The Narrator Is The Participant And Witness Of The Events

Chapter 3

SOME ARTISTIC FEATURES IN LA QUAN MIEN'S STORIES AND MEMOIR

3.1. Genre crossover between stories and memoirs

In theory, each literary genre has its own basic characteristics. The basic characteristic of a story is to reflect reality through events and incidents; the plot and characters are often fictional and imaginative; the narrator of the story is often flexible, combining multiple narrative perspectives. The outstanding characteristic of memoirs is to respect real people and real events. Because of respect for objective truth, artistic fiction in memoirs is often very limited. In memoirs, the presence of the narrator, "I" in the first person (usually the author), plays the role of a witness and participant to enhance the authenticity of the description and verification of the truth, while expressing emotions, feelings, thoughts, and public comments. That makes readers always have the belief that they are being exposed to the truth of life because the author himself is the witness, collected, selected, organized, rearranged, and directly presented to them.

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But in actual writing, writers do not always clearly distinguish between genres. Studying La Quan Mien’s stories and memoirs, we see a phenomenon of “interference” between the two genres, clearly shown in aspects such as: Artistic materials are rich in authenticity; the narrator is a participant, witness to the details and events.

3.1.1. Authentic artistic materials

* Real places

In the stories and memoirs of La Quan Mien, there is a system of words indicating real place names of Western Nghe An: names of villages, forests, mountains, rivers, caves, schools, etc. Surveying the stories and memoirs of La Quan Mien, we see that the author has included in his works many villages evoking strange, distant lands.

of Nghe An such as: Chieng Yen village, Don village, Chong village... (collection of stories and memoirs Hai nguoi tro ve ban ), Khun Tinh village, Long village, Xen village, Chieng-ngam village, Le village, Pha village, Bua village.... (collection of stories and memoirs The land of the Ko Ma flowers ), Don village, Diem village, Diem village, Nhanh village, Bay village, Ban Banh, Ang village, Pa Met village, Han Ton Lanh village, etc. (short story series Childhood Village ). In which Khun Tinh village - the writer's hometown is a region rich in cultural and historical traditions. The village "takes the name of a chief in a Thai folk tale, who has the merit of reclaiming and governing this land" [44, p.108]. The villages: Ang village, Ban Banh, Bay village, Ca village, Don village, Chieng Yen village, Diem village, Le village, Pa Met village... are all in Chau Quang commune (Quy Hop). Among them, some villages have names associated with the stories and legends of the Lam Son uprising: Ang village, Le village, Chieng Yen village, Nhanh village, Diem village. For example, Ang village means Cai Ang village, "according to legend, in the past, the villagers had to use a big pot to soak sticky rice to feed the Lam Son army to attack Pu Che fort, so the village was named like that" [44, p.16]; Mong village (Mong village) means Trong village because "according to legend, in the past, the villagers stood guard over the Lam Son army to attack the Ming fort on Pu Che mountain" [44, p.41]; Chieng Yen village means Binh Yen village, "the village was established after the Lam Son army attacked the Ming army's fort on Pu Che mountain" [44, p.25]. etc. There are also village names based on the process of settlement and migration... of the community and ethnic groups: Banh village is "San Se Ra village, separated by people from the nearby Co Huong village" [44, p.16].

The rivers, fields, mountains, caves of Nghe An: Nam Huong river, Pu Che mountain, Nong Chet Chai, Tham Bua cave (the story collection and memoir The land of the Ko Ma flowers ), Pha Nhang mountain, Pha Hung mountain range (the story collection and memoir Red Sky ), Ta Huong forest, Pa Dong forest, Pha Chon mountain, Pha Luom, Pu Mang Khung mountain, Kang Ket beach, Nong O lagoon, Nong Hanh lagoon, Vang Phai lagoon, Nong Danh lagoon (the story Small Childhood Village )... also speak for themselves the familiar characteristics of the Thai people of Nghe An, they often call the place names

according to natural characteristics. For example, Pha Chon ( Pha means rocky ledge, Chon is the name of the rocky ledge), Nong O ( Nong means pond, Ò is the name of the pond), etc. The Nam Huong River originates from Pu Huong Mountain, flows through Khun Tinh Muong, flows into Con River, then flows into Lam River, described by the writer in the story Ban Nho Tuoi Tho : “The Nam Huong River is not very big. None of us children dared to swim across it, (…). In winter and spring, the water is clear, you can see the pebbles at the bottom (…). In flood season, the water is muddy (…). In dry season, adults can wade across the Nam Huong River” [36, p.7]; “The Nam Huong River in this section is wide, with flat sand and gravel banks on both sides. The water is clear, shimmering in the sunlight” [36, p.20]. The dense Ta Huong forest, the mysterious Pa Dong forest, Kang Ket beach, Ta Huong beach, Nong Co Dua pond, Nong O lagoon, Nong Hanh lagoon... are all in Chieng Don village, places that bear the writer's memories of a time herding buffalo, bathing in the river, catching fish, and trapping birds.

