Writer Lam Giang and sparkling memories

(Baonghean) - More than 40 years have passed, but memories of war have always been a source of concern and torment for poet and writer Lam Giang. To the point that, after two strokes, he still diligently writes every day, the pages still smell of smoke and fire... He is one of the authors with abundant writing talent on the topic of revolutionary war, with many prestigious literary awards.

“I feel I need to write…”

The emotions of the past war have motivated Lieutenant Colonel, writer, poet Lam Giang to publish dozens of novels and memoirs. Among them, his novel “White Area” two years ago was awarded the B prize - the highest literary prize in the Literary and Artistic Creation Campaign to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Liberation of the South, National Reunification and the 125th birthday of President Ho Chi Minh.

The novel “White Zone” by Lam Giang recreates a heroic historical period of fighting in the crescent-shaped belt area with a depth of about 60km to protect Saigon. At that time, the US-puppet government turned Cu Chi - Trang Bang into a “white zone”, a free zone of destruction and bombing, especially after Tet Mau Than 1968. For more than 3 years (1968 - 1970) holding the mid-zone - a springboard to attack Saigon from the Northwest; Regiment 268 fought bravely, completing its historic mission in the most fierce period of the battlefield in the outskirts of Saigon - Gia Dinh. Nearly 1,700 officers and soldiers fell in this “white zone”.

Writer Lam Giang.

The novel “White Zone” is associated with a fierce period of fighting that he participated in from 1968 to 1971. The author shared that after the war, most of his works were about memories and battlefield experiences because most of his life experiences were distilled in them.

Lam Giang wrote a lot about the Cu Chi - Trang Bang area, but what he was most concerned about was to write something about the 268th Regiment that held on steadfastly and fought extremely bravely. After the war, although he always felt the urge to write stories about them, the work of a military officer was very busy so he still could not arrange to write.

The desire to write about this heroic land of Cu Chi had been simmering inside him for many years like an unpaid debt. In 2013, when attending a writing camp in Vung Tau, he decided to write “The White Area”, writing continuously until it was completed in a period of 4 months. 4 months of immersing himself in the fate of characters so real that it couldn’t be more real, so fierce that it couldn’t be more fierce.

Writing about history, Lam Giang rarely chooses the memoir genre. He chooses the novel genre because, according to him, the work will be both real and fictional, more colorful, easier for readers to read, and can feel the depth of the battle more.

Among many people who have gone through war and "intensively" engaged in historical subjects, Lam Giang still chooses a solid position for himself. Because he always believes: The good thing about writing about war that everyone can accept is to write the truth, not to embellish, not to exaggerate the fierceness of the war, nor to belittle or exaggerate the image of the soldier. I think writers need to clearly distinguish history as history; must write the past correctly, not to forget and not to be allowed to erase.

The work "White Area".

Putting all my love for my hometown into my pen name

At the age of over 70, writer Lam Giang is still diligently working on his field of words. He is writing a memoir - an autobiography with the longest timeline ever in his work: From when I was still at home until now, consisting of about 9 - 10 chapters. "I try to lead readers through the times and historical stages that I have experienced. Especially the chapters about the army, about the years of renovation are really difficult to write, difficult to express because they are very touching. I have been present in places where life and death are only a hair's breadth apart - both in war and peacetime. The fierce battles were inevitable, the train journeys from the South to the North when peace was restored were also fierce and breathtaking. Looking back, those are abundant materials that if I do not write, it will be a waste of the years that have passed."

Lam Giang put a lot of faith in this memoir, this autobiography, because according to him, there are many stories, details of life that are more vivid and interesting than fiction. I believe in that, because I know for sure that a person with such depth and sophistication as him, cannot help but gather deep impressions from his own life of thousands of miles.

From the days of graduating from high school in Nghe An, the days of studying at Thuy Loi University, choosing Hai Phong as the first land to start a career after graduating from university, and then after only 3 years of working as an engineer, going to B to start a military career... A life that spans through events, time, space along the Country and following the call of reason in one's heart.

The pen name of poet and writer Lam Giang makes many people “read” the Nghe quality. Lam Giang is Lam River - the Mother River of my hometown. I love my hometown in all aspects, from the fields, the shape of the mountains, the shape of the river, the fields… and the sweetest expression is the Mother River. That is the reason I chose Lam Giang as my pen name. I put all my love for my hometown into that pen name, he shared.

In fact, looking at the appearance of writer Lam Giang, few people would think that he is a… sentimental person. He has the confident, dignified, and serious demeanor of an officer who has spent his entire life in the army. After retirement, he took on the position of head of the inspection committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Writers Association. All of these positions made people assume that he was a meticulous person.

But his friends all know that he hides many of his feelings in that dignified appearance. He is the one who, regardless of the rain or shine, goes to each writer, poet, and author from Nghe An to invite them to join, founding the Nghe An Poetry Club in Saigon. He is the one who always takes the initiative to call and ask about his friends' health, even though his own health is... more problematic than others: Over 70, having had two strokes, but still "addicted" to the "karma" of writing - doctor, poet Nguyen Dinh Phu humorously tells about "my old friend" - the way he calls poet Lam Giang with all sincerity.

Khoi Nguyen Thao