Tóm tắt: Tiểu thuyết Nhất Linh với việc hiện thực hoá chủ trương canh tân văn hoá, văn học của Tự lực văn đoàn.

Tiểu thuyết Nhất Linh với việc hiện thực hoá chủ trương canh tân văn hoá, văn học của Tự lực văn đoàn.Tiểu thuyết Nhất Linh với việc hiện thực hoá chủ trương canh tân văn hoá, văn học của Tự lực văn đoàn.Tiểu thuyết Nhất Linh với việc hiện thực hoá chủ trương canh tân văn hoá, văn học của Tự lực văn đoàn.Tiểu thuyết Nhất Linh với việc hiện thực hoá chủ trương canh tân văn hoá, văn học của Tự lực văn đoàn.Tiểu thuyết Nhất Linh với việc hiện thực hoá chủ trương canh tân văn hoá, văn học của Tự lực văn đoàn.Tiểu thuyết Nhất Linh với việc hiện thực hoá chủ trương canh tân văn hoá, văn học của Tự lực văn đoàn.Tiểu thuyết Nhất Linh với việc hiện thực hoá chủ trương canh tân văn hoá, văn học của Tự lực văn đoàn.Tiểu thuyết Nhất Linh với việc hiện thực hoá chủ trương canh tân văn hoá, văn học của Tự lực văn đoàn.Tiểu thuyết Nhất Linh với việc hiện thực hoá chủ trương canh tân văn hoá, văn học của Tự lực văn đoàn.Tiểu thuyết Nhất Linh với việc hiện thực hoá chủ trương canh tân văn hoá, văn học của Tự lực văn đoàn.Tiểu thuyết Nhất Linh với việc hiện thực hoá chủ trương canh tân văn hoá, văn học của Tự lực văn đoàn.

NGUYEN THI HOANG MAI

NHAT LINH’S NOVELS WITH THE ACTUALIZATION

OF THE SELF-RELIAN LITERARY GROUP’S REFORM

POLICY OF THE CULTURE AND LITERARY

Major: Vietnamese Literature

Code: 9220121

SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS IN LITERATURE

NGHE AN - 2022

Scientific instructors: Assoc Prof Dr Phan Huy Dung

Opponent 1:

Opponent 2:

Opponent 3:

The thesis is defended in front of University-level Thesis Examination Committee

in: Vinh University

At Thursday, 14 of July, 2022

The thesis can be referred at:

- National Library of Vietnam, Hanoi

- Nguyen Thuc Hao Information - library Center, Vinh University

1 Reason for choosing the topic

1.1 In the history of Vietnamese literature, Self-Reliant Literary Group(hereafter written SRLG) is a professional literary group whose influence extendsbeyond the scope of literature, covering the fields of culture, politics, and society andactively contributing to the selection of the developmental direction of literature,especially novels in expressing pressing social issues

1.2 Positioning and re-evaluating of SRLG and its leader allows the

reconstruction of Nhat Linh’s portrait as an intellectual pioneer who effectively

awakened people and expanded their intelligence through not only social activitiesbut also literature

1.3 In Nhat Linh's career, novels were the prominent figure positivelypositioning his contributions as a complex literary phenomenon that has far-reaching

effects on Vietnamese culture, society, and politics He suggested a direction,

predicting a development direction for modern Vietnamese novels His genre model

deserves to be examined to illustrate its role in the context of literary modernization.This is also the model that has many fulcrums for the later development of theVietnamese novels

The above reasons motivate us to study the topic of Nhat Linh’s novels with the

actualization of the SRLG’s reform policy of the culture and literature.

2 Subject and scope of the research

2.1 Research subject

The main research object of the thesis is Nhat Linh’s novels in the SRLG

period, thereby clarifying the actualization of the SRLG’s policy of culture and literature reform through and in Nhat Linh’s novels.

