In the field of literary criticism theory, feminist criticism theory began to be introduced and applied to the study of phenomena in Vietnamese literature. By the end of the 20th century, the application of this literary research theory had a strong influence on the life of literary creation and criticism. Evidence for this is the appearance and popularity of a series of female poets with the phenomena of Vi Thuy Linh, Phan Huyen Thu, Dinh Thi Nhu Thuy, Ly Hoang Ly... or the poetry group Horse Sky with the collection "Du doan phi thoi troi " (Unpredictable weather) are rich and reliable artistic materials to affirm that there is a trend called feminist influence in this period. On the other hand, in the life of criticism, there have been dozens of interviews and many good quality research articles, objectively and accurately assessing the phenomena of female literature in our country during this period. And in particular, the appearance of feminist criticism in our country has also changed dramatically. A series of articles on feminism in Vietnamese literature by researchers such as Nguyen Dang Diep, Van Gia, Luu Khanh Tho, Chu Van Son... were widely published (specific opinions will be mentioned in the following section). In addition, the Journal of Literary Studies , issue 8, 2013, published a cluster of articles on feminist criticism by authors, including 2 articles by two foreign scholars. They are Ellen Messer - Davidow with the article " Feminist theory and criticism: From social criticism to discourse analysis (1963 - 1973) ", page 3; John C. Schafer with " Contemporary conceptions of Vietnamese women ", page 22. Besides that is the article " Discourse on gender and poetics of character ", page 40 by Tran Van Toan; " Dam Phuong and the issue of feminism: Educating women and children in the family " by Doan Anh Duong. Previously, on November 29, 2012, the Vietnam Institute of Literature successfully organized a scientific seminar on “ Women’s prose in the context of contemporary Vietnamese literature ”. The presentations focused on the issues of receiving and applying feminist critical theory in Vietnamese literature and from a feminist perspective, explaining Vietnamese literature.
The above are the efforts of experts aiming to popularize feminist thought and feminist critical theory into academic life to create
Many perspectives in evaluating and considering the phenomena of Vietnamese women's literature in the renovation period.
1.2.1.3. The concept of feminist consciousness in Vietnamese women's poetry from 1986 to present
- According to the history of the development of feminism, it can be seen that feminism ( Feminism, women's right ) is a concept originating from the political struggle movement aiming to demand equal rights for men and women, associated with political and social activities, aiming to achieve gender equality. Through political and social struggles, women reclaim their legitimate interests to achieve equality with men. Therefore, "feminism" emphasizes the aspect of women's rights, including: equality between men and women, then moves on to fight for the right to vote, the right to labor, the right to survive and other political and economic rights. However, due to historical, cultural, political, social characteristics... this concept causes different reactions associated with the issue of feminism in each country, each nation.
Maybe you are interested!
-
Feminist consciousness in Vietnamese female poetry from 1986 to present through some typical cases - 2 -
Feminist Consciousness in Women's Poetry from 1945 to 1975 -
Gender issues and feminist resonances in contemporary Vietnamese prose through the works of some typical female writers - 21 -
Concept and Objective Necessity of International Trade Finance Activities: -
Concept of Financial Capacity of Commercial Banks
In the West, where the feminist movement was born, women put themselves in opposition to men to fight for equal rights and raise purely feminist political and social activities. Meanwhile, in the East in general, in Vietnam in particular, the feminist movement is closely linked to the national salvation movement and women stand side by side with men to both fight for national liberation and free their gender from the old constraints of society. Therefore, the feminist movement in the East does not take place as strongly, independently and fiercely antagonistic to men as in the West. It is not the struggle of one gender against another but the common struggle of a social community with progressive ideas about gender against the old ideologies that oppress women. Therefore, feminist consciousness in the East exists in a silent and discreet state, more of a social consciousness than an ideology.
In literary creation, research and criticism after 1986, the concept of "feminism" is often mentioned together with the concepts of "gender" and "sex".
and “femininity”. Gender is the resonance of many available physiological factors determined by the randomness of natural selection. Those characteristics are once again influenced and oppressed by many aspects of social life, making people aware of their position, role, and mission in the world, and the characteristics and tasks of each gender in society are also shaped. Femininity refers to nature, nature, that is, to the issue of ontology. Femininity includes the characteristics of women (in distinction from masculinity - the nature/characteristics of men), expressed in behavior and relationships that are standard and stereotypical in society and culture. Femininity is both stable and variable according to the cultural and social environment in different eras, in different cultures. Gender “refers to the connection between gender and the characteristics of each individual gender” [10; 272]. Thus, gender is the synthesis of natural, biological characteristics (breeds) and social characteristics, personality... of each specific gender. In relation to the two concepts of gender and femininity, the concept of gender is the synthesis of the above two concepts.
