ĐẶC điểm của TIỂU THUYẾT có TÍNH CHẤT tự TRUYỆN TRONG văn học VIỆT NAM THẾ kỷ XX tt tiếng anh

HUE UNIVERSITY
SCIENCE UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN VAN TONG

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL
NOVELS IN VIETNAMESE LITERATURE IN THE
TWENTIETH CENTURY

PhD THESIS OF VIETNAMESE LITERATURE


HUE – 2019
HUE UNIVERSITY
SCIENCE UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN VAN TONG

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL
NOVELS IN VIETNAMESE LITERATURE IN THE
TWENTIETH CENTURY

MAJOR: VIETNAMESE LITERATURE
Cod: 62.22.01.21

PhD THESIS OF VIETNAMESE LITERATURE

Science instructure:
Dr. TON THAT DUNG
Dr. HA NGOC HOA

HUE - 2019
This thesis finished in:..........................................................................
..............................................................................................................

Supervisors:........................................................................................
..............................................................................................................

Reviewer 1: .........................................................................................
..............................................................................................................
Reviewer 2: .........................................................................................
..............................................................................................................
Reviewer 3:.........................................................................................
..............................................................................................................

The thesis was protected before Hue University Thesis Review Board
meeting at.............................................................................................
..............................................................................................................
In the day: ... day ... month .... 2019

Can search thesis at:..........................................................................



THE BEGINNING
1.The reason of choosing topic
1.1.Nowadays, Autobiographical novel terminology
(“autofiction’’ in French, or “autobiographical novel” in English)
is not strange in the literary. This terminology was known the
first time in 1977, when Serge Doubrovsky had the invention of

combining two words together: “auto’’ and “fiction” [20, p.43]. On
the world, autobiographical novel became popular from the 20 th
century, connected closely with some famous writers such as:
Ch.Dickens (the author of David Copperfil), M.Gorki (the author
of “Thoi tho au”, “Kiem song”, “Nhung truong dai hoc cua toi”),
L.Tolstoy (the author of “Thoi tho au”, “Thoi nien thieu”, “Thoi
thanh nien”), Aragon( “Ga dan que” ), Claude Simon ( “Dien vien”,
“Cay keo”), M.Duas ( “Nguoi tinh” ), etc. However, that does not
mean that autobiographical novel had become familiar to all the
readers as well as had been recognized by literary researchers
and critics. Because in the way of defining the genre, literary
researchers and critics are also not homogeneous: according to
some documents, autobiographical novels are novels which were
written in the form of narration through fiction; some documents
have the different definition of autobiographical novels, in which
the author is both a narrator and a character, sharing the same
title, and the name proves that it is a novel…[20, p,34-35]. Up to
now, in Vietnam, autobiographical novel have not yet a specific
genre. However, in the process of artistic creation, many writers
used the element of autobiography as material in their novels.
From early test of writers in the first half of the twentieth
century such as Tan Da, Nguyen Hong, Manh Phu Tu, Lan Khai,
etc to the writers in the southern city: Thanh Tam Tuyen , Mai
Thao, Duyen Anh, Vo Hong, Tuy Hong, etc. Especially, after the
period of renovation, the number of autobiographical novels
appeared plentiful in the literature circles, formed the strong
flow. Many writers have used the autobiographical element as a
form of art to innovate and refine the novel.
1.2. This is also the reason why we choose "The features of
autobiographical novel in Vietnamese literature in the twentieth

century" as a research topic in order to find the movement, the
development process as well as the achievement both in terms of
1


content and form, contributing to clarify the aspect of
autobiographical novel - a potential sub-genre in the process of the
movement.
2. Objectives and tasks of the research
2.1. Objectives
With the subject of autobiographical features in Vietnamese
literature of the twentieth century, the thesis author aims to
identify and explain the characteristics of autobiographical
novels in Vietnamese literature throughout the length of the
twentieth century.
2.2. Tasks
To systematize the research directions, access to
autobiographical nature novels which are already, analyze,
explain to clarify something which is left open and identify
specific research; Clearly define the foudation premise for the
development of autobiographical novels;Briefly summarizes the
subjects of study in the overall relationship of Vietnamese
literary life and applied theories in the research process; Analysis
of the origins and development of autobiographical novels is
based on the relationship between the reality of the author's life
and the world of art in the work through different stages in order
to find the motive law of this sub-genre.
3. Subjects and scopes of the research
3.1. Research subjects
The subjects survey of the thesis are autobiographical novels

in Vietnamese literature of the twentieth century.
3.2. Research scopes
The dissertation focuses on the study of autobiographical
novels in Vietnamese literature of the twentieth century on the
following aspects: basic premise formed; The movement of the
novel is autobiographical in various ways; expressions of this
sub-genre.
4. Research methodology
Biography method; Statistical methods, classification;
Interdisciplinary approach; Comparison method;
5. New contribution of the dissertation
We choose the research topic The characteristics of
autobiographical novels in Vietnamese literature in 20th century
as a latest and indispensable research direction. This is a topic
that has both theoretical and practical value, not duplicated with
other researches.
2