2.2 Research scope

The thesis focuses on surveying six of Nhat Linh’s novels during the SRLG

period: Nắng thu (Sunny Autumn), Đoạn tuyệt (Breaking With The Past), Đời mưa

gió (A Rough And Tumble Life), Lạnh lùng (Glacial), Đôi bạn (The Two Friends), Bướm trắng (White Butterfly) (mainly published in the Văn xuôi lãng mạn Việt Nam

1930 1945 consisting of 8 volumes, Social Science Publishing House, Hanoi, 1989

-1990); Simultaneously, in order to fully visualize the novel process, we contrast them

with the works of the pre-SRLG period, namely Nho Phong (Nho Phong) and Người

quay tơ (The Spinner), as well as the post-SRLG period, namely Dòng sông Thanh Thuỷ (Thanh Thuy River) and Xóm Cầu Mới (Cau Moi Hamlet) Besides, the Writing And Reading Novelsessay is also studied to see the writer's reflection and the change

of the art of the novel, such as the contemplative journey of exploring, innovating,

and modernizing literature

3 Purposes and mission of the research

3.2 Research mission

- Systematizing the implementation of SRLG’s policy of culture and literaturereform, thereby recording the results and confirming a right path in determining thatnovels are the main "character" of the reform

- Specifically analyzing the novel model of Nhat Linh: content, ideology,format, modernity, and suitability with the mission of social reform

- Analyzing the innovations in Nhat Linh’s art of writing novels as an effectivetool to realize the policy of cultural and literary reform: discovering new artisticconflicts; building new character images; forming a new novel language

4 Research Methods

Implementing the above-mentioned scientific tasks, the thesis uses acombination of research methods, especially the following ones:

- Interdisciplinary method: helps to explain the relationship and impact

between culture and literature, thereby expounding the policy of cultural reformthrough literature; Simultaneously, it helps to recognize the movement of history, theinfluence of political-cultural-social conditions to the writing process, thereby giving

an overview and vision of socio-cultural development

- The structural-systematic method: offers a systematic and comprehensive

view on the innovative problems in practical activities and in literature, locates therole of Nhat Linh in the process of campaigning and developing novels

- The poetics approach method: helps to analyze specific works, thereby

drawing out the features of the novel genre and the writer's thought

- The comparative method: helps to identify the similarities and differences

between Nhat Linh and other contemporary writers, between his stages of production

in suggesting and predicting a development direction in many possible ways ofexistence of modern Vietnamese novels

5 Thesis contribution

By systematizing, analyzing and interpreting important issues in theactualization of Nhat Linh’s and SRLG’s reform policy of culture and literature, thethesis shows the emergence of a modern novel "style" which met the requirements ofthe times, laid the foundation and fulcrum for the genre to develop in the future Fromthat, it shows that literature is also a powerful weapon in enlightening people'sknowledge and liberating people, and an effective way to win freedom for a nationunder feudal and colonial oppression

reflected in Nhat Linh’s novels

Chapter 4 Effects of the actualization of the SRLG’s reform policy of culture

and literature in Nhat Linh’s art of novel

Chapter 1 THEORETICAL BASIS OF THE TOPIC AND OVERVIEW

OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM 1.1 Theoretical premise and fundamental concepts of the thesis

1.1.1 Theories about novels

At the beginning of the twentieth century, modern novels entered Vietnamfrom the West with different connotations from the previous understanding of novels,

so the search for a unified concept of genre must also went through changes andadditions to gradually lead to a more complete understanding

The thesis examines some conceptions of novels at the beginning of thetwentieth century, and finds that there is a consensus on a number of characteristics

of the genre: fiction, "making a story out of one's own mind" (Tran Chanh Chieu), “a creation of the imagination” (Pham Quynh); narrative about the close reality "story

in our country” (Ho Bieu Chanh), "describing people's feelings, social customs"(Pham Quynh); with Written vernacular Chinese "putting the common language,elegant, easy to understand" (Tran Chanh Chieu), and so on

Nowadays, modern novels are understood as a literary genre with the following

basic characteristics: In terms of form, it is a large-scale narrative work in prose; In

terms of genre, it is a story of the world and individuals’ private lives in a large

relationship with society; In terms of narrative, the narrator needs to keep an objective attitude and distance from the characters; In terms of language, it is close to

everyday speech but ensures aesthetics

In order to see the importance of novels as "the main character of the literarydevelopment process" (M Bakhtin), as well as its role in culture - literature reform,the thesis briefly summarizes the development process of literary genres, thereby

coming to the affirmation that this genre always "reflects more deeply the

transformation of reality itself", setting the basic milestones of the artistic process, of

the modernization process of the world’s as well as each nation’s literature

In Nhat Linh’s works, novels are the prominent genre that best demonstrateshis progress in a period when novelists were given a great "mission" of reformingliterature in association with national reform

