This genre is divided into high fantasy and low fantasy. Low fantasy is the coexistence of the rational and the irrational; high fantasy includes the myth and fairy tale Metamorphosis ( Kafka) and the Bible . The researcher believes: "In fact, the forms that Marshall B. Tymm calls high fantasy only serve as the source and title for a qualitative change that leads to the birth of true fantasy in the modern era when the rise of the dominance of reason and scientific and technological advances allow people to stop believing in miracles, while writers create strange and magical stories only for their purely artistic purposes" [49, p.44].
Around the concept of fantasy of domestic scholars, the concept of fantasy is discussed a lot by foreign scholars, but most focused on the opinion of Todorov from the 1970s in his work Introduction to fantasy literature . According to him, fantasy is "an event that cannot be explained by the laws of this familiar world (...) the person who perceives the event must choose one of two solutions: either this is just an illusion of the senses, a product of imagination and the laws of the world remain the same; or the event has really happened, it is a part of the whole reality, but now that reality is governed by laws that we do not know... Fantasy occupies the time of that ambiguity: by the time we choose one of the two answers, we have left fantasy to enter a neighboring genre, the strange or the magical. That fantasy is the hesitation felt by a person who only knows the laws of nature, facing an external phenomenon of a supernatural nature” [95, p.34].
Todorov identifies the reader's hesitation as the first condition of the fantastic, then the reader's embodiment and identification with the hesitant character, and finally the existence of a reading that is not poetic or allegorical. As
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So, if fantasy literature or fantasy wants to achieve its true value, it must be maintained so as not to degenerate into everyday stories or myths, fables. That means that fantasy is in a certain tension and its position is not without precariousness, but Todorov accepts that. It can be seen that Todorov's opinion is quite narrow, mainly in modern literature, more precisely when the consciousness of fantasy has been shaped and people are forced to accept the rather arrogant requirements that fantasy places on its existence. Because fantasy will be lost if it is explained, which means that while it itself demands a self-determinism, it refuses even the most modest decision from the reader.
Whether expressed in one way or another, general or specific, the above definitions all come to a common point: the fantastic is a product of the imagination, does not exist in reality, so it is strange and unusual. Based on the above viewpoints, we would like to summarize our understanding of the fantastic: The fantastic is a product of the writer's soaring and magical imagination. It has its roots and foundation in reality but exists in the form of unreal elements with a fantastic, mysterious color, giving readers the feeling of a world different from reality, or close but not completely pure reality. The fantastic exists as a way of thinking, or an artistic technique that demonstrates the writer's talent and creativity in the process of reflecting and capturing reality. The fantastic is associated with human fear of inexplicable events in life: human desire to react against the restrictive order and negative aspects of society, human beliefs and dreams about life, and at the same time explain, interpret and express views on everyday issues.
Close to fantasy, we can see related concepts such as myth. Between fantasy and myth there is a close but not identical relationship.
The concept of myth has a broader connotation than fantasy. Myth is created on the basis of instrumental artistic elements, which are the fantastic and the imaginary. When reaching a broad, sparkling, and polysemous generalization, fantasy will also become myth. If myth is a specific type of artistic thinking, fantasy tends to be a technique and means of expression associated with many different types of thinking: mythical thinking, realistic thinking. Fantasy is used to explore reality in depth, in a broad generalization.
