For me, the works of Tu Luc Van Doan are associated with unforgettable memories. Last year, I had many new emotions when I visited the old traces of Tu Luc Van Doan, especially the old house in Cam Giang (Hai Duong).
Coincidentally, in the past year I have had many connections with the Tu Luc Van Doan.[1]. In February, visit Nhat Linh's tomb in Hoi An, then visit the Tu Luc Van Doan relic site in Cam Giang (Hai Duong), visit the address 80 Quan Thanh, Hanoi, where the headquarters of this group's two newspapers were once located.
Near the end of the year, I was given a memoir by Mrs. Nguyen Tuong Nhung, the eldest daughter of Thach Lam.Months and Days Pass.
New discoveries and new emotions connect with the vibrations of the days reading Tu Luc Van Doan in high school more than half a century ago.
After the Giap Thin Tet holiday, on February 14, 2024, some friends from Da Nang and I went to Hoi An to visit Nhat Linh's tomb. The Nguyen Tuong clan tomb is located in an area of tombstones of many clans built on the outskirts of Hoi An.
Here, we were very happy to meet and talk to Mr. Nguyen Tuong Manh, the 12th generation of the Nguyen Tuong clan, who is in charge of looking after his clan's grave (Nhat Linh Nguyen Tuong Tam is the 10th generation).[2]. The ancestors of the Nguyen Tuong clan were originally from Thanh Hoa. In the 6th generation, Nguyen Tuong Van (1774 - 1822) migrated to Gia Dinh. He followed Nguyen Anh to build his career. Later, he became an official in Phu Xuan. He was a tax collector in Quang Nam for a while, and under Minh Mang, he became the Minister of War. When he died, he was buried in Quang Nam.
Nguyen Tuong Van's second son, Nguyen Tuong Pho (1807 - 1856), was an official of the Nguyen Dynasty. Pho's eldest son, Nguyen Tuong Tiep, was appointed by the Nguyen Dynasty as the District Chief of Cam Giang.
One of Mr. Tiep's four children was Nguyen Tuong Nhu (1881 - 1918), the biological father of the three brothers Nhat Linh (1906 - 1963), Hoang Dao (1907 - 1948) and Thach Lam (1910 - 1942). The mother of the three writers was Mrs. Le Thi Sam (commonly known as Mrs. Thong Nhu after her husband's name and position), daughter of Le Quang Thuat, a native of Hue, who was sent by the Nguyen Dynasty to Cam Giang to take office and here he became a matchmaker with Nguyen Tuong Tiep.
Thus, the three main writers of the Tu Luc Van Doan were originally from Thanh Hoa and then Quang Nam, but were all born in Cam Giang, Hai Duong.
Later, the three of them went to study in Hanoi, worked as journalists and writers in Hanoi, but every weekend they returned to Cam Giang with other writers. When the members of the Tu Luc Van Doan returned to their activities every weekend, an area called Cam Giang Camp was formed here, built by the mother of the three Nguyen Tuong brothers.
According to memoirsMonths and Days Passby Nguyen Tuong Nhung (Thach Ngu Publishing House, 2021), the farm is 2 hectares wide, originally a piece of land that a debtor Mrs. Sam gave up to pay off her debt. She built a brick house, a side house, a flower garden, and planted trees with money from the help of her eldest son and her Le family in Hue. After 1954, she migrated to the South and died in Saigon in 1961.
After returning from studying in France (in 1930), Nhat Linh wanted to use literature and journalism to raise people's knowledge and reform society. He believed that the Vietnamese people were colonized partly because the majority were illiterate, had bad customs, and were superstitious, so it was necessary to raise people's knowledge and make them gradually change to a new way of life.
In 1932, Nhat Linh was given the Phong Hoa newspaper by his friend, the first issue with Nhat Linh as editor-in-chief was published on September 22, 1932. Half a year later, in March 1933, Nhat Linh realized the need to expand and maintain long-term literary and journalistic activities, so he established the Tu Luc Van Doan, initially with four members: the three brothers Nguyen Tuong and Khai Hung (1896 - 1947). Later, The Lu (1907 - 1989), Xuan Dieu (1916 - 1985) and Tu Mo (1900 - 1976) were added. About 2 years later, Nhat Linh continued to publish the Ngay Nay newspaper (first issue published on January 30, 1935, from the second issue the editor-in-chief changed from Nhat Linh to Thach Lam).
