The image of tyranny, corruption, and negativity in society is increasingly painful. That reality has violently shaken the thoughts and beliefs of all classes of people. Nguyen Khai commented: “War is noisy and turbulent, but it also has its own simple tranquility. Peace is quiet and peaceful, but it also contains hidden waves and whirlwinds within. Many people do not die in prisons or on the battlefield during the war, but die in the bourgeois prison pond when the whole country has won freedom and independence” [91].
Literature continued to roll with the inertia of the war machine, the main inspiration and theme was still war, the space was the battle, the characters were the soldiers... Therefore, it made literature distant from life, out of touch with the lives of the people in their daily livelihoods. Therefore, readers became increasingly indifferent and turned their backs on literature. Literature stagnated, many writers fell into a state of confusion, wandering around looking for a way out for their creative direction. Until the end of the 70s, literature began to move to a new realm, the land of real life. Facing reality, it required writers to change their views on the world, on humanity and on the standards of life. If in war, everything was perceived in terms of black and white, good and bad, everyone also judged according to the standards of the whole people, but life in peacetime was not that simple, but mixed with black and white.
- white, good - bad, noble - mean. Nguyen Khai wrote: "I like today, this messy and chaotic today, darkness and light, red and black, full of changes and surprises, it is truly a fertile land for writers to freely exploit" [91, 74].
In the early 1980s, when knowledge was broadened, literature was democratized, many topics were exploited with new signs. Now, when the war has receded, writers have become people who dig deep into the reality of the war to present and discover its many aspects, the things that have not been revealed yet.
timely discovery in the context of war. Writers put themselves in the role of analysts and assessors of the acute issues arising in the reality of war, directly related to the fate of each individual and the whole society. Therefore, many issues were dissected, including heroism - cowardice, joy - sadness, nobility - baseness, victory - defeat... In particular, prose in this period continued to turn over the real aspects of life in both the past and present. A voice that positions readers to perceive and evaluate the phenomena of life as well as have a more complete, objective and complete view of the past. Due to the characteristics of the genre, prose does not avoid but bravely and frankly looks at reality from many angles. It makes readers ponder the things hidden behind events and circumstances; it urges innovation; it is complicit in breaking barriers, for human life and the destiny of the nation.
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It was not until the 6th Party Congress (1986) that a democratic atmosphere and open thinking were brought about in all areas of politics, economics, culture and society. Private economy and multi-sector economy were established, trade was liberalized and international integration was achieved. Therefore, literature and art had the conditions to transform themselves with the spirit of looking straight at the truth, evaluating the truth correctly, and telling the truth . Although still preserving the quintessence of tradition, on the other hand, literature still transformed itself, struggling to experiment to meet the new requirements of a post-war society and to assert itself in the trend of integration with world literature.
2.1 2. Development of prose
For the Vietnamese people, 1975 marked a turning point in the country's history, moving from wartime to peacetime, from life of war to life with normal rules. However, literature basically continued to develop according to the rules with inspirations.
the main theme of wartime. Until the late 70s, realizing the lag behind social reality, literature gradually changed its appearance. Writers realized that life in peace turned out to be much more complicated than during war. People returned to normal life, facing the worries and difficulties of economic life, the relationship between individuals and groups, common and private interests. Therefore, everything needed a change to have a new perspective, a new way of thinking in writing to meet the requirements set by reality.
Vietnamese prose in the post-war period (after 1975) "contemplated life, writers realized that peaceful life is even more complicated than wartime, in war, all social and human relationships revolve around two words: life and death . All ordinary, private relationships are pushed back, even eliminated to move towards the sole purpose of fighting and winning" [215]. If in war everyone is one, putting aside the individual for the common goal, then peace is completely different. People return to ordinary life, facing personal and family needs, difficulties in economic life, requiring them to calculate the interests between the individual and the collective, between the common and the individual. All of these things force writers to ponder, contemplate and change direction in their works.
