Chu Trong Huyen and literary works about people of Nghe An

With sincere condolences to the family of researcher Chu Trong Huyen, Nghe An Newspaper respectfully introduces an article about his works. The article was written by Associate Professor, Dr. Dinh Tri Dung.

Chu Trong Huyen is a prose writer living in Nghe An, specializing in writing stories about famous people in the land of the Red River and Lam Mountains. Until now, despite his old age, he is still quietly working, creating and continuing to publish new books.

In total, Chu Trong Huyen has had nearly a dozen books that are known to many readers everywhere. Among them, regarding his stories and novels, we can mention: “Stories from Sen Village”, Kim Dong Publishing House, Hanoi, 1980⁽¹⁾; Novel “The Mother of a Genius”, Women Publishing House, Hanoi (1991) (This book was also reprinted many times by Nghe An, Thuan Hoa Publishing Houses... Next is the story “Ho Chi Minh from the Kremlin to Pac-Po Cave”, Nghe An Publishing House, 2009”, “Two Times Uncle Ho Visited His Hometown” (story), Nghe Tinh Publishing House (1987); “Red Village”, a story about the Soviets in Nghe Tinh, Thanh Nien Publishing House, Hanoi, 1982; the story “Ho Chi Minh in his youth”, Nghe An Publishing House printed in 2000, 2002, 2004; “Pink on the Mountain Top” a story about Party General Secretary Le Hong Phong, Nghe An Publishing House, 1987, 1992; the story “Sa Dien Bomb Sound”, written about martyr Pham Hong Thai, Kim Dong Publishing House, 1993 (This book was reprinted in 2000, Nghe Tinh Publishing House) An republished with the title "The Swallows Announce Spring"); Novel "The Eyes of the Grand Tutor", written about General Nguyen Xy during the Ming resistance period (1418-1428), Nghe An Publishing House, 2004 (this book received the Ho Xuan Huong Award from the Nghe An Literature and Arts Association, 2005); Story "Nguyen Cong Tru - the Man and His Career" (Award of the National Committee of the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations 1993); Storybook "Phan Boi Chau" (Award of the National Committee of the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations 1997).

Regarding the topic of President Ho Chi Minh's hometown, family background and childhood, he has several books that are considered by some readers as a "trilogy" of books written about Uncle Ho's childhood: "Stories from Sen Village"; "The Mother of a Genius", "President Ho Chi Minh in his youth".

Chu Trong Huyen's passion and desire is to portray the life of President Ho Chi Minh in his youth, suffering many hardships in the country's loss and destruction, then growing up, nurturing a great ambition to find a way to save the country. As a writer who grew up in his hometown of Nghe An, very knowledgeable about local history, about the family and relatives of Uncle Ho, author Chu Trong Huyen has many advantages. He sees the close relationship between the person and personality of Ho Chi Minh and his hometown of Nghe An, rich in cultural traditions and patriotism, fighting against foreign invaders. That is also a reason for the appeal of the works Chu Trong Huyen wrote about Uncle Ho.

In the "Introduction" to the book "Ho Chi Minh from the Kremlin to Pac Po Cave", Nghe An Publishing House wrote: "Chu Trong Huyen has long been loved and respected by the reading public due to his works about the country's famous people, especially the topic of the family background and life of Leader Ho Chi Minh. Now the book "Ho Chi Minh in his youth" is a book that records his life from the time the Leader was born until he left Paris (Capital of France) to go to Russia, the revolutionary homeland of the world's proletariat to study, then went to the East, to serve his Fatherland"⁽²⁾.

Recently, Lao Dong Publishing House and Tri Thuc Bookstore (Hanoi) have combined two books: "Stories from Sen Village" and "Two Times Uncle Ho Visited His Hometown"⁽³⁾by the same author, combined into one, still titled "Stories from Sen Village". In the "Introduction", the publisher wrote: "...With the desire to widely disseminate to a large number of readers about the example of the great President Ho Chi Minh, about the person he is, about his portrait, Tan Viet Bookstore cooperates with Lao Dong Publishing House to publish and distribute "Bookcase for training personality and life". The book set consists of ten books, including "Stories from Sen Village" which is the newly combined book.

One thing Chu Trong Huyen had in mind after reading books about the leaders of the world proletariat (4) was how to make President Ho Chi Minh, the great son of his nation, known to the working people on this planet as much as possible, so he devoted his small efforts to that great and meaningful work. Foreign Language Publishing House (now The Gioi Publishing House) translated and published a number of his articles and books into French, English and Chinese, such as: the article "Le province natal de Ho Chi Minh" (The home province of President Ho), printed in "Etudes Vietnamiennes - Le Nghe Tinh province natale" (Vietnam Studies - Introduction to Nghe Tinh), issue May 1980; The books "Ho Chi Minh's pamilly story", "The story of President Ho Chi Minh's family", (Stories about President Ho Chi Minh's family), printed in 2009, 2014, 2015, 2017...

