Le Luu: A writer with a strong imprint of Vietnamese countryside

Writer of rural VietnamMale

When mentioning the writer Le Luu, many people - especially those who are not interested in literature - can still mention the novel "Waves at the bottom of the river" - a work that was made into a famous film that once caused a fever on the small screen. "Waves at the bottom of the river" tells the story of a series of consecutive mistakes in a life: Nui - a person born from the father's mistake, after many times of not being able to restrain his child in the "bursting stage of passion". An unwanted fate. An unbridgeable distance from what is called the right and legally recognized.

The work "Waves at the bottom of the river" by writer Le Luu.

Nui’s life slid into darkness. Misfortune followed. War and the subsidy period could make people great or lowly… Nui and the society around him had dark patches, tormenting people’s hearts, but at the end of the tunnel, a streak of light could be seen. And the reader had the right to step out into the bright area, where people returned to their original goodness.

With a simple, realistic writing style; with the philosophies, metaphors, and allegories used quite subtly and purely by writer Le Luu, surely today's readers will be able to enter a different moment and imagine a turbulent period that has long since passed...

Similar to “Waves at the Bottom of the River”, “Times of Absence” also takes place in the context of an important social transition; however, it differs in one point, that is, right from the beginning of the story, the author has pushed out a cramped, gloomy, gray, and dim atmosphere, seemingly just an old, blurred picture. Throughout the story, it seems that Sai always has to live according to the wishes of others, until he has to divorce for the second time in his life. And at this moment, the real person in him suddenly awakens, realizing the path he needs to take, to do something that is truly himself, himself, and useful. That is to return to the village to fulfill his wish to build and change the new way of life and business in the countryside. This is one of the most profound ideas of the work.

“Perhaps “The Distant Time” is long-lasting because the image of the rural character has just begun to take shape, because the alarm bell was rung in the early period of renovation, and still resonates today, and even tomorrow.” - writer Vo Thi Xuan Ha commented on one of the good works about Vietnamese people and countryside.

The work "Distant Time" by writer Le Luu.

“The Distant Time” left a deep impression on Le Luu when many people called him: the writer of “The Distant Time”. “The national renovation had just begun when literature immediately made an unexpected impression with the work “The Distant Time” by Le Luu. He wrote from himself, pulled out his guts to tell his story, the story of one person but the story of many people, the story of a generation, the story of a time. The author called that time “the distant time” but in fact it had not passed. That was the time when the character Giang Minh Sai lived not as himself, the first half of his life lived for what he did not have, the second half of his life lived chasing after what was not his.

This literary character has been remembered by name, considered as an adjective referring to a type of person, a type of life, which was very rare in literature many years before that, which only had collective character images and could not name a specific character.

“"Times of Distant Abode" was warmly received, everyone who read it found themselves in it, and was considered by critics as the work that opened a trend of innovative literature - the trend of re-perceiving reality." - literary critic and theorist Pham Xuan Nguyen expressed much affection when evaluating this work.

Pages of books brought to life

Le Luu is one of the few writers of the same period whose works have been reprinted many times and are still well received by many readers today. Perhaps with a new perspective and modern knowledge, today's readers will see different issues from readers of previous decades, and will have a new consciousness when re-reading old books. And the value of literature is most clearly demonstrated after the harsh filtering of time. In Le Luu's works, Sai, Nui, and the human fates of the past still attract today's readers. Readers will be able to return with the writer to the old days, when people still had many childish and backward prejudices; but also full of warmth and pure Vietnamese that we seem to have lost somewhere today...

Writer Le Luu. Photo: Vietnamnet.vn

Talking about Le Luu's life, people still mention the saying he said about himself, that his life was more miserable than the lives of the characters in his books. In the final stage of his literary career, he had to abandon his unfinished novel, and was alone in bed until the end of his life. Later, his daughter took him back to her hometown in Hung Yen to take care of him and he died at the age of 81 in his hometown.

In addition to his work, writer Le Luu was the first Vietnamese writer to come to the US after the war. He is considered the first Vietnamese peace envoy, the first icebreaker in Vietnam-US relations, to join Vietnamese and US veteran writers in calling on the US government to lift the embargo and normalize relations with Vietnam. He is also the one who established the Le Luu Writers Fund to recognize the contributions of those who are passionate about agriculture and rural areas through creative works, contributing to preserving traditional culture, truthfully reflecting agricultural and rural life as well as the adaptation of Vietnamese villages to the challenges of global integration. The fund was formed from the savings of writer Le Luu, a cash amount of 1 billion VND and many other assets.

Finally, in the wish of many writers, when the person passes away, the work remains. Le Luu and his work have done that.

With “Thoi xa van”, Le Luu changed the life of Vietnamese literature in the 80s of the last century. The ideas of “Thoi xa van” marked a turning point in Vietnamese literature since 1954. Le Luu created characters who have lived forever with readers of many generations such as Giang Minh Sai. And Le Luu is also a special character of Vietnamese literature.

Poet Nguyen Quang Thieu - Chairman of Vietnam Writers Association