1.1.2 Theory of the relationship between literature and culture

- The concept of culture

Culture is a concept with many different interpretations The thesis only uses anumber of popular definitions, each of which emphasizes its own area of interest,whereby we see that culture is a product of human beings and then from culture, eachperson and community shows its own unique characteristics Literature is one of the

highest cultural products; Through literature, one can understand the culture of aperiod and a community; Conversely, cultural values are expressed, affirmed,selected, handed down and preserved through literature.

From this understanding, we see the object of investigation, i.e Nhat Linh’snovels, as the transformation of aesthetic cultural values of the transitioning period,i.e when transitioning from Medieval to Modern era, there are inevitably majorchanges: reforming the nation following the West but continuing to maintain andprotect the national identity at the same time

- The relationship between culture and literature from theory to application

The thesis outlines the literary approach in relation to culture in the world aswell as in Vietnam, affirming that this is not a new direction, has achievedremarkable achievements in the research of Tran Trong Kim, Hoai Thanh, Đinh GiaTrinh, Phan Ngoc, Tran Ngoc Vuong, Tran Nho Thin, Huynh Nhu Phuong, Do LaiThuy, Nguyen Dang Diep and so on

Applying the concept of "base system" of the Russian theorists, Iu Tynianovand M Bakhtin, we view the object in three interconnected whole systems: the wholesystem of literary works, the whole system of literature and the whole system of

culture; in which, culture is considered as the base system From that, the research

subject has been developed on those three whole systems, from wider to narrower, i.e.from the cultural system to the literary works, to be specific, from the whole system

of culture in the accelerated period of the modernization process of Vietnameseliterature in 1932 - 1945, to the whole system of SRLG’s literature, and finally to thewhole system of Nhat Linh’s novels

1.1.3 Theory of literature reform

Reform is an inevitable law of operation and development in all fields, to someextent, it is considered a revolution

The reform of Vietnamese literature that took place from the late 19th century

to early 20th century was essentially a paradigm shift The thesis examines this

change in literature from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern and Modern periodsand found that by the beginning of the 20th century, literature was gradually gettingrid of all constraints of the old paradigm, looking for new ideas, values, aesthetics,and replacing community people with individual people

In this paradigm shift, we pay special attention to the change of the genre system and the new conception of functions of literature Literature at the time oriented

towards the issue of national independence and freedom by "educating people,awakening people’s mind, developing people’s livelihood" Thus, the need forliterature reform lies right in the need for literature modernization and national

independence This "dual need" was clearly identified by the SRLG and its leader,Nhat Linh.

1.2 Research situation of Nhat Linh’s novels

1.2.1.Researching Nhat Linh’s concept of novels

Nhat Linh’s concept of novels was formed and gradually accreted in the wholeprocess from when he had not yet written a novel (before 1925) to the time he waswriting novels (1925-1940) and the post-SRLG period (1949-1960) In his view, wenote two essential requirements in novels: One is upholding an objective attitudetowards reality, not blatantly interfering in the arrangement of the story It is a newperspective on the death of "writer - God" and democratic attitude respecting readers.The other is promoting good writing, i.e the vividness in the description, not intwisty and thrilling plots, which is necessary to make "the characters on the pagereally have their own life"

1.2.2 General research on the position and characteristics of Nhat Linh’s novels

- Before 1945

During this period, Nhat Linh was highly regarded as a new novelist and thesis

novelist Two aspects that are highly appreciated are narrative techniques and

psychoanalytic skills Although there are mixed opinions about the ideological content

of Lạnh lùng (Glacial) or Đời mưa gió (A Rough And Tumble Life), very few people

criticized his writing technique Simultaneously, critics also found that although usingliterature to convert, Nhat Linh’s thesis novels are not unemotional and dogmatic, butcarries fresh colors and emotions, attracting people's hearts

