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Author: Le Ngoc Tra Publisher: Education Year of publication: 2007 The book is available at the Library of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Viet Nam National University Ho Chi Minh City Document location: V5(1) / V115C – Vietnamese Literature. Reading Room (Thu Duc Campus) |
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Painstaking and enthusiastic, the articles in this book by Prof. Dr. Le Ngoc Tra have brought readers interesting suggestions. Discussing the issue of literature reflecting reality, Le Ngoc Tra has correctly pointed out the inadequacies and one-sidedness of what is called reality that for a time we called upon literature to take on that mission. The author observes: "Overemphasizing the reflective nature and the task of describing the reality of literature is one of the reasons leading to the "lack of thought" of quite a few literary works over the past decades...". From this observation, a question can arise: is a work considered "lacking in thought" worth calling literature or not? Discussing human imagination, with the subject emphasized most being the writer - the creator, Le Ngoc Tra has elevated imagination to imaginative culture, and affirmed that it is always a continuous, urgent demand of life. But imagination is not about making up absurd, ridiculous stories. Le Ngoc Tra observes: "Actually, the writer's imagination capacity is mainly not the ability to create absurd situations but the ability to "defamiliarize"... Discussing "the difficulty of literature and teaching literature", Le Ngoc Tra notes a very important "characteristic" of literature, which is "complexity". We are still used to considering a "complex" piece of music as normal; but a piece of literature that is complex is immediately "complained about". From that misunderstanding, we almost do not have the feasible methods to approach literary texts scientifically. "Easy-to-understand" literature thus becomes a burden, especially for students. And Le Ngoc Tra also analyzed the difference between teaching literature at high school and university levels. According to the author: "Teaching literature at high school is, basically, one of the ways to form the student's personality"... With a simple writing style, tight reasoning, and at the same time showing the reflective experience of a professor of philology who is passionate about his profession, this is a quite interesting and necessary reference book for students and teachers of literature in schools. We would like to respectfully introduce it to readers! |
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