Another concept that is very close to the magical element is magical realism in literature. “Magic” is often translated as magical, which is a Latin adjective: magicus, later developed into the noun form magica; derived from the Greek word magike` (tekhne`) meaning the art of the sorcerer. It is a mysterious power that can make unreal things become real (often associated with negative connotations – black magic – evil magic). However, the word magical or magical realism is widely used in modern literature to refer to strange, magical things that happen in real life. That is the transformation of humans into bugs in Kafka’s Metamorphosis ; is the maze of life that Borges mentioned in a probability style in Parks with forking paths , is the people who eat dirt, lose sleep because of the sound of the stars moving, Marquez's spider man... The magical element plays a role in establishing a trend for the magical realism movement. The magical plays a role in defining reality (magic realism) and therefore determines the nature of reality. A reality that develops in a magical direction to a certain level becomes magical realism. The magical element must have a certain concentration to distinguish magical realism from other forms of realism in life and literature. The magical element in magical realism has contributed to renewing the concept of worldview, human
outlook on life. This is the inheritance and development from the conceptual model that was formed in the ancient period by retaining the structural framework and pushing the fantastic element to a new level of quality, thanks to which the reality that appears is no longer what it was but what it is, what it will be. In other words, it is a higher reality than the reality of life, illuminated by a new system of concepts. Literature is a form of social consciousness, and ideology cannot be separated from reality. The 20th century and the early years of the 21st century have provided an extraordinary reality that has deeply affected the minds and perceptions of humanity. At this stage, self-realization reveals all its fantastical capabilities, which are world wars more terrible than wars between gods, and disasters not sent by God but by humans who are destroying the world every day; That is the dilemma of thinking about the wave or particle nature of matter that humans must accept as a probability... These factors are drawn into the existing conceptual model by an irresistible force like the subsidence of the space-time grid that Einstein mentioned. The phenomenon runs around the model, merging with the ancient model; conversely, the model itself reflects its light onto each aspect of the phenomenon, opening up every minute the aspects of a new reality. This reality is extremely expressed in the Latin American region - where magical realism in literature is strongly developed. Thus, it can be seen that the magical element plays a particularly important role in magical realism. Identifying these concepts is the solid theoretical basis for us to identify the magical element in Ho Anh Thai's novels.
By studying the concept and nature of the magical, distinguishing the magical from related concepts, we want to create a solid theoretical basis to identify the magical in Ho Anh Thai's literature.
1.2. The premise of the appearance of the fantasy element in Ho Anh Thai's novel
1.2.1. Objective premise
1.2.1.1.Fantasy elements in world literature
As we have affirmed, the fantastic has a long history of development and has become a quite popular phenomenon in world literature. It creates a shimmering, enchanting flow from fairy tales, poems and prose pages that have become classics to literary works filled with legends and horror.
The fantasy in world literature is truly rich and attractive with the magical fairy tale series. It is a treasure trove of myths, legends, and fairy tales from ancient Greece and Rome, Christian and Islamic legends, and magical folk tales from Central Asian countries such as India and Arabia ( One Thousand and One Nights , Grimm's Fairy Tales , Norwegian Fairy Tales ).
Surveying the development of world literature, we see that the magical appears quite strongly in Chinese novels, legends, and oddities, the peak of which is Tien Deng Tan Thoai (Cu Huu) and Liao Zhai Zhi Yi (Pu Song Ling). In addition, there are also poetic stories and prose pages that have become classics, in which there are traces of magical motifs such as Divine Comedy (A.Dante), Faust (Goeth). In these works, another world appears, where the sweetness, beauty, and ideals of fairy tales become rare, the world of hell, demons, and souls reigns in the pages. The magical here is in opposition, or more correctly, a reaction to rational society. The modern fantasy genre officially emerged around the end of the 18th century, the beginning of the 19th century in the West, with outstanding representatives such as Hoffman, Edgar Poe... associated with the stormy development of modern society in the period of newly mature capitalism and the crisis of rationalism in social life. The fantasy has its basis in psychological crisis, fear.
before the waves of the technocracy that can lead to the alienation, objectification, and mechanization of human beings.
Beginning with the ghost stories of German writer ETWH Hoffmann ( The Devil's Wine , The Evenings of the Serapion Brothers ) and reaching its peak with Edgar Allan Poe - the father of horror stories. Stories: The Black Cat , Words of the Heart ... are a terrifying obsession for readers about a world full of ghosts, mysteries, and hidden things that humans cannot explain. The fantasy here expresses the fear and helplessness of humans before the unknowable.
