“The Song of the River” - a portrait of Uncle Ho's mother

(Baonghean.vn) -After nearly 3 years of gestation, the novel “Song of the River” by writer Nguyen The Quang has been introduced to readers. The novel is a vivid and realistic portrait of Mrs. Hoang Thi Loan - Uncle Ho's mother... Recently, the author had a talk with readers of Vinh City at Nghe An Provincial Library. This is a meaningful activity during the reading week and towards the 123rd anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh's birthday.

There were quite a number of book lovers and people interested in the book present at this talk. As a historical novel, with the image of Mrs. Hoang Thi Loan, Uncle Ho's mother, as the main character, author Nguyen The Quang encountered many obstacles in the process of expressing. The first people who worried about him when they saw him choose this topic were two veteran writers Hong Nhu and Dang Khac Phe, they said: Quang, writing a novel about a character like Hoang Thi Loan is very difficult, because it is related to Uncle Ho, you cannot let your imagination go far, you cannot make up fiction as you like...

Cover of the book Song of the River

Overcoming those initial difficulties, ignoring the concerns, for nearly 2 years, writer Nguyen The Quang persistently searched for documents and day by day, perfected his second "brainchild". During that time, there were times when he was tired, exhausted for each page and there were times when he fell ill. However, after much effort, the work was completed in the eagerness of many readers. The reason for choosing this topic, he shared with readers: I grew up in a Confucian family, from a young age I was taught about filial piety. Growing up, I heard and met many respectable mothers. Also from the teaching job, contacting many parents, directly living with thousands of students, I realized more and more: teaching people, educating children to be good people is the most difficult, most necessary, first and foremost. And to do that, first and foremost, is to be a mother. And I found such a mother in the portrait of Ms. Hoang Thi Loan.....

The novel “Song of the River” consists of 4 parts: “Hometown”, “Road to Hue”, “In the middle of the capital”; “Epilogue” recreates the short life of Mrs. Hoang Thi Loan from the time she was in Lang Sen (Nam Dan), when she shouldered the burden of bringing her children to follow her husband to Hue until she passed away. That period of time was not long, only 6 years, but it was enough to portray the portrait of a Mother, a wife who devoted herself to her husband and children, and was responsible for her clan and village.

Author Nguyen The Quang added: At that time, in that situation, the country was in turmoil and war, but few people dared to go to Hue to support their husband and children. A person's personality is mainly formed from childhood, during that time, because of the hard work of the Vice-Chancellor of the Royal Examination, Nguyen Sinh Cung was always with his mother. "Virtue and kindness come from the mother", she had a decisive influence on Nguyen Sinh Cung's personality, which later developed into the noble personality of Nguyen Tat Thanh, then Nguyen Ai Quoc, and Ho Chi Minh.

Mrs. Hoang Thi Loan, first of all, she is a great mother - very great in will, in raising and educating her children: "Ms. Loan listened to many worries. Being a mother, giving birth to children, one must take care of their children, but teaching them to be good people is the most important thing. Not taking care of teaching children, not knowing how to teach children, letting children go bad, hurts oneself, brings shame to the family and harms the whole village". (excerpt from chapter 10, part III). That image, as comrade Nguyen The Ky - Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, Vice Chairman of the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Art wrote in the preface, is also "the image of our mother, her, makes us think of many other mothers...".

Author Nguyen The Quang at the talk about the work "Song of the River" with readers of Vinh City

Many readers came to the talk.

Speaking about writer Nguyen The Quang, at the talk, poet Mai Hong Nien called him a "young writer" because he had to wait until retirement age, after more than 40 years of holding chalk, to pick up a pen to write the first literary work of his life. However, like the novel "Song of the River", the first novel he wrote about the great literary poet Nguyen Du also received many comments from literary critics, the work was also awarded the A prize, the Ho Xuan Huong prize. Many people were surprised, because they did not believe that a literature teacher, a person who hardly wrote much like him, could write hundreds of pages of such a thick historical novel.

Two novels, published consecutively within only 3 years, have shown the author's persistent and diligent labor. As for his generation of students at Huynh Thuc Khang school, reading "Nguyen Du" and "Song of the River", they seem to see a different image of their teacher, a scholar of Nghe An who is both ascetic and meticulous but also full of humanity and concerned with history and the changes of the country. Not stopping there, writer Nguyen The Quang is nurturing his 3rd novel, which promises to bring many surprises to readers, that is the novel "Thong reo Ngan Hong" written about the talented poet Nguyen Cong Tru...

What is especially meaningful is that on the occasion of the 123rd anniversary of Uncle Ho's birthday, the work "Song of the River" was honored to receive the A prize in the Campaign to compose and promote written works on the theme of "Studying and following the moral example of Ho Chi Minh" of Nghe An province and won the 3rd national prize on this theme.

At the age of over seventy, to be able to do what he did is indeed rare.

Article and photos: Song Hoang