By 1936, Phong Hoa was closed because it published a series of articles strongly criticizing the current government. Ngay Nay operated for a few more years and was also closed. Tu Luc Van Doan continued to operate until about 1942, when Thach Lam died and Nhat Linh, Hoang Dao, and Khai Hung turned to politics.
On the afternoon of February 22, 2024, journalist Phuc Tien and I visited 80 Quan Thanh (Hanoi), where the editorial offices of Phong Hoa and Ngay Nay newspapers are located.
After many changes, this place has now become an apartment building, there is no longer any trace of the Tu Luc Van Doan, but coming here still gives one the feeling of recalling the journalistic and literary activities of Nhat Linh and his friends about 90 years ago.
We then visited 15 Hang Be, where Mrs. Pham Thi Nguyen, Nhat Linh’s wife, opened a shop to support her children in the 1940s, while her husband was in exile in Hong Kong. In 1949, Nhat Linh returned to Vietnam and at this house he announced that he would no longer be active in politics and would return to writing. Shortly after, he and his family migrated to the South.
Writers and journalists in the Tu Luc Van Doan worked in Hanoi but took the train to Cam Giang camp on weekends to live, discuss literature, and plan to write articles and books. The result was to turn this land into a unique literary gathering place that later generations were interested in and admired. This was also the land where the three Nguyen Tuong brothers were born, whose trains to Cam Giang station and the living scenes of the people in the surrounding area were reflected in two short stories.Two childrenandUnder the shade of magnoliaby Thach Lam
On February 19, 2024, I traveled from Hanoi to Hai Duong to visit Cam Giang Camp, more than 40 kilometers from Hanoi. On the way, I felt excited and thrilled, having long hoped for this opportunity and now I could do it. Thanks to journalist Mai Duc Loc (Da Nang) who contacted me in advance, I was welcomed by the Director of Hai Duong Radio and Television Station Nguyen Hai Binh and sent a staff to guide me to Cam Giang Camp.
Here, I met Mr. Tran Quang Thong, a member of the Executive Committee of the Literature and Arts Association of Hai Duong province and former Deputy Secretary of the old Cam Giang town (now Cam Giang town), so I heard many stories about the traces of the Tu Luc Van Doan as well as recent activities of artists and writers related to evaluating the meaning and literary position of this organization.
Many people believe that the spirit of Tu Luc Van Doan literature arose from Cam Giang station located in the center of the old town. We can imagine Nhat Linh and his literary friends coming from Hanoi every weekend, getting off the train at this station, following each other to the house they built (called Anh Sang House) in the Cam Giang Camp area. It was here that the initial ideas of many of their lifetime works were born.
From Thach Lam Street, go into the small road and you will see Cam Giang Station on the left, and the old Cam Giang Camp grounds on the right. In front of the gate is a sign for Tu Luc Van Doan (1932-1942), many of the letters of which have faded. The entrance is located between two mossy brick walls. On the right, in the middle, there is a brick house built in the 1980s. Behind it is a plot of land that was originally the foundation of a horizontal house built by Nhat Linh in the early 1930s, with doors opening to four directions, called the Light House.
In the brick house, in the front there is an altar and portraits of the members of the Tu Luc Van Doan, on the left side there are pictures of visits and conferences of artists from Hanoi and other places. In front of the house is a small yard with many tall trees such as longan and areca trees and outside is a fish pond.
Before the altar of the members of the Tu Luc Van Doan, I burned incense in memory of the authors whose short stories, novels, and poems I read most of when I was in high school.
