The value and position of "Song Mor" in Nam Cao's writing career

Author Ha Minh Duc in the article Nam Cao criticizes and self-criticizes , has a comment about the content and ideology: "In Nam Cao's short stories and novels, the poor intellectual characters who often have a sense of self-criticism are the shadow of the author himself. Dien in Giang Sang , Ho in Doi Thua , Thu in Song Mon are all characters with the same personality type and mood. In essence, they are good people, rich in dreams, wanting to contribute and become useful people to life. They value knowledge, want to use knowledge to improve life. But ironically, they are victims of circumstances" [16; 204-205].

Author Tran Dang Suyen in the article Time and space in Nam Cao's art world has an analysis and study on the artistic aspect, focusing on space and time. The author concludes: "The daily time to find food has occupied almost all of Thu's creative moments in Song mon . The space in Nam Cao's works is an introverted space, a narrow space, a space created in the character's vision" [42; 230].

Thus, although it is only interwoven into the analysis and study of the artistic world of Nam Cao's works in general, the authors have shown the basic characteristics of the novel Song mon . Accordingly, Song mon is a work that mentions hunger and food (Nguyen Dang Manh), is a voice that has the appearance of the voice of the person in the story. Song mon has drawn a space with a clear introversion, time is mixed with boring, dull work. Nam Cao's attitude in his works, including Song mon , is quite clear, not ambiguous, not hesitant. Nam Cao is a writer who is always honest with himself, a strict writer, the main characters in his works about intellectuals are mostly models of Nam Cao, the embodiment of an aspect, a quality, a personality of Nam Cao. Therefore, most of

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Most of the research authors highly appreciate the moral ideology of the intellectual Nam Cao. This is one of the important reasons why the reading public in any historical period since 1945 has loved Nam Cao's writings. Of course, to conquer readers with "discerning eyes", in addition to the ideological factor, the writer must also know how to transform that ideology into the work in an artistic way. The artistic techniques and measures that the writer uses must be truly consistent with the ideology, bringing high aesthetic effect. When researching Nam Cao, the authors also highly appreciated the writer in terms of using artistic measures, especially the writing style, the way the work is structured, the creation of space, time, etc.

2.2. Do Duc Hieu, in the article Two living spaces in "Sống nhớ", commented: "Thus, the dynamism of Sống nhớ is the conflict between the social space ("countryside corner" and the dirty suburbs of Hanoi) and the spiritual space, the dream, the space of reminiscence, the space of aspiration; The one who goes to Saigon, nurtures the dream of going to France, to Marxism-Leninism. The one who studies hard, always reads books, reads to broaden his horizons to the world space to look deep into the human soul. The one who "will go anywhere" "will leave" "will go recklessly"; but currently he is on the ship that takes him back to the "xo ro village" and "Hanoi will retreat, gradually retreat", Hanoi "still retreats". "To live means to have changed..." [42; 178]. In particular, when discussing the art of the autobiographical novel in Sống nhớ , Do Duc Hieu emphasized: "This autobiographical novel reminds readers of Rousseau, the first French writer to write autobiography in Confession , reminiscent of Gide, a versatile writer with a profound influence on Vietnamese prose from 1930 to 1945: "Xe dich", "buoc bach bach", "cai dep", "song la toc", and in Song mot , the breaking of the trivial, the cliche, the closed, the imprisoned in each person; in one aspect, Gide's work is the literature of intellectuals searching for themselves on the endless path. Song mot causes

"It disturbs and causes unrest in the human mind, it opens up the free and genuine life of the intellectual" [42; 181].

In the article "Sống nhớ" (The Unique Narrative Writing Style) , Nguyen Ngoc Thien has a fairly complete and focused view of Sống nhớ from the theme, plot and some artistic techniques (storytelling style, narrator, narrative point of view, psychological movements, etc.). The author affirms: "The uniqueness of the writing style in Sống nhớ is not self-deprecation, artificial contortion, hyperbole, and hypocrisy, but rather contains an inner pain, a deep reproach, a torment because of the belief that humanity and conscience are not something strange, that must be forced to be accepted .