Besides, Muong Long Primary and Secondary Boarding School (signed Muong Long Bright Border ), Huoi Tu Primary and Secondary School, Na Ngoi Primary and Secondary School (signed The Land of Ma Flag Flowers ), Nam Can Primary School (signed A Trip Up to Ky Son ), Chieng To Primary and Secondary School (story The Past School Year ) are all real school names in Nghe An. In which, Muong Long Primary and Secondary Boarding School, Huoi Tu Primary and Secondary School, Na Ngoi Primary and Secondary School, Nam Can Primary School belong to Ky Son district; Chieng To Primary and Secondary School belongs to Quy Hop district.

By bringing real places familiar to the ethnic minorities of Nghe An into his work, La Quan Mien highlights the natural, historical, cultural and social characteristics of his homeland; at the same time, it gives readers a sense of closeness to the natural scenery, life and people here. This shows that the writer consciously chose authentic artistic materials to highlight the theme and ideas of the work.

* Character close to prototype

According to the book " Literary Theory ", a character is "a person described and expressed in a work by literary means", is "a means to conceptualize".

"generalizing reality, generalizing human personalities and destinies and concepts about them" [62, p.277]. Characters are the soul of the work, the spiritual offspring of the writer. Through the world of images in the work, the writer expresses his feelings about life, sending his thoughts, feelings, and confidences to the characters.

La Quan Mien often writes about relatives, the facts that happen in the village, in the hamlet. Writing about the people of his hometown, the writer has a simple and authentic view of them: there are bad, there are good; there are their own habits; there is happiness and suffering. The characters in La Quan Mien's stories such as: Coong (Coong ) , Xao-noi ( The death of Xao Noi ), old Khi-lac ( The old wild boar thief ), Hu-nuoc, Xao-lac ( The man with the red stone ), Mr. Chai-toc ( The story in Mr. Chai-toc's house ) , Ms. Xong-phua ( The story of Ms. Xong-phua ), Lau Ba Po ( Red sky ), Uncle Hien, Uncle Xang, my father, my mother, Pon, Boi, Du, Huong, older sister, maternal grandparents ( The small village of childhood ). etc. all originate from the original. They are relatives in the family, friends, neighbors around and close to the writer.

The character “my mother” in Childhood Village is based on the author’s mother (her name is Hun Thi Hay). She is a small, quiet Thai woman who loves her children very much, working hard day and night to take care of the fields and family. She knows many epic poems, poems, proverbs, folk songs and Thai folk melodies. From the mother in her life, the author successfully created the mother character in the work. The mother is a character that creates a beautiful impression in the story collection Childhood Village .

The character Du in The Little Childhood is also based on the author's childhood friend. Du is the nephew of teacher Vinh, a cadre during the French resistance, a good student, gentle, kind and stuttering. The author used his friend's name as the character's name in the work.

The character Coong in the story Coong is also a real-life guy. He is a wanderer from another place who came to Don village to work for a living.

live. His life also encountered many misfortunes: orphan, no relatives, no home. Despite poverty and misfortune, Coong was a gentle, hard-working, simple, enthusiastic and responsible person for the work of the village. That is why he won the affection of a girl in the village. Later, when Coong died, that girl took care of his burial. Many details in the work are very close to the truth about Coong's life.

The character Khi-lac, a poor old man who often steals in the village, is also the prototype of the image of Khi-lac in the story The Wild Boar Thief .

La Quan Mien said that the character Con May in the work Nam hoc da qua has the image of a young man. A newly graduated teacher full of enthusiasm, responsibility, frankness, and straightforwardness. His thoughts and concerns about students not having textbooks or reading literary works before coming to class helped him come up with the idea of setting up a study bookshelf. In difficult conditions, teacher La Quan Mien still organized training for students with literary talent, tutored weak students, and went to each village to encourage students to go to class. In meetings to summarize experiences, he frankly gave his opinions to his colleagues, etc.

La Quan Mien uses real people in life with different qualities, personalities, and fates as materials to create artistic images in his works. Therefore, the intellectual, farmer, and child characters in his stories are not unfamiliar. They are mountain people with good and bad sides, good and bad. Those characters are described by the writer in a realistic, natural, and less fictional way. By building characters close to real-life prototypes, La Quan Mien helps readers understand specifically and realistically the life and people of his hometown in the mountains.

3.1.2. The narrator is the person who participates in and witnesses the events and details.

According to the Dictionary of Literary Terms , a narrator “is a real or fictional character whose narrative text is created by his or her linguistic behavior.”

"success" [16, p.221]. In general, the narrator performs the task of narrating, conveying, instructing, commenting... on the issues described or told in the work.

According to our survey and statistics, in 77 stories and memoirs (3 collections of stories and memoirs, 2 collections of novellas, 2 short stories, 3 memoirs printed in newspapers and magazines) by writer La Quan Mien, there are 46 stories and memoirs narrated in the first person.