Whether the Tu Luc Van Doan had 7 or 8 members has been a topic of debate for many years. Those who advocated 7 members called this group “that tinh”, while 8 members were called “bat tu”. The reason for this different opinion is related to Tran Tieu, the author of the novelBuffaloSome people believe that Khai Hung introduced his younger brother (Tran Tieu) to join the Tu Luc Van Doan.
Tu Mo, in his memoirsIn the kitchen of Tu Luc Van Doan, also confirmed that Tran Tieu is a member[3].
But a conference of literary researchers in 2008 confirmed that Tran Tieu was not a member of this organization. The Tu Luc Van Doan altar was established by a group of lecturers at Vinh Phuc Pedagogical School in 2014, but the portraits and names of the members of the Tu Luc Van Doan were collected by Mr. Tran Quang Thong and hung on the wall inside the altar (since 2007). Mr. Thong informed that the Tu Luc Van Doan had "eight constellations" so he added a photo of Tran Tieu. After the 2008 conference, many people asked him to remove the photo of Tran Tieu, but he still kept the name of Tran Tieu, implying that the issue was still being debated.
Burning incense and looking at the portraits of the writers of the Tu Luc Van Doan, I was moved to recall my days in junior high school (now middle school). During those years, I read almost all the novels of Nhat Linh, Khai Hung and Thach Lam. When I was in the 6th grade (now 7th grade), both 6th grade A and B classes studied literature with the same teacher. The teacher let class A present to class B and vice versa about a novel of their choice among the books of the Tu Luc Van Doan. I still remember the heated debates aboutRupture,Halfway through spring...
About Nhat Linh, I like two books the most.Two friendsandParagrapht. I still remember a passage inRupture, in which Nhat Linh lets the character Dung talk about patriotism: “That afternoon, Dung felt like he felt the soul of the country, which was not represented by the famous kings and lords, but by the nameless common people. The people were the country. Loving the country was about being with the common people, thinking about the suffering of the common people.”. This is a very good and practical definition of patriotism. At that time, I admired Nhat Linh not only for his literary talent but also for the ideas he contained in his novels.
Today, from the Tu Luc Van Doan memorial house, looking through the back window at the land that used to be Anh Sang House, where writers lived and did literary activities every weekend, I admire Nhat Linh's ideology for the poor.
According to Mr. Tran Quang Thong, Nhat Linh initiated the movement to bring light to the poor, persuade them to have a healthy, hygienic lifestyle, abandon bad customs and superstitions... To implement this motto, Nhat Linh propagated through the press and here, built the Light House with simple materials taken from the locality but built into a cool house, meeting hygiene standards. A house like that in the countryside has a symbolic meaning calling on people to follow a new lifestyle.
In 1963, when Nhat Linh committed suicide by taking poison to protest the Ngo Dinh Diem government's impending sentencing of him, Nguyen Duy Hieu High School (Dien Ban, Quang Nam), where I was studying, held a memorial service in the schoolyard. The literature teacher read a very good memorial speech, including a long passage using the names of Nhat Linh's works to form a poem praising his career.
At the memorial service for Nhat Linh on January 5, 1964 in Saigon, poet Vu Hoang Chuong read a eulogy that included two parallel sentences that encapsulated most of the names of Nhat Linh's novels:
The silk spinner and his dark friends, he had to live, why break up?
Life is cold and rainy, white butterflies are cold, where is the golden afternoon autumn sunshine?
Except for the words “why, where”, all are the names of Nhat Linh's works, including the short story collection Anh Phai Song, co-written with Khai Hung.
About Khai Hung, I remember many times shedding tears while reading.Butterfly Soul Dreams of FairiesandHalfway through springPerhaps because of many emotional details in the hearts of sensitive youth, Khai Hung wrote a lot. At that time, I read an article, the author seemed to be Tu Gay (maybe a relative or friend of Tu Mo), who used the names of Khai Hung's works (including novels co-written with Nhat Linh) to express his condolences after knowing that he was no longer with us: "Everyone was sure that he had to live to hear the sound of the stream, to see the flower stall or the windy life. But unexpectedly, Khai Hung had already spent half his spring alone on the dusty road. His wife and children, his family still waited for the brave man Tieu Son with their butterfly souls. But that brave man never returned to his beloved family!”...