Chu Trong Huyen has a simple, clear writing style, rich in imagery, and full of lyricism. He often chooses a traditional storytelling style, following the flow of time. Even the titles of his books are simple and easy to recognize: "Stories from Sen Village", "Uncle Ho Visits His Hometown", "President Ho Chi Minh in His Youth"...

Chu Trong Huyen is also a writer who closely follows political and current issues. Many of his books about Uncle Ho have been selected for the bookshelves in public schools. Books “Stories from Sen Village”, “President Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap” (stories), Thong Tan Publishing House, Hanoi, 2007⁽⁵⁾was republished by the National Political Publishing House - Truth in 2017, as a study material for cadres and party members...

One advantage of Chu Trong Huyen is that he can use French and Chinese, which is convenient for referencing documents when writing about famous people, even in modern times. The stories "Nguyen Cong Tru - the man and his career", "Nguyen Cong Tru - poetry and life", the book of stories "Phan Boi Chau", "Where Nguyen Du wrote the story of Kieu"... Poet Thach Quy and Associate Professor Le Ba Han in some of their articles about Chu Trong Huyen's works mentioned this advantage.

Poet Huy Can in the "Preface" of the book "Where Nguyen Du wrote the Tale of Kieu" (6) commented: "The most interesting thing when reading the book is that we seem to see clearly before our eyes the gradual formation of Nguyen Du's personality, soul and poetic spirit. We seem to encounter the passionate agitation of Nguyen Du's heart through the ups and downs of the times, the self-molding of Nguyen Du's intelligence through the historical tremors of a heroic century that ended painfully. The reason we feel like that is because Chu Trong Huyen described the Le Dynasty - Trinh Lord period quite clearly, in which the young Nguyen Du grew up; the author described the movement of the Tay Son movement in society as a stormy sea, surging waves, a dazzling echo, making Nguyen Du's soul bewildered. We get to relive the elegant, luxurious atmosphere in Bich Cau ward, where there is a town residence of Prime Minister Nguyen Khan, Nguyen Du's older brother; we get to follow "Chieu Bay" (7) many times to visit his mother's hometown In Kinh Bac, with the Quan Ho singing scene, with the Lim festival of young men and women. Then we return to Tien Dien, we go to Truong Luu to listen to Vi singing, Dam singing with Nguyen Du... That whole cultural and artistic tradition - from Thang Long with its thousand years of culture to the elegant and lyrical homeland - has forged the wonderful aesthetic qualities of Nguyen Du. Also along (8) the book, we see the gradual settling of Nguyen Du's humanistic thoughts through the ups and downs of a whole life. In short, in many passages, the writer helps us see from within, feel from within the life and creative spirit of the author of the Tale of Kieu".

At the age of nearly 90, Chu Trong Huyen is still enthusiastic and diligent in creating, continuing to make contributions to the development of Nghe An literature and art, especially helping to affirm and spread the traditional beauty of the people and culture of Nghe An to the people of the whole country.

Note

(1) This book was reprinted by a number of publishers in Hanoi and other localities. Recently, Lao Dong Publishing House in collaboration with Dan Tri Bookstore Hanoi selected and printed it together with the book "Two times Uncle Ho visited his hometown" (by the same author). The new book is also titled "Stories from Sen village", printed in large quantities in 2017, 2020...

(2) Publisher's note, book "From the Kremlin to Pac Po cave", Nghe An Publishing House, 2000, p.6.

(3) This book was first printed by Nghe An Publishing House in 1987. It was later reprinted by several other publishers.

(4) These books were all printed by Thanh Nien Publishing House (TN), Hanoi, and were written about Marx, Engels, and Lenin.

(5) This book was published by the Truth National Political Publishing House (Hanoi) in collaboration with the Literature Publishing House (Hanoi) in 2019. In the "Publisher's Note", this book states: "Implementing the Project of providing books for communes, wards and towns of the Central Propaganda Department as well as contributing to education, promoting patriotic traditions, continuing to promote the "campaign to study and follow the example of Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and style", the Truth National Political Publishing House in collaboration with the Literature Publishing House published the book "President Ho Chi Minh with General Vo Nguyen Giap". The Introduction continues: "The book mentions very real stories about the close relationship between President Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap, about the milestones that brought the General closer to Uncle Ho, about the genius in Uncle Ho's perspective in discovering talents for the country".

(6) Work by Chu Trong Huyen, Social Sciences Publishing House (Hanoi) published in 1991

(7) Nguyen Du's name is in the family, because he is the 7th son.

(8) "Doc" means throughout (Nghe dialect).