Each page of the book was written by Tran Chien with both love and pain. Images of the Old Quarter in the 1960s weighed heavily on the tip of his pen bring new findings about a Hanoi which “never gets old”, a Hanoi of harsh reality, but worth thinking about.
A direct approach
Tran Chien is an author known for writing about Hanoi with a collection of works namely Beggar, Race, novels Forty-nine not yet over, Yellow light, Spoiled brat, and many others. Continuing using this land as the source of inspiration, his work Chín bỏ làm mười (To live in harmony) (Women’s Publishing House, 2018) shows his detailed observation, flexible thinking, and sharp writing skills in identifying the hidden problems in an old residential group. Behind those findings is a Hanoi which is growing day by day, but is interwoven with inadequacies that need to be dealt with in a direct approach for the better.
In contrast to the usual novel writing style in which a work is divided into different chapters, the story is told with flexible narrative changes. Different narratives are little boy Nam the bookworm, Mr. Lam the Know-It-All, Ms. Tam the “acned”, Mr. Biec the civil defense officer, Ms. Hieu “rice”, Lam the Len Dong practitioner, and Khiem the temple keeper. By their own thoughts and feelings, the characters vividly tell everything happened in the old residential group of Hang Noi. Tran Chien shared that this was not only a way to “refresh” him, but also a way to create a multi-dimensional perspective on Hanoi through different narratives. Each character represents a typical type of people you would meet in a small residential group where numerous problems and conflicts of society were found in a time context of 60-70 years ago.
In a suffocating and cramped living space reeking of toilet smell, people cannot be any better. All become victims. Bright and innocent Nam is dragged into a dirty game of adults. Lam the Len Dong practitioner shuts himself off the condemnation and boycott from others. He who yearns to touch the bottom of his being finally chooses death to liberate himself. The mother of Nam the bookworm is a nice woman who knows how to cherish beautiful things and enjoy life, but must suppress her feelings due to her neighbors’ jealousy…
Writer Tran Chien signs for the readers on the occasion of the debut of novel To Live In Harmony
Photo by Thai Minh
Insider-like characters tell their own stories. With every word, the old quarter appears differently from what we expect. There is deflection in that space, with division both literally and metaphorically. The quarter has all the traits of the Subsidy Period, with all the worries and struggling in those unforgettable years. This approach gives the novel a vague sadness. The worries and concerns shown clearly leave a strong impression in readers, especially those who live or used to live in an urban space.
Returning to the true Hanoi
Some say “To Live In Harmony” shows Tran Chien’s clear understanding about the soul of Hanoians of a distant time. The rusty tone exposes all the “ugly” traits and limits of Hanoi in a subtle manner. Through only a few hundred pages, Tran Chien has portrayed a whole period in Hanoi, especially the urban life in that period, the portrayal of which by post-1954 literary works seem rather sketchy. The characters, though ordinary, even trivial people, have made up a part of the soul of Hanoi. This soul, undergoing such changes of the ups and downs of time, brought along with it the changes in each person’s destiny and the change in itself.
In the novel, there are times the author let his characters talk about “to live in harmony”. The proverb that is used as the title of his work repeats itself like a witty little bitter smile. Small and large events occurring in the small quarter of Hang Noi are bypassed with the residents’ “to live in harmony” manner. Anger and sourness in the hearts of the people are, therefore, swallowed down whether they like it or not. Also because of this approach, many values were lost due to the attitude of keeping it safe and perfunctory among all. This trait, though, might cause Hanoi to lose its distinctive characteristics.
Although the novel’s time context was set in the 60s, the author also put in it several contemporary issues. That does not break the storyline, but rather helps draw it near our modern life. Of those “worth writing” social aspects of the time, the novel touches on cultural conflicts. For example, Ms. Hieu’s attitude of requiring home-made meals to be delicious, stewed meat to be accompanied by brown sugar syrup, or considering women beautiful only when they are dressed in long dresses and wear clogs, is gossiped around and attributed to the lifestyle of a capitalist’s. According to writer Tran Chien, the complex situation at the time made it difficult to judge, but it happened on a daily basis and caused huge cultural loss. To identify and face this issue is to “touch” another corner of Hanoi.
The lyrics “the small street where my home is” (Ha Noi and I, Le Vinh) is quoted to open up the story about the ups and downs of an old quarter and also to lead to the writer’s hearty words. No matter how much one loves Hanoi, the stories in “To Live In Harmony” pulls him/her right back to reality. The truth makes people not to delude themselves. According to critic Pham Xuan Nguyen, with this novel, Tran Chien mourns the beauty of Hanoi that has faded or may fade away. In the poems, lyrics, and literary works by Nguyen Ngoc Tien, Nguyen Viet Ha, and many other writers, including Tran Chien himself, different versions of Hanoi have been portrayed. This time, the love for Hanoi stays, but with a little restlessness.
Source: The People’s Delegation