In those conditions, prose in the early 80s went through struggles for a transformation. The movement was due to the internal requirements of literature itself and also responded to the development of artistic thinking at a new level. The change in literature in this period was first of all in the creative tendency, the concept of reality and people, the method of approaching and describing objective reality. However, the epic tendency continued to be chosen in the works of many writers, especially in the team that matured during the resistance war. Writer Huu Mai aimed to create
The time lag also allows writers to delve into the negative aspects and hidden corners of war, such as Nguyen Trong Oanh's White Land . It is the sacrifices and losses, as well as the mistakes, cowardice, and betrayal of a number of cadres and soldiers. People who, in the period of illustrative literature , were only described as brave, good, and extraordinary.
Due to the changing social context, the epic tendency tends to narrow down, giving way to the development of the trend of world affairs and private life. In the chaos of reality, issues that many writers are interested in arise, such as: social ethics, negativity in production management, re-awareness of some issues in the past... With Two people returning to the regiment , Thai Ba Loi is the one who initiated the complex struggle against the erosion of human ethics. Duong Thu Huong's Flowers of the Poor raises the issue of ethics and human destiny in a consumer society. After years of continuous war, people seem to have to struggle to face a series of overlapping difficulties, so the basic needs of food and clothing have not developed or cannot be balanced. Therefore, "those difficulties in life easily suggest a one-sided need. Modern pragmatism and consumer culture have become objects of special attraction” [118, 88]. In addition, the need for personal happiness of people is also expressed and revealed urgently in Duong Thu Huong's works. In this feminine writer, the boundaries of sadness - joy, gain - loss, and the desire for happiness of people in life are endless. Besides, some stories by Nguyen Minh Chau and Vu Tu Nam often take place on the journey of self-awareness, self-judgment of the individual's conscience revolving around the two-way time axis of the past and present. Meanwhile, the works of Ma Van Khang approach the issue of morality from the family window...
What has stirred up public opinion the most is the tendency to re-perceive some issues of the war period. Re-perception does not mean reviewing or shooting at the past, but thanks to experience, people remove mistakes from subjectivity to reach the truth. Those works have raised the issue of re-perceiving the relationship between individuals and society, between people and circumstances, but more importantly, people re-perceive themselves. Writing in this trend, writers need to have a clear, lucid view and a sincere heart. Therefore, on this new path, the authors have brought readers interesting interpretations, capable of purifying people's souls. With the bureaucratic mechanism, society began to show its stagnation, weakness and somewhat deadlock, the pressing problems of economic and social life during the crisis period were also a hot reality in literary life. When the novels Standing before the sea (1982) and Cu lao Tram (1985) by Nguyen Manh Tuan appeared, they caused a stir in the literary world, drawing readers closer to literature and causing different reactions among readers.
In the early 80s, writers paid much attention to the individual, private life, individual capacity and individual nature of each person. Because in the individual things of each individual is a whole world of joys, angers, loves and hates , personal tragedies that do not repeat. Therefore, we are not surprised when writers with works that go back in time write about the private life of each individual such as Silent Childhood by Duy Khan, Living with Two-Way Time by Vu Tu Nam, Woman on the Express Train by Nguyen Minh Chau, Time of People, End of Year Meeting, A Tiny Whistle of Humanity by Nguyen Khai, Far Away Time by Le Luu. With the main character Giang Minh Sai, in the war, he was as successful as he was in love and life. Through the character of farmer Giang Minh Sai, Le Luu pushed the fate of love to all the most difficult and difficult situations of life today. Besides the glory for the collective, the stream
They, people need to have private corners, that is personality and personal happiness. A Le Luu seems simple and honest on the outside, but through the major surgery in The Distant Time, we see another Le Luu who is too sharp with life, too bitter with his own child .
Thus, the prose life in the period 1975 - 1985, especially from the first half of the 80s, had a renewal in the perception of reality in a more profound direction. It was also the inspiration of world affairs to point out many aspects of reality (the bright side and the dark side), the aspiration for democracy and humanity, and to focus on the individual. The changes in the reflected content led to a renewal in the form of expression. In the initiation of the renewal of prose in this period, there was an impact and influence from the field of translated literature. In addition to the literature of countries in the socialist system, the translation and introduction of contemporary European and American literature took place vigorously, especially in the early 80s. Some literary works that were once banned, such as Akhmatova's poetry and Pasternak's novels, were also widely distributed; making the field of translated literature have a significant impact on the process of literary renewal in Vietnam.