- From the August Revolution of 1945 to before 1985

Nhat Linh’s novels received different evaluations and receptions in the Northand the South: the North rejected everything related to Nhat Linh, including novels;The South accepted and respected the his values, considering him as a leader who hasboth vision and talent for organizing, planning guidelines and plans for the wholegroup in carrying out the mission of culture - literature reform and reforming hisnovels at the same time

From 1986 to the present

Looking back and reviewing SRLG shows the turning point in repositioningNhat Linh This is evidenced by a series of domestic and foreign seminars, releases ofthe writer's works, and studies on him His role as a novelist is increasingly beingappreciated, especially from today's point of view, with many critics still noting thewriter's novel techniques Nhat Linh’s novels have become a choice in the writingtheses and dissertations in Vietnam as well as the world

1.2.3 Research on the actualization of the SRLG’s reform policy of culture and literature in Nhat Linh’s novels

Researches on SRLG and Nhat Linh using the culture - literature

interdisciplinary method includes Vu Gia’s works (Nhất Linh trong tiến trình hiện

đại hóa - 1995, "Tự lực văn đoàn và một số ý tưởng canh tân của Nguyen Truong

To” - 2014); Van Gia (“Cải cách thôn quê - một chủ đề mang ý nghĩa khai sáng trong

tiểu thuyết TLVĐ” - 2013); Doan Anh Duong and others, Phong Hoá hiện đại - Tự

lực văn đoàn trong tình thế thuộc địa ở Việt Nam đầu thế kỷ 20 - 2020).

Compared with the above works, our thesis is more full-scale and systematic,and is implemented parallel at two levels At the first level, it covers a wide range ofSRLG’s innovation, puts novels in the system of other genres, shows the literaryeffectiveness besides the effectiveness of journalism and social activities; At thesecond level, it provides an in-depth analysis of the novel by one of the most elitemembers of the group, showing how effectively the content, ideology and art of thenovel are achieved when actualizing the reform policy of literature and culture forcontemporary society as well as for the spiritual life of Vietnam in the future

Sub-conclusion of chapter 1

From the overview of related issues, we come to the conclusion:

- Choosing novels as the main “characters” of SRLG is an active and wise

choice and it conforms to the internal development laws of regional literature andculture and of Vietnam in the East-West culture integration in the first half of the 20thcentury, especially in the accelerated period of literature modernization of 1932-1945

- Choose the interdisciplinary method: Researching Nhat Linh’s novels as a

means of actualizing the reform policies of culture and literature can only go in thedirection of interdisciplinary research

Chapter 2 OVERVIEW OF THE SELF-RELIANT LITERARY GROUP’S REFORM

POLICY OF CULTURE AND LITERATURE 2.1 The fundamental factors influencing the birth of the Self-Reliant Literary Group

2.1.1 The need to reform the country in the context of East-West cultural contact

- The need to modernize culture and society

Entering the 20th century, Vietnamese culture and society gradually partedways with the Middle Eastern literary orbit of the pre-modern model to begin thetransition to a modern model following the Western model, leading to a change in theconception of culture - literature, of creators and the public, and of the form of genre.The thesis pays attention to the emergence of new cultural subjects: commoner

intellectuals, urban poor people, students, salaried civil servants of the Frenchgovernment, merchants, bourgeois, etc forming an intellectual class who understoodFrench and Western civilization and culture This is the most dynamic part of thecultural integration process with the world From the urban environment, with suchnew components, emerged an important element - individual consciousness.