Thus, the concept of feminism, if understood at a broad level, is the rights of women in relation to the rights of men to achieve the so-called gender equality. At a narrow level, feminism is related to concepts such as gender, sex, and femininity in literature. If gender, sex, and femininity are tools to distinguish characteristics between the two sexes (male/female), the concept of feminism does not stop there, but its purpose is towards the equality of men/women and at the same time creates a separate system of standards for women. In addition, Feminism, in addition to its expressive meaning of feminism, is also a theory used to study literature, of an academic nature. Therefore, it can be understood that "feminism" is a policy, an approach to women in the direction of respecting, promoting, and considering women as the center of all reflections. Thereby, affirming the identity and unique values of women, emphasizing gender differences and promoting femininity.
- Concept of feminist consciousness in literature: Within the scope of the thesis, we propose the concept of "feminist consciousness" while studying the works of writers.
Female poetry from 1986 to present. Dialectical materialist philosophers have affirmed that: consciousness is the highest form of psychological reflection that only exists in humans, is the reflection in language of what humans have absorbed in the process of interacting with the objective world. Horizontally, consciousness includes factors such as knowledge, emotions, beliefs, reason, will..., in which knowledge is the basic, core factor; vertically, consciousness includes factors such as self-consciousness, subconsciousness, unconsciousness. Feminist consciousness therefore emphasizes viewpoints, thoughts, feelings, and moods, thereby affecting the perception, thinking, and emotions of the creative subject. It is something that is easily captured from deep within the unconscious, subconsciousness, and consciousness of the creator. Therefore, we can find it in beliefs, paintings, sculptures, music, in all tangible and intangible heritages... It is something that is nascent in the human consciousness, and it is preserved not only by awareness but also from the depths of the unconscious. Therefore, depending on each circumstance, it is expressed outwardly in different states. Therefore, proposing the concept of "feminist consciousness", we also want to emphasize the process of formation and development of the feminist movement in Vietnam. In fact, in Vietnam in particular, in Eastern countries in general, due to the specific development of society, up to now, there has not really been a feminist movement in the true sense of the word. All struggles have only stopped in the form of a social consciousness rather than an ideology. Feminist consciousness is therefore always a constant flow from traditional to modern literature. Along with it, in each certain literary period, feminist consciousness is expressed at different levels of intensity. For example, in folk literature, feminist consciousness only stopped at isolated, emotional expressions. It was not until literature after 1986 that feminism reappeared as one of the central inspirations of literature, with clear and strong expressions.
Based on the reference from the concepts, and at the same time originating from the creative practice of Vietnamese literature in general, of female poets in particular, we believe that feminist consciousness in literature is the voice of female writers expressing the need to express their concerns and thoughts about the reality of life as well as expressing their views on the position, role, and rights of their gender and
The desire to liberate one's own hidden mental inhibitions through a perspective that is strongly gendered, with the psychological characteristics of women in the face of reality. Thereby, promoting the physical and spiritual beauty of women, affirming the unique identity of women. Thus, the feminist consciousness in our implementation will include the consciousness of gender.
In creative activities and literary research and criticism, feminism is not only a political consciousness but also a consciousness of women from a cultural, historical, social, religious perspective... Besides, by establishing and defining concepts to characterize the feminist consciousness of women's literature, it can be seen that whether a work, a movement, or a literary period has feminist consciousness or not does not entirely depend on the existence or non-existence of the writer's feminist consciousness when creating the work, it also lies within the work itself and exists from the perspective of Feminist Literary Criticism as an approach in creative activities and literary research and criticism.
- Regarding the understanding of "Vietnamese women's poetry from 1986 to present": it can also be briefly called "contemporary women's poetry". This is a familiar concept to researchers of modern Vietnamese literature. Our way of calling aims to specify the time of the appearance of women's poetry "from 1986 to present" - that is, taking the year 1986 as a benchmark - the time when the country's comprehensive economic renovation took place until about the first two decades of the 21st century. With such a concept, considering the period of maturity, fame, and blossoming (from 1986 onwards) with works expressing different levels of feminist consciousness, the female authors within the scope of the thesis will belong to many different ages.
- The category "female poetry" is used to distinguish in terms of creative subjects, emphasizing female writers of poetry.