In La Quan Mien's stories and memoirs, the narrator is often the first-person "I" and is the author himself. The author plays the role of a witness, participating in the event and directly recounting what he sees and hears or writing about what he has experienced.

In some articles: Cry for help in the deep forest , Escaped from the tiger's claws twice , Once across the flooded stream , My friend Lan-uc-u , etc., in the first-person narrative role, La Quan Mien recounted his own childhood memories. It was the close, pure, and innocent friendship of mountain children playing together and helping each other in studying and living. Once across the flooded stream recounts the brave act of the boy La Quan saving his friend from being swept away by the flood. My friend Lan-uc-u recounts the happy and sad memories of his school days. He was happy because during the fierce war days, the author and his close friend Lan-uc-u studied together and played together. But the war took Lan-uc-u's life, causing the narrator to feel sadness and regret: "I did not go to my friend's funeral, or rather, I did not understand it. Until now, I still regret it." Lan! I love you so much! I miss you so much” [33, p.71] . This is a touching story of the writer about his friendship during the war.

Having been a teacher and working in many highland schools, La Quan Mien witnessed the teaching and learning movement as well as the lives of people here. That was reflected by the author in the articles: "A trip back to Ky Son" , "Muong Long - a bright spot in the border" , "The land of Co Ma flowers" . In those articles,

On that trip, the author “trudged and climbed to the schools on the steep mountainside, covered in fog all year round, and met and interacted with students and teachers” ( The Land of the Ma Flag Flower ) [33, p.48]; witnessed the scene of “the winding road up the steep mountain, with old forests on both sides…the road was endlessly covered in fog”, “ the teachers here had to collect water all day and night to use”, “lunch had dried fish. There were no vegetables, after eating and drinking, we lay down on bamboo beds…no one had a radio”, “On the way back, we also stopped by several classrooms in the Khmu hamlet of Truong Son. A very young teacher taught here. She lived in a simple thatched house, with bamboo beds, bamboo tables, and collected firewood to cook, half of the house was divided into a classroom…” ( A trip back to Ky Son ) [34, p.89]. La Quan Mien was truly moved to know that “in the remote H'mong, Khmu, and Thai villages, there are combined classes, primary schools, and in the town center, there are secondary schools. Ky Son district has high schools and remote teacher training schools”, “the imprints of the jungle fever still remain on the faces and skin of our colleagues, but under that beloved school roof, every day the children's voices still chirp; the sound of lectures resonates, every night the teachers still diligently work on lesson plans by the oil lamp”, “in the afternoon and at night, the homeroom teachers directly manage learning, work, cultural activities, sports, or participate in other social activities” ( The land of the Flag Flower ) [33, p.49] . From that reality, the author commented and evaluated that the teaching and learning movement in Ky Son district “has reaped commendable and encouraging results. Among the 19 students who participated in the provincial excellent student competition, 3 won prizes (…). In the recent provincial excellent teacher competition, two primary school teachers also won prizes (…). These modest achievements, placed in the extremely difficult conditions of a mountainous border district like Ky Son, can fully appreciate their significance” ( Land of the Flag Flower ) [33, p.50] . The author also directly witnessed a “bright spot” in the border area of Ky Son district, Muong Long Primary and Secondary School. The school has established and directed boarding work. The boarding board organizes the sale of medicine, paper, pens, and has a study plan.

practice, living, working, performing arts... for boarding students. Homeroom teachers regularly visit the boarding area to check on the students' situation, take care of students when they are sick, help them study, do homework while the students sit and study, do homework attentively... Thus, as a witness, the author truthfully recounts the difficulties and shortages in the material and spiritual life of teachers and the facilities, the learning situation in the highlands of Nghe An. With an objective view, the writer praises the achievements and makes recommendations and proposals to maintain and develop the boarding school model in the remote border areas of Nghe An.

The role of witnessing and participating in events is also shown in the articles: The Unlucky Hedgehog, The Red Dragonfly, Starting from the Rose Tree . Through that, the author sends readers a gentle, profound moral lesson on how to behave with the surrounding nature. Life becomes more joyful and useful starting from small but meaningful actions and deeds: “From then on, my child never complained that this place was boring anymore. He had a beautiful, poetic natural world around him. That world started from the rose tree. And the rose tree was created by our hands and love of beauty” [32, p.86].

The use of first-person narrative contributes to increasing the authenticity of people and events in La Quan Mien's memoir and facilitates the expression of the writer's emotions and thoughts.

Through the survey, we found that in some stories of La Quan Mien ( The Monkey Seller, The Sorcerer's Departure and the Ancient Books, Meeting with Mrs. Nha Pom, The Little Village of Childhood, The Hunter's Luck ... ) there is also the appearance of the narrator "I" in the first person and is the author.

In the story The Monkey Seller , the narrator is a witness who went to the market with his father when he was young (the author). With this narrative method, La Quan Mien recounted everything he saw and heard, from the atmosphere of the market, the sound of the monkey scratching in the cage to the sound of selling,

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