Vietnamese literature

Vietnamese literature is the literature produced by authors who speak Vietnamese. The writers are generally in Vietnam, and usually write in the Vietnamese language.

Vietnamese literature is strongly influenced by the culture's oral storytelling tradition and by Chinese literature. Oral literature is primarily poetry and is still sung in modern times in rural areas. Some of the poetry is likely more than a thousand years old, with patterns, themes, and vocabulary native to Vietnam. Poetry includes ca dao, or folk ballads; ca tru, or ceremonial songs; vong co, or echoes of the past, and tuc-ngu proverbs or customary words. The Chinese influence arose when China ruled Vietnam and introduced its writing system to the scholars of the region. In modern times, novels and short stories have also become popular.

Brief History

China's influence on Vietnamese literature dates to the second century BCE, when China conquered Vietnam. Most Vietnamese writing for nearly two thousand years used Chinese ideographs, known as Classical Chinese, scholars' script, or Chữ Nho. Vietnam gained its independence in 939, but scholars and officials continued to use scholars' script until the twentieth century. Buddhist monks produced much of the literature of this period. Vietnamese scholars eventually developed a system based on Chinese ideographs. By the eleventh century, this difficult-to-learn system, Chữ Nôm, was in wide use. By the seventeenth century, Catholic missionaries were developing a Romanized writing system, Quốc ngữ. This system, which translates as "national language," was easier to learn, and many more citizens became literate. Vietnam was under French colonial rule from the mid-eighteenth century until the latter nineteenth century. Novels and other forms of Western literature arrived in Vietnam during this time, and Vietnamese prose writing began to develop. In the early twentieth century, Quốc ngữ became the official writing system of Vietnam.

With the development of an easy-to-learn writing system, Vietnamese people gained access to more information. Vietnam's first newspaper was published in 1865 using the Romanized system. Western literature, including novels and short stories, became more available. During the twentieth century, Vietnamese reformers promoted literacy as a way to strengthen cultural identity separate from the Chinese tradition. As the popularity of Quốc ngữ grew, few people learned the older, Chinese-based systems. By the twenty-first century, some scholars were lamenting the loss of the language, and the inability of many Vietnamese to read old texts. They felt the cultural heritage of Vietnam was being lost.

Traditional poetry, which has dominated Vietnamese literature for centuries, was sung. Many classical poems combined the natural landscape with messages about love. Hồ Xuân Hương broke new ground with her poetry. She is credited with developing a Vietnamese style separate from the Chinese-influenced poetry of the past. Her work, and other poetry, often incorporated traditional symbols to convey meaning. Many of these symbols have completely different meanings in different settings. Writers could work in a variety of formal styles, including the luc-bat—a couplet of six syllables in the first line and eight in the second—and the lüshi—eight lines of five or seven syllables. Hồ Xuân Hương is renowned for her lüshi poems.

Poetry was more than an art—it was also viewed as a skill. Many writers created palindromes that were Vietnamese poems when read from beginning to end, but Chinese poems when read in reverse. During the nineteenth century, Emperor Thieu Tri wrote a circular palindrome that could offer twelve different readings.

One of the most famous works of classical literature is Truyện Kiều (The Tale of Kieu, also called Kim Vân Kiều) by Nguyễn Du. The work comprises more than three thousand luc-bat couplets written using Chữ Nôm. It tells the story of a beautiful young woman who endures many painful experiences in life before reuniting with her love. In the end, she chooses to serve her family rather than seek personal happiness with him.

Overview

Poetry has dominated Vietnam's literary tradition and remains the primary genre. Many ca dao poems feature favorite characters, recurring themes of history, or explanations of why something came to be. Princess Liễu Hạnh, for example, is one of the Four Immortals worshiped in the Red River delta region. She is also known as the Jade Emperor's thirteenth daughter. In some tales, she has been exiled to earth because she has been disobedient. Many stories involve her reincarnation, at various times as the daughter of peasants or emperors. In one well-known folktale, she is forced to spend a century on earth. She opens a tea stand to support herself, and she meets many people who admire her beauty and wisdom. After she teaches an overly amorous prince a lesson in manners, her father eventually allows her to return to heaven.

Although poems from the oral tradition rely heavily on melody, rhythm, and traditional forms, modern poets are freer to follow less strict formats. The twenty-first-century approach has largely rejected the romantic tendencies of the past in favor of modernism. Publishing standards are strict, however, and many authors have said they are censored.

Much modern Vietnamese prose is strongly colored by the Vietnam War (1955–1975) and its legacy. Authors Bảo Ninh and Dương Thu Hương are often better known outside of Vietnam. Dissident Dương, whose novels have been banned in Vietnam, has for years been prevented from leaving her country. Many of her novels, including Novel without a Name and Memories of a Pure Spring, focus on life during and soon after the Vietnam War. Bảo, who was a teenage soldier during the war, wrote about the experiences of the soldiers on the front lines in his first novel, The Sorrow of War. Nguyễn Huy Thiệp emerged within Vietnam as the most popular writer during the late twentieth century, and he is described as a key figure in Vietnamese postmodern literature. A central theme of Vietnamese postmodern literature is the loss of traditional standards of conduct in society, and the principles that have replaced them. He and other writers have explored the effect of technology that has opened Vietnam to the influence of other cultures, such as imported television programs and the prevalence of the internet.

Bibliography

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