing with birds, then the night train, going to the grave, starving to death... meaning To Hoai can put everything from the best to the worst into his writings. In the story " Merry New Year's Eve" : When he was young, To Hoai's family was poor, the most fearful thing was the debt collection, not having money to pay, the creditor took the furniture and carried away the incense bowl. His grandmother's family had no money, there was nothing in the house worth half a cent, so there was nothing to seize, to pay off the debt. Grandma just gave the debt collector a few cents to buy some water to take the train home so he wouldn't have to collect debt all year round during the Tet holiday" [26].
Critic Vuong Tri Nhan subtly named To Hoai's identity when writing about Hanoi and sought to explain the reason for that identity: "Whenever he had to describe Hanoi, To Hoai was both meticulous in his words and fresh as if he had just met him. The reason for this, in my opinion, is partly because To Hoai always kept the humor and mischief necessary for the "Suburban People" who always had to go to the city to do all kinds of work,
Then a few days later, they left it and started other jobs, always maintaining the position of an outsider, standing a little far away, to make thorough observations. When they went to the city, these people had to be very active to sell goods, find work, and avoid being deceived by the neighbors. And when they went there, they had to listen, accumulate, and have many things they heard and saw, so that they could tell their neighbors or their children back home. Therefore, the portrait of the city drawn by these people was always fresh, rich in detail, stimulating the curiosity of others"[6;181]. He further affirmed: In Old Stories of Hanoi, To Hoai listed a number of suburban areas with traditional occupations passed down from generation to generation, who came to do business in the city. Co Nhue, tailor, contractor; Thu Le, laundry; Lai Xa, photographer; Thanh Nhan, barber; Thuy Khue, sticky rice, snacks, etc., etc. The suburbs of Hanoi are a rich "world". In that "world", there is also a very meticulous division of labor, making each person in the profession become a talented artist and devoted to his profession, respected by everyone. From the villages surrounding the inner city, there have been many writers and journalists in the past and present, if we count the new countryside areas cut from Bac Ninh, Hung Yen, Son Tay, Ha Dong to be integrated into Hanoi, but according to Vuong Tri Nhan, "the number of authors from the capital is really large. However, perhaps only To Hoai was able to bring the unique character of the land where he grew up. And kept that character throughout his writing career".
Critic Dang Tien said: At the age of "ninety years old", after 170 books, To Hoai's pen is still full of youthful beauty. Still a stream of thoughts, a mass of melancholy. Only the melancholy in Xom Gieng today is a little dreamy, a little pensive. Old Stories of Hanoi is a lingering nostalgia for a city, at the same time a mass of lingering contemplation of a lifetime about the fate of being human. Old Stories of Hanoi is actually Old Stories of To Hoai , specific lives, pieces of feelings, thoughts about a hundred years of vicissitudes. Documents and thoughts
only. Witness and mind. Ultimately, To Hoai's work is a story about people in life that never gets old.
Most of the researchers' opinions affirm: Old Stories of Hanoi - That is a Hanoi with all kinds of stories of daily life in the decades before the August Revolution: from the miserable scene of human trafficking in the New Street to the dirty business of leftover food of the Western soldiers at the East Gate; from the Westerners' search for illegal alcohol to the "night cries" of selling cakes and pastries on the streets... But the beauty of the work does not stop at that superficial richness, but its cultural depth. Leaving behind one's own traditions to learn the traditions of others, after a while, one will forget that one once had traditions! The forgotten traditions, some people take the trouble to copy them into books. Reading To Hoai's books, sometimes it is like turning the page of Vietnamese culture upside down. The information is obvious, but while "fighting head-on" for wealth with others, few people pay attention to it.
Thus, it can be seen that Old Hanoi Stories is a work worthy of study and has initially received attention, survey and research. However, there has not been any scientific work that has researched Old Hanoi Stories in a meticulous and comprehensive manner in terms of realistic perception. Therefore, on the basis of inheriting and promoting the results that many predecessors have achieved, we boldly researched the Realistic Perception in Old Hanoi Stories by To Hoai.
3. Research object and scope
- The research object of the thesis is To Hoai's sense of reality, aspects of expressing sense of reality and artistic characteristics in expressing that sense of reality.
- Scope of research: The scope of the thesis is mainly the work Old Stories of Hanoi by To Hoai. Of course, during the research process, the author also conducted a survey of another work by author To Hoai and surveyed the works of other authors who also wrote about Hanoi.