The pages are stained with smoke and fire

Exposing many aspects of war

In Hai Duong, there are many writers who are soldiers. They are those who directly participated in wars to protect the Fatherland or joined the army. The years of fighting on the battlefield and serving in combat are the most authentic "creative camps", helping writers reflect truthfully, vividly, and fully every aspect of war. Some of the authors that can be mentioned are: Phu Thang, Le Ngung, Nguyen To Hieu, Ho Duy Khuong, Nguyen Luan, Tran Phong Son, Do Tuan Ton, Nguyen Thanh Cai, Nguyen Sy Doan, Nguyen Nam Dong... Each page of their writing is imbued with material from war.

Many of these writers have now passed away, but the value of each work they left behind remains intact with the times. The late writer Phu Thang was a veteran writer of the Eastern land. He received the State Prize for Literature and Arts. He joined the National Defense Army and became a soldier of the 42nd Regiment of Military Region 3. Having participated in many heroic battles and encountered many situations in the war, he gained life experience to write works that reflect reality such as: "Children of the Guerrillas", "New Battlefield", "Breaking the Siege", "Children of the Regiment", "Attack"...

In which, the novel "Attack" is a continuation of "Breaking the Siege". But in "Attack", the late writer Phu Thang built the characters of soldiers with psychological dissection, the characters faced with the challenge of waiting for the right time or being vigilant, proactively attacking the enemy... "But in the end, it only revolved around the issues of the Geneva Conference and the Trung Da Conference. There were rumors about the ceasefire day. There were many different opinions about this issue. Some people thought about that beautiful day, thought about farming, thought about returning to rebuild their homeland to meet their loved ones. Some people still wanted to fight, to make more achievements but were worried about not being able to implement the ceasefire", this is a passage in the novel "Attack". If we only rely on history, we will know little about the multi-dimensional psychological developments of revolutionary soldiers, but through the writings of the late writer Phu Thang, readers see soldiers appear more realistically.

The revolutionary spirit, ready to sacrifice personal interests for the common good, is clearly depicted in the short story “The Old Man and the Incense Tree” by writer Nguyen Luan. The work mentions old man Yen deciding to give up the incense tree, the place of worship for his beloved wife who died in a French raid, to save two sows of the cooperative that were about to give birth: “It is better not to accept, but once accepted by the cooperative, the responsibility must be fulfilled, a small mistake is enough to cause trouble”.

Writer Nguyen Nam Dong (born in 1950) in Hai Duong City. He joined the "Suicide Squad" in Hue City in 1968. In 1969, he was captured by the enemy and imprisoned in Phu Quoc Prison, which was known as "hell on earth". They tortured him extremely cruelly. To this day, the after-effects of the revenge beatings are still on his body. Notably, both of his jaws are missing. Later, he wrote many works about the war, the most impressive of which was the memoir "The Story Now Tells About the First Prison Break at the B2 Non-Commissioned Officers' Detention Area, Phu Quoc Prison (1967 - 1973)". After the first escape of 21 soldiers, the enemy brutally tortured the prisoners. "The B2 Detention Area was built with more outdoor tiger cages, container detention (the enemy called it Ket So) and isolated on three sides and four sides with iron bars of the makeshift railway, the prisoners called it the mother detention area, the child detention area", a passage in the memoir of writer Nguyen Nam Dong.

“I don’t understand how I was lucky enough to survive those years. It was all thanks to my loyalty and belief in the revolutionary path of the nation. And especially the brave spirit of all my comrades and teammates that I left behind in my writings. I hope that future generations will never forget those painful but heroic days of the nation,” writer Nguyen Nam Dong shared.

War always has its dark corners. Through short stories and memoirs: “White Chrysanthemum” by Nguyen Thi Bich, “Miss Son” by Tran Phong Son, “Hidden Corners of War” by Nguyen Thanh Cai, “The Diamond Ring” by Nguyen Thi Viet Nga, “The Love of the Luoc River” by Nguyen Phuc Lai, “The End of the Love of the Fatherland” by Vu Tuyet May… we can clearly see that the haunting memories of war in the rear are also terrible. There are silent sacrifices, pain, and torment. But all are warmed by the victory of the nation and humanity.

Save for later

Years have passed, the war has receded into the past. But that glorious period of the nation's history cannot be forgotten. In 2024, the Literature Committee (Hai Duong Province Literature and Arts Association) has worked hard, through the form of socialization, to compile and publish for the first time the anthology "Hai Duong Prose on Revolutionary War" published by the Writers' Association Publishing House.

The anthology includes 32 high-quality works by 32 authors who are members of the Provincial Literature and Arts Association through the revolutionary war periods, from famous writers in the Hai Duong literary community to the current generation of young writers. It was a wonderful reunion, because each work is like a musical note in a symphony full of artistic and ideological value. And the thread running through the anthology is the echo of eternal, timeless values, containing national aspirations - love for the Fatherland, painful losses and faith in the future, a lesson in patriotism for future generations.

“The Hai Duong Prose Anthology written about revolutionary wars was created to pay tribute to generations of fathers and grandfathers who fought and sacrificed for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland in the wars against foreign invaders,” said writer Nguyen Thi Hai Yen, Head of the Literature Department (Hai Duong Province Literature and Arts Association).