- The need for modernization is closely linked with the need for national liberation

Upon the failure of the armed struggle movements at the beginning of thecentury, a sense of a new way to gain independence was formed: the growth of thenation, first of all by expanding the people’s knowledge, that is, by growth in culture.Thus, the need for national liberation is seen in the interaction between nationalismand modernity, as internal and external movements

2.1.2 The first achievements of the modernization process

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Vietnamese literature entered aperiod of urgent modernization and has won a visible victory:

- Effects of the national language script and the development of the press:

Thanks to printers and the publishing system, the publications of books andnewspapers quickly reached a large number of readers Newspapers written in thenational language script played a great role in fostering knowledge and modernthinking for the community

- Forming a more complete and modern genre system than before: short stories,

novels, plays, literary studies

Those are the fundamental factors that laid a solid foundation for SRLG tocontinue the unfinished culture - literature reform, which will complete the newconception of literature, reflecting a civil society with typical images as new culturalsubjects

2.1.3 Nhat Linh’s talent in organization and desire to contribute to culture

Nhat Linh himself identifies the importance of culture, writing that "culture hasmore lasting power to change than politics" As a person of clear direction andsteadfast determination in the chosen path, Nhat Linh quickly realized the path that

he would follow: Culture reform through social activities and literary creation, withthe goal of emancipating individual people and aiming for a free and democratic life

The organizational talent of the SRLG’s leader was reflected in the stages ofprinciple formulating, planning, managing, publishing, assignin, etc

- In terms of the principle: not to target a small number of intellectual readers

like academic newspapers, but to "expand the people's knowledge" in a largeraudience, with diverse and easy-to-understand topics

- In terms of planning to modernize the country's culture: advocated creation

instead of translation in order to raise the level of Vietnamese culture, affirm nationalqualities and individual talents That principle went alongside with choosing anappropriate style: satire is the main spirit of Phong Hoa and Ngay Nay This choice

turned the old Phong Hoa from a newspaper going to be shut down to a newspaperfull of satire, current news, literariness, and combativeness, becoming the mostpopular of the year among many other newspapers at that time.

- In terms of management: predicting and anticipating events (establishing the

Ngày Nay as a backup in case the Phong Hoa is forced to be discontinued); callingfor capital to buy Doi Nay Publishing House and making it the official publishingagency of the group

The talent of the organizer Nhat Linh is evident in the policy ò talentrecruitment, hospitality, and harmonious coordination among the group of youngintellectuals The members of SRLG became the first writers with a decent income aswriters and pursued it as a professional career And that is also one of the veryimportant factors promoting the process of literary modernization

All of the above shows the talent and vision of Nhat Linh Under his direction,SRLG became the leading professional group in the literature of the '30s - '40s

2.2 Principles and practical activities of SRLG

2.2.1 Principles of SRLG

The principles of the SRLG were published on Phong Hoa No 87 on March 02,

1934, including 10 articles, which can be grouped into 3 aspects: literature, ideologyand society

- In terms of literature: building a new literature with three guidelines One,

operational orientation: creating not translating to encourage the country's literature

to flourish; Second, defining the writing style: simple, easily understandable, pureVietnamese to build a populist Vietnamese literature; Third, modernizing literature

by internalizing Western methods

- In terms of ideology: First, viewing people as the center with an optimistic

spirit Second, abolishing the outdated feudal way of thinking, opposing authoritarianfamily disciplines crushing human’s right and happiness In essence, this is adeclaration of a new ideology appropriate to the progress of the world

- In terms of society, i.e the cultural subject: taking the commoners as the

foundation, thereby promoting populism and fostering patriotism This policy showedthat SRLG identified a new cultural subject and would aim to serve it

2.2.2 Practical activities

- Gather the creation force

SRLG was formed in 1933, including 7 members: Nguyen Tuong Tam (NhatLinh), Tran Khanh Giu (Khai Hung), Nguyen Tuong Long (Hoang Dao), NguyenTuong Lan (Thach Lam), Ho Trong Hieu (Tu Mo), Nguyen Thu Le (The Lu), andXuan Dieu

Looking at the human resources of the group, there are three highlights:

Firstly, these are people who are modernly educated, talented, knowledgeable

in French literature, and grew up in a new academic environment where journalismwas developed As a generation of professional writers, who did not receive a salary

from the state, they lived by their pens, so they had to always seek and express theiroriginality, constantly diversifying their styles to attract readers.

