Reality of 30 Years of Heroic Patriotic War

“Day after day, season after season, generation after generation, many generations of ancient Vietnamese farmers have succeeded each other and laughed the laughter of a nation with much suffering but inherently very optimistic. That treasure trove of laughter that our ancestors left us, in fact, must be considered the intellectual values ​​of a practical philosophy. It is also a treasure trove of experiences about enjoying life, loving beauty, and what is right (…). Being a writer inherits the flavor of

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The fire of the national language and the national laughter, we have the responsibility not only not to miss it, but also to constantly awaken that capital. Develop it in verse, in prose...".

Thus, while reflecting reality with a permanent cultural sense, meaning always examining things and phenomena according to traditional standards, essays have contributed significantly to orienting aesthetic tastes and educating cultural awareness.

3.1.2. The reality of the 30 years of heroic war for national defense is also a major topic of Vietnamese essays from 1930 to 1975. Not focusing on painting grandiose pictures of campaigns, battles or portraying heroic figures on the battlefield, the essays realistically and vividly record the reality of the Vietnamese people's souls during a painful but extremely heroic historical period. There is a passionate love for the homeland, a heartbreaking pain at the scene of division and chaos, a deep hatred for the enemy and a determination to chase the enemy to regain independence and freedom.

Amidst the flames of war, the Vietnamese people always turn to their Fatherland and people with the purest and most intense feelings. More than ever, they are fully aware of the meaning of glorious traditions and the sacred responsibility of every citizen:

“From my father, he had just broken the shackles of slavery to pick up a gun to regain power, to my younger brother, when he was born, the first sight was the bright blue sky of the regime… all lived a completely new life. We rose from the death of more than two million compatriots in the year of At Dau, we rose from the prisons, the shackles, the cells of the death sentence… that the imperialists intended to drown us in a sea of ​​blood. From the pain and resentment, we created the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The regime carries within it the history of the indomitable spirit, giving us a second birth of the soul and the posture of Vietnam” ( Twenty-five years of marching to protect the spring of the regime - Khanh Van).

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The enemy has caused countless scenes of separation and mourning in our country. Infinite pain and infinite hatred. In the dangerous historical circumstances, the Vietnamese spirit and bravery are further affirmed, the Vietnamese will is further tempered. The calm and composed posture and the unusually steadfast and calm mentality are vivid manifestations of the indomitable tradition and heroism:

“Now I understand why, the deeper I go into the devastated, deserted scenes, the affectionate sounds still resound. The singing voice leading you, the sound of the pole picking fruit, the boat docking at the shore, everything of life still evokes a feeling of tenderness, permeating the heart (…). If a certain coconut tree is stripped bare, a certain canal bank is mottled, then from somewhere, the image of the green coconut gardens still evokes in our minds. The canals, the rivers carrying heavy alluvium still murmur coolly under our feet. We cannot forget, because the Vietnamese habit, the habit of loyalty, of love and remembrance, can never forget the images that have lived with us for thousands of years, that have nurtured us to grow up, as familiar as flesh and blood” (The Canals of the Homeland - Nguyen Thi).

Pain and hatred inevitably lead to the determination to fight for revenge, to regain the right to live freely for the nation and independence for the Fatherland. The works: Happy Road, Love of the Campaign, Hanoi We Fight the Americans Well by Nguyen Tuan; The Road We Go, The Battle Begins Today, The Call of Spring by Nguyen Trung Thanh; Heroic Congress, Sayings in the Congress, The Homeland Canal by Nguyen Thi; Today We Go to Battle by Khanh Van,… have promptly and vividly recorded the overwhelming moments of the Vietnamese people's thoughts and feelings, the fiery offensive spirit and the strong belief in the final victory.

Saying goodbye to the deadlocked, tragic days, to the point of having to "free his form" in the period before 1945, Nguyen Tuan enthusiastically shouldered his backpack and embarked on all the resistance paths. But the nature of the journey was different, no longer "moving" aimlessly, but only to "roll his shell" in space, while traveling and causing trouble: "standing in the middle of life, throwing stones at those around him, provoking those around him" (Phan Cu De) [119; 103]. Now, no longer lonely, the arrogant Nguyen of the past has opened his soul to connect harmoniously with humanity.

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people and accept the many colors of the new life, to deeply feel and be proud when feeling "the strength of the country is always present on every inch of the long road". Happy Road (1949) is a bustling song raised from a newly revived heart, excited and believing in the people and the resistance. The artistic and romantic qualities are no longer in opposition but harmoniously blend with the civic consciousness, creating essays with a truly innocent and touching tone:

“My friend, let us go uphill with steady steps, let us go downhill with smooth and supple steps. Plum and bamboo forests, slow down and absorb the beauty of our homeland. Wherever there are mountains and bamboo forests, let us walk quickly, there are many mosquitoes and leeches. The clear stream invites us to bathe and wash and dry our clothes on the rocks of the Chinese ink painting. Then, while walking and drying the clothes on our backs and on our heads, let us take a moment to remember the old washerwoman.”