By the 1986 Party Congress, the atmosphere of innovation and democracy in social life and literature was increasingly open. The freedom of creation, the survival condition for creating true values in culture and literature of artists, was respected and promoted more than before. The reality of life was also increasingly messy and complicated, especially in the market mechanism, in the context of exchange and integration with the world. All of these things had a strong impact on writers, forcing them to renew their perspective, feelings, and concepts about people and the world, and renew their methods of expression. In their works, authors focused on expressing their private world, the issue of self-awareness and the tragedy of the individual. These were Bao Ninh's Sorrow of War , Nguyen Minh Chau's Giat Market ,
The Falling Leaves in the Garden by Ma Van Khang, Stepping Through the Curse by Ta Duy Anh, The Land of Many People and Many Ghosts by Nguyen Khac Truong, The Wharf Without a Husband by Duong Huong...
However, in many aspects of genre poetics, it can be seen that post-war Vietnamese prose (1975-1985) has changed a lot compared to the previous period, but the innovation of writing style has not yet become a widespread movement. Besides Nguyen Minh Chau, Ma Van Khang, Duong Thu Huong, Le Luu, Nguyen Manh Tuan, who were the pioneer writers in the pre-renovation period, there have not been many young writers with innovative tendencies. However, with this initiative, in general, it has met the requirements of reality, the public's taste and contributed to paving the way for strong and profound literary innovation since 1986.
2.1.3. The development process of short stories in the period 1975 - 1985
Since 1975, literature has continued to be on the momentum of the anti-American period, while still struggling to transform itself, searching for a path of innovation, suitable for the requirements of a post-war society with many difficulties and complexities. The works published in the early stages have had some changes in content, but the tone and method of expression are still slow to change. Literature is still sliding along with the inertia (Nguyen Ngoc) of the previous stage. Most of the works written on the theme of war are Burning Land, Fire from the Houses by Nguyen Minh Chau, In the Whirlwind by Khuat Quang Thuy, The Sea Calls by Ho Phuong, White Land by Nguyen Trong Oanh, Eastern Land by Nam Ha, Plain Sunshine by Chu Lai... However, a part of literature has quietly made changes closer to real life, most clearly in the genre of short stories. With a compact capacity, short stories are closely linked to journalism, appearing promptly before the changes of post-war life. Genre suitable for quick writers
approaching the turbulent life and expressing opinions on new issues facing society. The works may return to past themes, but are a way to approach and reflect on today's issues. The world of characters in short stories is mostly soldiers but is of everyday life. There, people are reflected from many dimensions, many angles, characters are placed in many relationships, especially the relationship with themselves. Literature exploits the inner world of people and uncovers many meaningful issues such as: self-awakening of personal consciousness, private desires, human needs and instincts. People live with memories, pondering over the past, contemplating from life experience and struggling with themselves from the categories: beauty - ugliness, good - evil, nobility.
- the lowly,... Therefore, literature has partly expressed the awareness of the existence of each individual in relation to society, to nature, to family and to oneself. Because each person is a separate world that does not repeat itself and because "Humans are humans, just humans. You too, me too. But the interesting thing is there" (Nguyen Dang Manh).
Since the late 1970s, short stories have developed strongly in both quantity and quality. Contributing to these successes, we must mention a team of experienced authors, considered to have matured during the war such as: Nguyen Minh Chau, Nguyen Kien, Ma Van Khang, Nguyen Khai, Do Chu, To Hoai, ... These writers have left a strong mark in resistance literature, but after 1975 they had innovations in their writing. When switching to writing about human issues in life, this generation of writers seemed to be "rejuvenated, their senses seemed to be young again and their way of perceiving life became more flexible and subtle" [194, 250]. Their pens were also more flexible than before, in which the notable phenomenon was Nguyen Minh Chau. He was considered the pioneer with two short story collections, The Woman