Writer Nguyen Hai Yen: 'There is a parallel world existing with the world we live in'

PV:It is known that since childhood you have loved to read and had a thirst for writing, why did teacher Nguyen Hai Yen step into the literary world when she was over 40 years old? How did you feel when your work was first published on a literary forum?

Writer Nguyen Hai Yen:Your question reminds me of my village with a very nice name, Kim Trang Tay. The village is very old, very poor, very low-lying, and floods every time it rains. My house is at the end of the village, which is also the end of a deep dead-end alley. To get in, you have to go through an ancient garden with a fence of old elm trees with rough bark, peeling off layers like snake skin, through a wild garden with a fig tree with a dense canopy that is always dimly lit, through a banana garden with a mud-walled hut, a blind old woman's bamboo-barred window, through an ancient temple with two white peonies, and another alley of chrysanthemums before reaching the turn to my house's gate and Mr. Rao's gate. That thatched house with a mud-packed roof and thatched roof, covered with thatch stains, was later abandoned. There, two children under 10 years old, my sister and I, witnessed with our own eyes a person ending their own life with a rope, and it haunts me to this day.

Writer Nguyen Hai Yen.

My house is next to the fields, looking across the fish pond, I only see mounds. When I was a child, I was very afraid of ghosts, so I didn't often go out to play, and therefore I didn't have many close friends. In return, I read books. My mother studied to supplement her education, and kept the Literature books. I read them until I knew them by heart. I even knew the printed mistakes in the books. My mother was an avid reader. My sisters and I were greatly influenced by her. For many years, I read and reread Nam Cao, Ngo Tat To, Nguyen Cong Hoan, Nguyen Hong, Chu Van...; Russian literature, French literature... And I think that literature is ingrained in my blood and flesh. If I don't hold a pen, that's fine, but if I write, even if it's late, I still accept that it's fate, my karma, and I can only let it go when I die.

Returning to the question of my feelings when my work was first published on a literary forum, I can only answer with one word, which is happiness. That feeling is very new, still intact. It was around the beginning of 2016, my first short story was published in the Literature and Arts newspaper. The story was edited by editor Pham Thanh Thuy and titled by writer Khuat Quang Thuy. It was the short story “Nhan gian mot coi”, which included the image of my mother-in-law and the story of my family.

PV:Compared to the 7X generation writers, you are a latecomer to literature, but when the name Nguyen Hai Yen appeared, you immediately shined. Your case reminds me of plants that flower and bear fruit slowly, the more precious the fruit is. What do you think about this?

Writer Nguyen Hai Yen:I don’t think like you, I think about the fate of coming to this profession. I even think about the time my ancestors gave me to write. Before that, I also wrote, but I found myself boring and shallow, so I gave up for nearly thirty years. Perhaps those thirty years helped me mature and calm down to think about how I should write. I listen, I learn from others, and when I read their works, I see something that is not right, I don’t follow it.

Two published works by writer Nguyen Hai Yen.

PV:As someone who comes after generations of writers, after many writers of the same age, you must have faced a lot of pressure and struggle to find your own path so that you would not be hidden in the sea of ​​writers? Did you have to go through a process of experimentation?

Writer Nguyen Hai Yen:You are right, we have a “forest of writers”. Like you, like many other readers, I sometimes read dozens of short stories, dozens of poems and when I put down the book or newspaper, I feel tired and exhausted because of what I have just read. I am also afraid that I will become a writer among the forest of people. When I first started writing, my first short stories kept a humorous tone (“Nhan gian mot coi”, “Gieng mat rong”, “Gio len tha lon lan troi”...) and thought that was my forte. But editor Pham Thanh Thuy of Van nghe newspaper suggested that I should change it to polyphony.

I seriously thought about it and wrote “In front of the house there is a trellis of wild apricots” and “The white peony tree”. When the writer Ha Nguyen Huyen told me about his impressions when reading those magical stories, I realized that I had found another direction for my short stories. To be honest, it didn’t take me long to experiment because I soon realized my strengths thanks to the suggestions and comments of editors like that.

PV:Realism and magical realism are the typical writing styles of writer Nguyen Hai Yen, the world of the dead (ghosts) is also her “brand”. Why did she choose that world as her artistic space, and why did ghosts become the central characters in many of her short stories?

Writer Nguyen Hai Yen:I think there is a parallel world that exists with the world we live in. It connects all dimensions. It connects the past with the present. I often direct my works to the past, listening to the messages of the deceased to the living, so the only way is to find that parallel world, to listen, to share, to know more about the sadness, the incompleteness, the loyalty, the affection.

And one more thing, up to now, we have always assumed that “ghosts” are bad, usually “ghosts” will harm people, will take revenge, pay back,... “ghost” stories are full of blood, deformity, fear and accumulated hatred. So why don’t I write differently, write about the dead, if they don’t return in friendliness and love, they still continue their lives, do what they left unfinished and more importantly, the message “If you live well, you don’t have to be afraid. No ghost harms people for no reason”.

PV:You once shared that you are a slow writer, but in the past 6 years, writer Nguyen Hai Yen has published 3 short story collections, won 2 prestigious literary awards, and I see that you are not slow at all, but rather the leisurely, confident, and meticulousness of a powerful writer. Can you share more about the process of shaping, giving birth to your brainchildren, and your plans for the future?

Writer Nguyen Hai Yen:I write really slowly. Every day, even a few words are fun. I edit and revise, and I throw them away without regret. I don't have stories to publish in newspapers, I can't make money from writing, but I remind myself that a short story that leaves a mark in the reader's heart, even if it takes a year or more, I'm willing to do so. Writing short stories is also a struggle, but if I told you that I'm dreaming of a novel, a TV script, would you laugh and say you don't believe me?

PV:Thank you! I wish you continue to reap many sweet literary fruits!