Second, this was a group of like-minded intellectuals - making a vast reform in

the social area They had the conditions to get rich as state officials but followed theliterary career

Third, this was a strong group in the novel genre Among the "seven stars" we

see the main character of prose, taking the novel as the mainstay

Journalism activities and publications

SRLG made culture by writing and making newspapers From 1932 to 1940,working on the two weeklies Phong Hoa, Ngay nay, as publications at Doi nayPublishing House, all clearly aimed at making a culture: the need for reform to makethe country grow quickly, keeping up with world civilization The result is:

- Promoting a self-reliant nationalist literature: During its operation, the

SRLG press does not translate literature, except philosophy, theory and science books,

in order to make "people and society more beautiful day by day.”

- Cultivating and multiplying the seeds of talent: The newspapers and

publishing houses of SRLG were a gathering place for all genres of art such asliterature, painting, music, and a place to promote the victory of the New Poetrymovement

- Connecting common readers and spreading reading culture in society:

Within a decade, SRLG sparked a reading and writing movement, leaving many goodthings in the community's spiritual life

Other social activities

In addition to educating people through the press and literature, members of theSRLG also reformed society by social activities in many ways: writing propagandaarticles, drawing cartoons, giving lectures, giving food to help hunger, calling forcivilized accommodations and polite attire The result is:

- SRLG brought art into the social life in a practical way, making the societymore civilized and open-minded: bringing painting into the social spiritual life bypainting exhibitions; being the earliest forum of Vietnam Photography and NewMusic, promoting the charming ao dai, etc

- SRLG was a gathering place for social support, members of the union travel

to many provinces and cities to join hands to help victims of natural disasters, storms,floods, and famine The House of Light Project, the "Light Group" changed thephysical space of rural people and the way they think and behave

In short, with its social activities, SRLG has gradually implemented theguidelines stated in the Van Doan's Principles, which is to serve the spiritual andmaterial life of the common people

2.3 The advantages and roles of novels in the actualization of the culture literature reform policy of SRLG

-2.3.1 The position of novels in the writing activities of the SRLG’s writers

The time when the SRLG appeared was when the novel was popular and soldvery well In such a trend, writing novels is an inevitable choice for the writers in thegroup to attract common intellectual readers - the target audience of the "educatingpeople” policy With such a choice, writing novels became both a goal and a mission.Among the seven members, except Tu Mo, the three main pillars also three novelistsNhat Linh, Khai Hung, Hoang Dao and the remaining members had written novels

before When talking about this style of literature, we are referring to the SRLG’s novels.

2.3.2 The major contents which novels undertakes of the actualization of the SRLG’s culture - literature reform policy

- Abolishing old-fashioned feudal ways of thinking, opposing authoritarian

family values which crush the human’s rights and happiness

- Building individual role models with high aspirations and ideology.

- Building a modern literature in the pure and beautiful Vietnamese language:

With that language, the SRLG’s literature successfully described the beauty of natureand the human soul

- Creating a diverse style: Although SRLG mainly followed the romantic

movement, they are not boring Each pen knows how to create his own style, making

a literary group with various personalities

- Acquiring new techniques to bring about modernity: bringing an end to the

Eastern chapter novels The SRLG’s novels followed the psychological structure, nottaking events as the main focus but paying attention to describing the "human soul"

- Building a modern reading community: With a content that met social needs

and an easy-to-understand language, their literature was well-received and reflectedcommunity life

Sub-conclusion of chapter 2

All of the writing, journalistic, and social activity fields of SRLG aimed atactualizing the reform policy of culture and literature in the direction of modernization and

in the specific context of the East - West culture contact The SRLG’s novels became a

"brand", as it gradually shaped itself into a style and color that later generations willdevelop, complete, and create Vietnamese modern novel literature

Chapter 3 THE MAJOR ISSUES OF THE CULTURE - LITERATURE REFORM

MISSION EXPRESSED IN NHAT LINH’S NOVELS 3.1 The dissemination of positive elements of Western civilization

3.1.1 Affirmation of personal ego

Manifestations of the affirmation of personal ego:

- Claiming the right to self-determination of life: With the imposition of the

feudal family, Nhat Linh’s characters voiced their right to decide on their own, freelife, "living for oneself and following one’s will at first”, at least in terms of personal

feelings: Loan (Breaking With The Past) declares that her marriage is her own