According to the yearbook of Modern Vietnamese Writers published by the Writers' Association Publishing House, writer Nguyen Hong (birth name Nguyen Nguyen Hong), born in 1918, from Nam Dinh City, member of the Communist Party of Vietnam, member of the Vietnam Writers' Association since 1957, died in 1982 in Yen The, Bac Giang .
Writer Nguyen Hong - Photo: Document
Nguyen Hong participated in the Democratic Front movement in Hai Phong in 1937-1939. In September 1939, he was arrested and imprisoned by the French. In 1940, he was released from prison, but was sent to a concentration camp in Bac Me ( Ha Giang ) by the French colonialists and then placed under house arrest in Nam Dinh (from November 1941). In 1943, he joined the secret National Salvation Cultural Association and the Pioneer Magazine , then participated in the August General Uprising in 1945 in Hanoi . During the resistance war against the French, he worked in the Vietnam Literature and Arts Association (from 1947-1957), edited the Literature and Arts Magazine and was in charge of the People's Literature and Arts School in Viet Bac. He was awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize for Literature and Arts, first term, in 1996.
Writer Nguyen Hong is one of the typical writers of Vietnamese realist literature in the period before the August Revolution. Besides, he was also closely associated with revolutionary journalism. Nguyen Hong wrote for newspapers very early, from 1936 - 1939, during the democratic cultural movement, he collaborated with many progressive newspapers such as Tin Van, Ngay Nay, Ban Dan, Dan Chung ... He used his journalistic pen to fight against class oppression, defend the working people, especially poor women and children, who always appeared in both his literary works and journalistic articles. Using journalism as a tool to reflect the truth and defend the abandoned, his articles often directly exploit burning issues in urban life: poverty, illiteracy, exploitation, social evils, especially the fate of oppressed women such as prostitutes, widows, single mothers... For him, journalism is not simply "doing a job", but an act of commitment: commitment for the truth, for human dignity and for the revolution. Despite being monitored and threatened, he still maintained a strong critical voice through articles published sporadically in printed newspapers and even revolutionary leaflets.
LITERARY WRITING STYLE
Nguyen Hong's journalistic writing style is full of literature and intense emotions. Nguyen Hong's journalism is not dry or abstractly theoretical, but is rich in images and emotions, sometimes like a short novel or realistic memoir, with burning lines of writing flowing from the writer's heart.
The work Childhood Days by writer Nguyen Hong - Photo: Document
Nguyen Hong was one of the first writers who dared to write frankly about the pain, humiliation, and exploitation in the semi-feudal colonial society. He did not avoid thorny topics such as: Children being treated cruelly and lacking love; Women imprisoned in prejudice and poverty; The tragic father-child, mother-child relationships in a decadent society. His typical work Childhood Days is a true, tearful memoir, recounting his own childhood, with the image of a miserable mother, an addicted father, and himself alone, hungry, and treated unfairly.
Nguyen Hong has a different perspective on reality. While many critical realist writers such as Nam Cao, Ngo Tat To, Vu Trong Phung focus on criticizing society from a rational and satirical perspective, Nguyen Hong chooses a writing style full of emotion, compassion and almost autobiographical color. He not only criticizes society, but also arouses love and humanity for his characters. His style combines social reflection and inner contemplation.
His articles can be considered the precursors of the modern genre of reportage - essay - journalistic reportage, because of the natural combination of journalistic and literary language with a passionate, humane tone. Although he strongly condemned society, Nguyen Hong's journalism was not spiteful or hateful, but always full of pity, compassion and concern for humanity.
Nguyen Hong does not use flowery words, but often chooses a writing style close to everyday language, rustic, honest but with an "explosive" emotional quality, making readers think and be troubled by the simple but haunting language. For Nguyen Hong, journalism is the voice of the voiceless, he does not write to please public opinion or attract readers; he writes for people who are marginalized in society.
Some journalism lessons from Nguyen Hong's style show that literary quality makes journalism more moving and profound. Literary articles, like Nguyen Hong's, are easier to touch people's hearts than dry news. That is a great lesson for modern journalism in combining information and emotion. Nguyen Hong is one of the rare writers and journalists who can use language as a weapon that is both sharp and full of compassion. In the years before the August Revolution, he turned journalism into a forum of compassion, of voices defending the oppressed class. Nguyen Hong left behind profound journalism lessons about professional ethics, humanity and the fighting spirit of the pen. (to be continued)
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nguyen-hong-cay-but-benh-vuc-nguoi-cung-kho-185250616213748192.htm
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