The writer plows the field
(Baonghean.vn) In 1957 and 1958, there was a policy to organize artists to go to the localities and live with manual laborers to learn about reality in order to increase their life experience for creative work.
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Writer Dao Vu |
Like real farmers, Dao Vu and his colleagues participated in plowing, harvesting, bailing water, making green manure, building dikes... with the villagers. Dao Vu also had a score book, with the cover written: "Score book of new member Dao Vu". Scores were recorded daily, signed by the production team leader or the labor group in which he participated.
Dao Vu said: “There were days when I only got 1 point for the water wheel, because I was tall and had long legs, and the wheel was designed for people of average height. But there were also days when I got 10 points for making green manure.” He also helped people in Hanoi buy farming tools, then hired a car to take them back to their hometown. Once, people were surprised to see writer Dao Vu sitting on an open car in the middle of a Hanoi street, with plowshares, scythes, shovels, hoe blades, and harrow teeth beside him...
After those trips, Dao Vu wrote two novels: The Brick Yard and The Winter Rice Field, which were famous at the time. The main character, Lao Am, was modeled after the landlord named Tu, with whom the author had spent time. Many other characters were also modeled after Vu La!
Pham Dinh An