Thach Lam is a writer who specializes in short stories. When I was in high school, I also readCold wind of early season,Sunshine in the garden,New DayandHanoi 36 streets. The most impressive and touching stories are those describing the extreme poverty of families likeMother Le's house, or the hopeless life of rural girls inThe Grocery GirlShort storiesTwo childrenandUnder the shade of magnoliaredrawing the scene of daily life around the market and Cam Giang station where the author and her sister (Nguyen Thi The) were assigned by their mother to look after the store when they were very young...
Big mark
The works of Tu Luc Van Doan had a profound influence on me throughout my childhood.
Now, coming to the place where the writers were born, grew up, and especially where they discussed literature, art and society to create their immortal works, I cannot help but feel moved and emotional.
This time, I also felt warm when I learned that later there was sympathy and objective evaluation of the Self-Reliant Literary Group despite many initial limitations. The literary, literary, and educational circles had activities to express their respect for this organization. Writers, artists, literary critics, and historical researchers from all over came to Cam Giang.
In particular, the Hai Duong provincial government has made wise decisions such as naming the street Thach Lam and organizing useful activities such as seminars on Tu Luc Van Doan...
In memoirsMonths and Days Pass, Mrs. Tuong Nhung, the eldest daughter of Thach Lam, also talked about her gratitude when she visited Cam Giang again and was warmly welcomed by the local authorities.
Even in the North in the 1960s, when the Tu Luc Van Doan was heavily criticized, there were still stories worth recording about the impartiality of true artists. In the book of Khuc Ha Linh, a person who read a lot and admired the Tu Luc Van Doan, the author told the story of his time in high school in the North in the 1960s as follows: He was sent by his school to compete in the literature competition for excellent students in the whole province (Hai Duong). The exam that year was to comment on the poem Co Gai Song Huong by To Huu. His essay was one of the two best, with a score of 9/10. Finally, the Board of Judges suggested that the essay should be re-read to see which essay had rich knowledge, beyond the textbook curriculum taught by the school, to choose the first prize. And Khuc Ha Linh's article was chosen because in addition to analyzing with a formal writing style (highly appreciating the revolutionary poet To Huu for sympathizing with the fate of the street girl and foreseeing a bright future for her), it also compared it to the image of Miss Tuyet in the novel.Life of stormsof Nhat Linh and Khai Hung.
The Self-Reliant Literary Group only operated for about 10 years, but it left a big mark on Vietnamese literature and contributed to changing outdated concepts and customs of our society in the early 20th century. In addition, through many characters in its novels, the Self-Reliant Literary Group also contributed to fostering the spirit of humanity and humanism in the youth through many generations.
For me, the works of Tu Luc Van Doan are also associated with unforgettable memories from high school.
Tokyo, early 2025
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[1]Regarding the way to write the name of this organization, most documents only capitalize the first letter (Tu Luc Van Doan), some documents also capitalize the word Van and some places capitalize all four letters. In my opinion, the two letters Tu and Van should be capitalized. However, here I follow the majority, only capitalizing the word Tu (except in the case of the way it is written in the reference source).
[2]Through the story of Nguyen Tuong Manh and referring to related books, especially Khuc Ha Linh's book, The Brothers Nguyen Tuong Tam Nhat Linh: Light and Darkness, Thanh Nien Publishing House (2017) and the memoir of Nhat Linh's younger sister Nguyen Thi The, Nguyen Tuong Family Memoirs: Family Stories of the Pillars of the Tu Luc Van Doan (Vietnamese Women's Publishing House, 2021), we learn more about the origins of the ancestors of Nhat Linh, Hoang Dao and Thach Lam.
[3]I have not read Tu Mo's memoirs, but literature professor Huynh Nhu Phuong said so when reading the manuscript of this article. According to Phuong, besides Tu Mo's memoirs, he has not seen any documents saying that Tran Tieu was a member of Tu Luc Van Doan.
Professor TRAN VAN THO, Waseda University, Tokyo