Why are Vietnamese youth 'crazy' about romance novels?

(Bao nghean) - Chinese romance novels have been introduced to Vietnam for nearly ten years now and have quickly attracted a large number of readers. Despite creating a lot of controversy, the appeal of romance novels has shown no signs of cooling down.

Immersed in the world of romance

It is called romance novel because this is a novel genre that discusses love stories. Romance novels are divided into many genres such as time travel (characters travel through time and space to another time and space), ancient (with an ancient atmosphere), fantasy (with fantasy elements), underworld (gangsters), danmei (gay love), yuri (lesbian love), military (love between girls and people from the military), science fiction... In general, this genre of novels describes beautiful love stories between men and women, reflecting the multifaceted aspects of modern society.

Famous romance authors admired by many young Vietnamese readers include Tan Di O, Dong Hoa, Co Man, Duong That Cong Tu, Phi Nga Tu Ton, Lam Dich Nhi... Tan Di O is famous for "Do you like America?", "The moon doesn't understand my heart", "Let me look at you"... with quite profound content, vividly depicting the conflicts between love and marriage, love and ideals and ambitions of youth...

Gu Man's stories such as "Together Forever", "I Am Like the Radiant Sun"... are gentle, evoking warm feelings and loyalty. Dong Hua is a female author with strength in describing character psychology, while Phi Nga Tu Ton's stories are quite close to cinematic language, rich in images and emotions.

Novel Forever is how far by author Diep Lac Vo Tam.

Objectively speaking, romance novels have been able to exist and thrive over the years because they have well met the entertainment needs of a group of Vietnamese readers, especially young adults who love romance.

Most romance novels are stories about the romantic love of young people. Youth is the most beautiful age of love, most young people want to have a "heart-warming" love, a love strong enough to overcome all challenges in life.

On the other hand, love stories in romance novels are not all shallow stories about flowery love, but most of them have very useful lessons and proverbs about love and life.

Many philosophical sayings in romantic novels have been considered by many young people as mottos of life such as: "If you miss something for a moment, you will miss it for life. In life, there are many things that you cannot turn back and do again" (Dai Mac Dao - Dong Hoa), or "Fate is created by oneself, appearance is born from the mind, all things in the world change. If the mind is still, all things are still. If the mind does not change, all things are also still." (Ashes of Love - Dien Tuyen)...

Therefore, we should not be too harsh. However, to absorb the positive aspects of romance is not easy if the reader is not selective.

Little benefit, much harm

In contrast to those who love romance novels, there are also many readers, especially the middle and elderly generations, who oppose the publication and sale of romance novels because some stories deal with sexual issues, homosexual relationships that distort the thinking of young people, or there are also stories that contain offensive content.

Many people believe that romance novels are addictive stimulants because they awaken the secret sexual instincts in each person. Especially with romance novels containing “H” (“hentai”, roughly translated as sexual deviation, and the Vietnamese term for it is “sexual perversion”. “H+” is a “heavy” form of sexual perversion).

This is the seed, the danger of moral corruption, losing the beautiful concept of love, marriage and family. At the same time, when immersed in the world of romance, it also makes young people easily fall into an illusory, dreamy, unrealistic way of thinking.

What to read is the right of every young person, as well as the freedom in the psychological tendency of each person. However, the important thing here is to educate and orient the reading culture from a young age so that each person can be equipped with basic knowledge in choosing a good book among the maze of cultural publications like today.

Thuy Nguyet