If in Duong Vui , although he voluntarily participated in the resistance war, he still stood on the sidelines to observe and contemplate, then in Tinh Chien Dich (1950), Nguyen Tuan had become a true writer - soldier. The change in ideology and emotion had caught up with each other, the writer not only wrote with civic responsibility but also with faith, love and deep sympathy. In tune with his heart with the joys and sorrows, the joys and sufferings of the masses, the writer could feel the majesty and greatness of the colorful life around him. He enthusiastically followed the army units, directly participating in battles to "taste the flavor of the campaign", to "rest his head on an anthill" and sleep soundly, to eat a cold rice ball at 3am without rinsing his mouth, or to dig "a shallow grave" with his own hands and then tearfully take off his hat to say goodbye to his comrades to continue on his journey... It can be said that the reality of life fighting and sacrificing for noble ideals has brought the artist pure, noble emotions, an endless source of inspiration to write essays that can move people's hearts.

Writing about the same topic of war, but in the collection of essays Hanoi, we fight the Americans well (1972), Nguyen Tuan had his own way of exploiting it. The writer focused on revealing the contrast between the leisurely, dignified posture and the wild, crazy one; seeing it as a powerful reason to explain our worthy victory and the inevitable defeat of the enemy:

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“It seems that the United States, while fighting Hanoi, tested Hanoi’s strength and intelligence. In the firefight with the American invaders, the army and people of the capital fought more and more to promote their nation’s tradition of fighting against foreign invaders. With sure hands and within range, on the afternoon of May 5, all the caliber of Hanoi’s guns with barrels and rockets without barrels gave the Americans a great beating (…). Ngoc Ha market was not a broken market, but rather the enemy’s corpses were shattered in an afternoon market: bunches of vegetables, crabs, and shrimps were all sparkling with fragments.

- out to F.105. The girl from the flower shop threw her umbrella there - she was about to water the afternoon garden, quickly picked up her gun and followed the pouring rain - out to destroy the flower cooperative garden. Here and there were bruised and bruised dracaena flowers, and the rose beds still seemed to laugh fiercely with the afternoon sun" ( On the Hanoi front ).

Through vivid artistic images, Nguyen Tuan's essay also wants to affirm another truth: the Vietnamese people not only have a heroic and indomitable tradition but are also extremely talented and artistic. Cultural values ​​are like pure gold , not only do not fade away but also shine more brightly through the fierce challenges of war. The divine strength, bravery and national spirit also originate from that:

“Hanoi opened fire but Hanoi still bloomed. Flowers were planted right next to the tunnel, the soil dug into the tunnel was piled up around the roots of the flowers (...). State-owned and private flower shops at the corner of Hoan Kiem Lake had men and women carrying rifles to buy flowers to celebrate their wedding day. The bride wore ao dai, the groom still carried a rifle. And around Hoan Kiem Lake, it seemed like every beer shop had a lot of ice, a lot of steam, a lot of foam. On days when Hanoi had many alarms, many sirens, and especially loudspeakers announcing that the North had shot down many American planes, it seemed like the beer shops around Hoan Kiem Lake had more people coming in to drink” ( On the Hanoi front ).

In today's fight, the Vietnamese people are not alone. The glorious history has given them strength and strengthened their belief to be more steadfast and determined in the face of brutal enemies. National tradition is not a general, abstract concept but is always perceived as a value that is both noble and close and has an extraordinary power of encouragement and motivation. In turn, the descendants of the Ho Chi Minh era have spared no blood and bones to continue writing heroic pages of history:

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“Fourteen years ago, when Vo Thi Sau went to the execution ground, she sang. Now history has not collected what song it was, but we remember very clearly that one morning, amidst the roaring waves of the sea, the horizon just glowing with the first red clouds, mixed with the sound of the early wind and the clanking of chains, that glorious girl sang to praise the Fatherland, praise the future and bid us farewell. The voice, breath and vitality of that girl passed through the enemy's guns, penetrated their fearful grey-black eyes to fly into space and live forever with time. From then on, our history recorded another heroic story…” ( Sentences recorded at the congress - Nguyen Thi).

3.2. Diversity of inspiration

In his work Introduction to Literary Research , EG Rudneva determined: “The deep and true historical interpretation of the described personalities, which arises from the objective national significance of those personalities, is the creative ideological inspiration of the writer and of the writer's work” [146; 141]. Different forms of inspiration “are all born in human consciousness - most actively in the consciousness of the creator of art, especially of linguistic art - due to the contradictions of social life, of the personalities and activities of representatives of a certain social circle (...), all are ideological consciousness and emotional assessment, a true and deep perception and assessment of what is happening and existing in reality” [146; 142].