Reading Nam Cao, one often feels startled: the author rarely mentions major events, but instead delves into the microcosm of inner life, the small things in family life, the very trivial, everyday things. But the judgment is strict in those small things, from which one can draw profound moral and ethical lessons. Nam Cao's literary pages clearly show the image of the path, of the stressful, struggling, and thoughtful search process of an honest person toward truth, justice, the sublime, and goodness, with a spirit of benevolence and generosity."[42; 184].

In general, many researchers have highly appreciated the contributions of Nam Cao in general and Song mon in particular to Vietnamese literature in the period 1930 - 1945 in terms of content and art. Most of the comments focused on showing that the work painted a picture of a circle, not worth living, wearing out human lives. The authors of the research all pointed out that Song mon is a work about the subject of intellectuals, Nam Cao, through intellectuals, reflected on a society where people's right to live was oppressed, food and clothing became an obsession even for intellectuals. The comments on Song mon mostly focused on analyzing

Character Thu - the central, typical character in the work. In Thu, all the poverty, frustration, and oppression that people cannot bear are expressed. Life is stagnant, all activities take place in a circular, monotonous, and boring manner. The space for the character to operate is also repetitive. Moreover, it is a space lacking in life, a space that does not promise a return to brightness. Through analyzing the characters in the work, especially the character Thu, analyzing other artistic aspects, the authors have highly appreciated Nam Cao's sharp and talented pen, evaluating Nam Cao as an author who brings a new approach to reality with a timeless ideology.

Thus, we see that the articles that have devoted all their space to talking about Song Mor or only talking about Song Mor in the process of analyzing the entire work of Nam Cao have pointed out the basic characteristics of the novel in terms of ideological content and the artistic methods used... In general, almost all the basic characteristics of Song Mor have been recognized and analyzed. However, no article has gone deeply into the value and position of the novel Song Mor in the writing career of Nam Cao in particular and critical realist literature in general, in a complete and profound way. Realizing that gap, we boldly developed the topic with the desire to learn, synthesize and establish a systematic and complete way of research on Song Mor . Especially discussing the value of Song Mor in terms of both content and art. At the same time, affirming the position of Song Mor as a glorious ending to Nam Cao's writing career. Therefore, some of our conclusions, analysis and research results will inevitably have certain similarities with the research results of previous researchers. And to develop the topic in the research process, we will combine the study and analysis of other works by Nam Cao about intellectuals such as Giang Sang , Doi Thua , Mua Nha , Nuoc Mat, Lao Hac, Truyen Nguoi Hang Xuong ...

3. Research subjects

As the title of the topic has determined, the research object of the topic is "The value and position of the novel " Song Mort" in Nam Cao's writing career".

4. Research tasks and purposes

Determining that "Song Mort" has the value of ending the glorious career of Nam Cao and is the final peak ending the excellent realism movement of Vietnamese literature in the period 1930 - 1945 in terms of content and art.

5. Research methods

The thesis uses a combination of the following research methods:

- Historical research methods.

- Analysis and synthesis methods.

- Comparison and contrast method.

6. Contribution of the thesis

- Systematically research the value and position of "Living in the Past" in Nam Cao's career in particular and the realist literary movement 1930 - 1945 in general.

- The research results of the topic can be used as reference material for those interested in studying Nam Cao, loving the work " Song Mort" , especially teachers in high schools.

7. Thesis structure

Corresponding to the tasks and purposes set out, in addition to the Introduction, Conclusion, and References, our thesis consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1. Social context 1941-1945, literary life and creative career of Nam Cao.

Chapter 2. Content value of Living in oblivion . Chapter 3. Artistic value of Living in oblivion .

Chapter 1

SOCIAL CONTEXT 1941 - 1945, LITERARY LIFE AND CREATIVE CAREER OF NAM CAO

1.1 Social context of Vietnam in the pre-Revolutionary period 1941 - 1945

Vietnamese society in the pre-revolutionary period was a chaotic, brutal, unjust, and unfair feudal colonial society that did not bring confidence to anyone. This was clearly reflected in the works of writers such as Nguyen Hong, Vu Trong Phung, Nguyen Cong Hoan,... and the works of Nam Cao. People were pushed to the bottom of material poverty and extreme mental oppression. Nam Cao must have witnessed many deaths, especially starvation, and the scene of servants being cursed and beaten. The insecurity of each person was perhaps further accentuated by the failures of patriotic movements at the beginning of the century.