In addition to the works classified as fantasy, we also encounter the magical, legendary colors in the works of Honore De Balzac - the master of realism with The Donkey Skin ... The donkey skin can be held, grasped, compressed like an object but has magical properties. The donkey skin represents the struggle of human beings between desire and humanity, between evil and good, base and noble; it is life that will not compromise with anyone. The core of realism is even more clearly shown in the magical effects of the donkey skin. All the wishes such as being rich, attending the king's party, being loved by Pauline all come from and can be explained by reality. Raphael is rich thanks to the inheritance of his relative in India, he is able to attend the party that the banker wants to celebrate... and Pailine's love for him has been for him for a long time. If we remove the donkey skin sound, it seems that the above events will sooner or later happen to Rafael, the magical element is de-mystified and used as a catalyst to promote life's reactions. Obviously, with realism, Balzac always consciously applies the formula: "principle - cause - effect" strictly - that is the goal of the "modern secretary". Besides, the magical element also appears in Kafka's works with the absurd literature. Deformation , The Castle , The Trial are works that contain
Legendary elements. Gregosamsa woke up one night to find himself transformed into a beetle, and Jojep K was one day given an invisible sentence without knowing why. In Kafka's work, space and time are very vague and abstract, creating shimmering, illusory outlines for the story. In a technocratic society, when "the death of God" is replaced by "the death of man", the appearance of legends and fantasies expresses people's anxiety, fear and skepticism towards reality.
Thus, the magical element has appeared very early in world literature, the nature of the magical is unified in the historical process. In this system, there exist constant and variable elements, all unified in a common model and attributed, passed down through many generations and literary periods. This has had a significant influence on the appearance of the magical element in Vietnamese literature.
1.2.1.2. The magical element in the process of Vietnamese literature
If compared with some other literatures, the fantasy in Vietnamese literature is not as developed. However, it also has a history of development following the flow of national literature. Ho Anh Thai in the preface: "Magical realism has existed since ancient times " introducing the book: " Vietnamese fantasy short stories " affirmed: "Magical realism is a deeper, more multi-dimensional, more thrilling view of reality. And magical realism is also something that is available in the house, since the time of the ancestors of the Vietnamese people" [73, p.10]. In the above statement, Ho Anh Thai wants to affirm the potential fantasy in folk literature. This is the birthplace and nurturing of the fantasy. And it is also in this genre of folklore language that the fantasy is expressed in a natural, healthy, and lovely way in the simple, rustic thinking of the working people. Right from mythology - a genre of literature that is not yet conscious, folk authors have used the fantasy element. The story of the God of Heaven , the story of the sun and the moon... is a deification.
The power of man and nature. Mythology is the world of gods with mysterious supernatural powers. Marx said very correctly that: with mythology, people have borrowed imagination to explain the natural world, conquer and dominate nature.
The legendary period marked the development of Vietnamese thinking. People were able to explain natural phenomena. The magical is no longer suitable for the function of explaining things that people previously considered mysterious. With the birth of heroic legends, the magical becomes a powerful tool to glorify characters. The magical has created a magical color for the birth as well as the magical power of the character and immortalized the character through manifestation and retribution. Legends about Saint Giong, Hai Ba Trung, Mi Chau Trong Thuy... are works sparkling with magical colors.
But perhaps it is only in fairy tales, especially in the magical fairy tale genre, that the magical in folk literature has developed so completely. The reality in fairy tales is the harsh, painful reality of real life, the characters of fairy tales are mainly poor, hard-working people, but in fairy tales there is no trace of pessimism or discouragement, but the finale of fairy tales is always sweet and happy. How does that magic come about? Thanks to the magical, people have entrusted their dreams and aspirations for a fair society, building castles on the ground. Tam became a queen ( Tam Cam ), her younger sister became rich ( The Starfruit Tree )... thanks to the power of magical forces. With fairy tales, the magical becomes the savior of the working people to resolve their dreams and aspirations. The magical in folk literature most clearly expresses the innocent, naive way of thinking of the working people. They use the fantastic unconsciously as a spice to their work.
Legendary stories and strange stories in medieval literature are a worthy continuation of the fantasy of folk literature that the working people have contributed to.