'World Poet': The word "name" has three or seven ways!

Easy in calling names

The name TTN was quickly searched by Facebookers. Some sources shared that Ms. TTN is an overseas Vietnamese residing in the US. On the cover of the 4 poetry collections “101 love poems” (published by Dam Books Media Joint Stock Company in association with the Writers Association Publishing House), there is also information about the profession and “literary background” of the “world poet” TTN, which is very “magnificent”. Accordingly, Ms. TTN used to be a lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education (this information has not been verified), has published 6 poetry collections, “over 200 poems have been set to music”, “many major awards at home and abroad”.

The program honors 'world poets' with a series of titles that caused a stir in public opinion. Photo: Internet

Most artists, especially those in the literary world, find the “world poet” TTN and the event organizers ridiculous. Writer Le Minh Ha (residing in the Federal Republic of Germany) said:“TTN's poetry is truly individual, individual in the naivety of inviting him to eat boiled meat, in the vulgarity of loving you, loving you, loving you hard... That poetry cannot lift people up any stairs.".

Literary critic Nguyen Xuan Nguyen was indignant:“This is an insult, a mockery of poetry and culture”.

Quyen Gavoye - a Vietnamese writer, Master of Culture - Heritage working in Besancon city - French Republic expressed:“It is too easy to be a poet in Vietnam now. The fact that the public is easy with titles, competitions, and gala nights is also a reason for fame-seekers to take advantage.”.

Journalist Chu Minh Khoi - reporter of Vietnam Economic Times said that he used to be a member of the selection and editing of a number of poetry collections in the style of the movement and the "world poet" TTN is no stranger to him. TTN is the sponsor and the person whose "poetry" participated in the anthology "Five Fingers of Time" (2019), but this person's "poetry" gave him "both a headache and a "stomachache" the most". The journalist also revealed:

“The collection of poems that she sent that I had to read included: 15 poems titled: “Love Poem Number One Thousand and One Hundred”, and 10 poems with the same title: “Inviting You to Have the One Thousand and One Hundred and First Boiled Meat with Fish Sauce”; “Inviting You to Have the One Thousand and Four Boiled Meat with Fish Sauce” up to “Inviting You to Have the One Thousand and Ten Boiled Meat with Fish Sauce””.

What readers find composed by the “world poet” TTN, considering it “poetry”, is actually just silly (even vulgar), confusing sentences, combining words to rhyme:“Tomorrow I am getting married/ I invite you to eat boiled meat, but my heart aches.”,“My lips are not fishing rods/ Why do you keep rubbing your beard all day long?”,...

The TTN event reminded many people of the "phenomenon" HQT exactly 10 years ago. At that time, people held a bustling conference about HQT's "supernatural" and "divine" poetry. That's because in one night at the spiritual tourist area of ​​Bai Dinh - Trang An, this "Zen poet" wrote... 121 poems unconsciously. Shortly after, many people discovered that his poems written at Bai Dinh - Trang An or at Yen Tu were mostly similar to poems/passages in several books that had appeared at these places. Mr. HQT even printed 2 poetry collections to compete for the... Nobel Prize in Literature, printed a unique poetry collection weighing up to 120 kg and was awarded the prize by the Asian Record Organization. A few years later, Mr. HQT was no longer seen writing poetry, and until now, if anyone still mentions his name, the listener just smiles or shakes their head in disappointment!

Need to regulate the "fame-crazy" problem

Every year, the writing community is abuzz with several cases of someone “mistakenly taking” someone else’s work, and some of the “mistakenly taken” works are even brought to participate in relatively large, prestigious, highly academic competitions and win prizes. Recently, some poets shared about poetry competitions and events honoring authors, where according to the organizers’ announcements, the authors who won prizes or were honored had to pay fees that were not “light” compared to the income from writing of the majority of writers today.

Fame addiction partly comes from the easy-going mentality of "blowing praise" and encouraging each other on social networks. Illustration: Internet

So where do these “phenomena” come from? It can be explained in a number of ways as follows.

Firstly, the Vietnamese have a very rich and massive treasure trove of folk songs, proverbs, idioms, chants, and rhymes... This type of folk literature has permeated life through many generations, "soaked into the blood" of many people, especially the elderly. In daily life, they can apply the way of speaking and the way of feeling of folk songs, chants, and rhymes into their speech. On the other hand, Vietnamese is a language rich in musicality, very easy to combine into rhymes. When combining sentences into rhymes, lacking knowledge of literary genres, limited ability to appreciate literature,... people easily mistake it for poetry. Therefore, everyone writes poetry, every household writes poetry. Many people jokingly say "Vietnam is a poetry powerhouse", out of 10 people you meet on the street, 9 are poets!

Second, our country has gone through thousands of years under the feudal regime, selecting people for the public apparatus is associated with the form of literary poetry - evaluating the ability to compose and appreciate literature, so the general psychology of society is to respect people with letters. That psychology makes people value learning, partly promoting the enlightenment of the people, but on the other hand, it also creates a thirst for fame in society.

Third, in the literary and artistic world, it can be said that the poetry and literary world is the most prone to illusion and misconception. It is sometimes difficult to judge whether a literary work is good or bad, because it is relative and qualitative, good for one person but not good for another, the professional group has a different view from the perception of the common reader. Therefore, with the mentality of "literary wife", many people who have just "stepped their feet" into the literary world think that they are great authors, their works can live forever. They put on clothes that are too big for themselves.

Fourth, some people use many tricks to praise those who have money and status but are greedy for fame to deceive and take advantage of material or other benefits. Or from the mentality of being easygoing, flattering, encouraging each other, even praising out of hatred, "praising you to death"..., leading to those who are mistaken to become more delusional. And the more delusional, the more they rush into frivolous values ​​when they have no real talent.

It can be said that the situation of plagiarism, spending money to buy awards, buying honors... as shown through the "phenomenon" of HQT or the event related to Ms. TTN mentioned above is a manifestation of the desire for fame, even moving to a new level of fame-craving. That is, people who do not have real talent, have excessive illusions about their "talent", even have behaviors that deviate from ethical and cultural standards or violate the law to attract attention and gain fame. This is a chronic disease of a group of people, not only in the literary world. If public opinion does not speak up to correct these phenomena, or if illegal acts are not promptly handled by law when they occur, it will lead to a situation where social values ​​are turned upside down, negatively affecting the lifestyle of many people in the community, especially young people.

More than two hundred years ago, in the poem "Di thi tu vinh", poet Nguyen Cong Tru wrote:"Having a reputation in heaven and earth/ Must have a name with the mountains and rivers". Seeking fame, making a name, registering one's name with the world, that is the beautiful aspiration of every individual in the vast sea of ​​people, in endless time. Those who use their intelligence, talent, and morality to compete with the world, help the world, and bring sustainable, beautiful, humane, and humane values ​​to society will be recognized and honored. Those who have no real talent, seek fame and profit, and seize fame and profit by all means and tricks should be condemned, ridiculed, and dealt with to clean up the cultural environment of the whole society.

It is true that the word "name" has three or seven paths!