An event that perhaps had an even deeper impact on Nam Cao's sensitive soul was the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, with tens of millions of people dead and tens of millions of people injured. Vietnamese society at that time was a hell with the appearance of the Japanese, our people had to endure the situation of "one neck, two yokes", everywhere famine raged, the bull-headed horse-faced people acted with tyranny, people died in large numbers and the most terrible was the famine of 1945 with two million people starving to death. And the writer himself directly suffered its consequences when the private school where he was teaching had to close down to use the facility as a horse breeding ground for the Japanese army. Thus, Nam Cao's era not only had the problem of poverty and material and physical oppression, but clearly there was a crisis to the extreme in people's spiritual life with a dark, gloomy, suffocating atmosphere, which meant the water broke the bank leading to the outbreak of the August Revolution in 1945.

Faced with the tragic situation of the country's history, the tragic fate of human beings, as a writer who was extremely sensitive and always had aspirations to explore and contribute, Nam Cao deeply recognized the precariousness of human life, and felt that insecurity was no longer his own state of mind, or his class's, but had become a common state of mind for the whole community. All of that is reflected in his writings, especially in Living in the Dark . Those are the pangs of hunger, the degeneration of people, the gloomy, cramped and tired atmosphere of the countryside or urban areas, the scenes of living in the silent darkness, the tired and late trips. In that world, we will see the images of teachers and writers who are silent in the suffocation of talent and aspiration, people who live uncertainly and insecurely in a weary life...

1.2 Literary trends

In such a social context, modern Vietnamese literature during this period had many changes. Revolutionary literature withdrew into secrecy but still developed strongly. Revolutionary poetry in prison and revolutionary poetry outside prison developed. Revolutionary literature talked a lot about the future, a bright future approaching. To Huu's poetry was a different voice from New Poetry. Ho Chi Minh's Prison Diary was also published during this period. At this stage, propaganda poetry combined with revolutionary lyric poetry became more profound and profound. A series of political articles by comrade Truong Chinh appearing in the Party's newspapers during this period also had many literary values. It can be said that Revolutionary literature in the pre-uprising years contributed significantly to the Party's revolutionary movement, smashing the colonial regime, winning victory in the historic August days of 1945.

The romantic literary movement included new poets and mainly prose writers of the Tu Luc Van Doan, whose main content was the desire for a life of personal liberation based on a deep sense of self. But in the context of Vietnamese society in the years 1941 - 1945, romantic literature had reached a dead end, the extreme of personal life, which was the awareness of the boring reality of reality and the consciousness of rejection by escaping it. That was when Nguyen Tuan wrote Vang bong mot thoi hoping to find the golden marks of history, the traditional cultural values of the nation. Romantic prose always had the consciousness of fighting for personal happiness, the effort to fight against feudal etiquette; Up to this point, Tu Luc Van Doan wrote about disoriented intellectuals who entered a life of debauchery, such as the character Truong in Nhat Linh's White Butterfly .... New poetry was in serious crisis, with all sorts of chaotic manifestations: Han Mac Tu's crazy poetry , Vu Hoang Chuong's chaotic poetry , and Vu Hoang Chuong's drunken poetry . All were forms of dead-end, pessimistic, and deadlocked individualism.

Besides, realist literature started from directly criticizing the ruling class, defending and sympathizing with the trampled fates as in the works of Vu Trong Phung ( So do, Giong to ), Ngo Tat To ( Tat den ). At this stage, Vu Trong Phung had passed away due to a serious illness, Ngo Tat To stopped writing novels and switched to research and translation. A new generation of realist writers was born: Nam Cao, Manh Phu Tu, Nguyen Lap, Bui Hien, Kim Lan... In particular, Nam Cao was an excellent realist writer of the Vietnamese realist literature movement. His works were truly the most realistic "pictures" of contemporary social reality; his works were both a strong condemnation of the lackeys and rulers, and a sympathy and understanding for the fate of people living in an unjust and dark society.

The value and position of "Song Mor" in Nam Cao's writing career - 2

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