Chapter 1 Summary
In Chapter 1, we outline the research situation of the topic and initially explore the historical process of feminism and Western feminism as well as
The process of introducing this theory into the spiritual and cultural life of the Vietnamese people, especially its application in the study and criticism of national literature. This approach will become truly scientific and practical when the researcher is flexible in the way of implementation as well as referring to his research object from many other aspects to avoid biased, subjective views, or excessive criticism or praise. With the concept of feminist consciousness in literature as the voice of female writers expressing the need to express their concerns and thoughts about the reality of life and the desire to liberate their own hidden mental inhibitions through a view that is strongly gendered, with the psychological characteristics of women before reality, in the next part of the thesis, we will review feminist consciousness in Vietnamese women's poetry from traditional to modern (before 1986) as a continuous flow, of course in each historical period there will be different levels of intensity.
Chapter 2
FEMINIST CONSCIOUSNESS IN VIETNAMESE FEMALE POETRY BEFORE 1986
The history of Vietnamese literature has gone through more than ten centuries of formation and development with many names and many proud achievements in both content and artistic expression. In Chapter 2, we outline the most prominent features of the appearance and characteristics of Vietnamese women's poetry since the formation of written literature until before Doi Moi (1986) from the perspective of expressing feminist consciousness. It can be seen that feminist consciousness in this period exists in three forms: First, it is the voice of female consciousness, that is, the consciousness of female duty. In this form, feminist consciousness is often associated with a sighing voice leaning towards accepting what has been prescribed; the second form, the consciousness of femininity (gender), is the voice of consciousness about the beauty and value of one's own gender. In this form, feminist consciousness is associated with a tone of praise and display. The third form is feminist consciousness in its nuances, in some aspects there is a fighting spirit (criticizing masculinity, establishing values in the perception of women). In this form, the main tone has a critical, fighting and establishing tone. Due to the regulations of the era, of social institutions as well as the development of social consciousness, the content and expression of feminist consciousness in each period (even each author) are different. The thesis considers this as an important premise for female poets from 1986 to present to inherit and bring feminist consciousness to a new level.
2.1. FEMINIST CONSCIOUSNESS IN CLASSICAL WOMEN'S POETRY
Vietnamese society existed under the feudal regime for more than ten centuries. This was the period that marked the rise of Confucian ideology (especially from the 15th century onwards). Feudal dynasties considered Confucianism as the central ideology in building the state, governing society and consolidating the position of the ruling class. Therefore, it became common for women to be restricted from studying and not allowed to participate in politics. In the field of literature, this situation was revealed in the absence of women in the creative team. Women writing poetry and prose were phenomena that brought
special characteristics in literature. The life stories of the "wonderful women" who wrote poetry were either popularized or remained in doubt in the form of "literary suspicions". Their works left for posterity were not many, but examining the content and artistic value of medieval female poetry is a necessary operation to see their thoughts in the stream of patriarchal ideology. In this section, we will present two basic contents: (1) Awareness of beauty and (2) Awareness of women's right to life .
2.1.1. Awareness of women's beauty
Surveying the poetic works of Vietnamese women in the medieval period, we realize that it was not when women began to make their names in the history of national literature that their works reflected women's awareness of their own beauty. Before that, poetry and even prose by female authors of the Ly Dynasty appeared quite modestly with names such as: Ly Ngoc Kieu, Le Thi Y Lan, Nguyen Thi Bich Chau, Nguyen Thi Diem Bich... In general, the works of authors in this period bear the strong mark of functional literature. The feelings and thoughts about the beauty of women only appeared from the 15th century onwards in the works of Ngo Chi Lan and were successively confirmed through the names that left many impressions in the process of medieval female poetry such as Doan Thi Diem, Ho Xuan Huong, Le Ngoc Han, Nguyen Thi Hinh (Ba Huyen Thanh Quan)... The fact that women expressed their views on women in medieval literary works can be seen as "reverse currents" of a patriarchal society. The image of women from the 14th century to the first half of the 19th century is the embodiment of beauty. Associated with each period, women in literature were expressed differently by female poets, bearing the characteristics of each specific social situation. Of course, it is impossible to exclude the differences in each author due to the progress in the author's thinking as well as creative personality (to a certain extent).
First of all, we must mention the image of women in Ngo Chi Lan's poetry. This female scholar's works left for posterity are not many, partly because they were lost, partly because they were mixed with other people's poems. However, her poems are no longer functional or ceremonial like the works of some female writers of the previous period. Ngo Chi Lan's poems carry