When surveying autobiographical novels of Vietnamese
literature for a century, we have tried to establish the basic
characteristics of autobiographical novels based on the
theoretical basis, formation premise as well as the movement of
autobiographical novels within a century.
From the systematize theories of autobiographical novels,
the dissertation offers practical research interpretations to
outline some of the specific characteristic concepts of
autobiographical novels.
As a specialized study, the dissertation also established an
overview of the movement, development and appearance of

autobiographical novels in Vietnamese literature in the twentieth
century.
The dissertation also contributes to confirm the role and
position of autobiographical novels in the process and
development of modern Vietnamese novels.
6. Structures of the thesis
Chapter 1: Overview of research situation; Chapter 2:
Theoretical basis and autobiographical imagery in 20th century
of Vietnamese literature; Chapter 3: Autobiographical novels in
Vietnamese literature in the twentieth century - From the
sensory perspective and the human; Chapter 4: Autobiographical
novels
in Vietnamese literature in the twentieth century- seen from the
mode of expression.
CHAPTER 1: THE OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH
1.1.The research on autobiography in the world was
introduced in Vietnam
The first autobiographical works in the world began to
appear in modern Western Europe. However, this official noun had
to wait until the end of the 18 th century, when the genre began to
flourish in Europe and North America. The first research documents
about autobiographical genres appeared in the early twentieth
century with the monographs of Anna Robson Burr (1909), Wayne
Shumaker (1926). But it was not until 1960, when “Design and
Truth in Autobiography” of Roy Pascal began to study autobiography
as "a creative activity’’. By the 1970s, Jame Olney – an American
literary critic, in his autobiography, wrote: " the transition to "ego"
when you have the aware of its existence will shape and determine
the nature of the autobiography and in this process we will both
3

discover and recreate ourselves - has begun the autobiographical
topic in the debates " [155].
In the last three decades of the twentieth century, along
with the proliferation of autobiographical genres, literary
researchers and critics no longer see autobiographical as
"periphery", they see it in many different dimensions in the role
of a literary genre. Hence, whole system of theory is well defined.
One of them is Le Pacte Autobiographique of Philippe Lejeune's
(1975). But in the last two decades of the twentieth century,
when autobiography became more abundant, the problems of
researching the autobiography came back , seem to be the
previously
autobiographical
theories
and
Le
Pacte
Autobiographique of Philippe Lejeune's is almost impossible to
keep up with the diversified development of autobiography.
Many researchers focus on exploring the world of autobiography
from the field of creative psychology and ethnology, from culture
and art psychology.
1.2. The research on autobiographical and autobiographical
novels in Vietnam
In Vietnam, from the early days, when the autobiographical
novel appeared with a strange face, Vietnamese academics in the
early twentieth century began to focus on its development. Among
the works, “Nha van hien dai” of Vu Ngoc Phan is perhaps the first

study of autobiographical aspects. Gradually, especially in the
process after 1986, the standpoint and the thinking art changed,
facilitated the appearance of autobiographical tendency which
attracted the attraction of literary researchers and critics. Hence,
the researches on this tendency are also more and more flourish.
These include some following researches, such as: From
the renewal to look back the history of exchanges interacting with
Western literature (Phong Le); The renewal of Vietnamese
literature since 1975 (Nguyen Van Long); Stories and
autobiography of Phan Boi Chau (Hoang Duc Khoa); Approaching
Vietnamese novels in the renovation period (Bich Thu); Prose of
Vietnam 1975 - 1995 (Nguyen Thi Binh); Vietnamese literature in
the transition (La Nguyen); Literature and market economy in the
last ten years (Nguyen Phuong); The art of point of view in
Vietnamese novels in the period of renovation (Mai Hai Oanh);
Novel, an irreplaceable value (Ma Van Khang);
The movement of prose genres in the period of renovation
(Ly Hoai Thu); Century novel (Nguyen Vy Khanh);
4


Autobiographical tendency in Vietnamese novels (Do Hai Ninh);
The relationship between autobiography- novels and some other
forms of autobiography in contemporary Vietnamese literature
(Do Hai Ninh); Some explanations about the phenomenon of
autobiography in the prose of Vietnamese women authors from
1900 to present (Ho Khanh Van); The autobiographical character
in contemporary Vietnamese women novels (Tran Huyen Sam).
Autobiography and autobiographical novels in our country
have had a long series of formation and development. However,

so far, compared to other genres, it seems that it has not received
the favor from literary researchers and critics. According to our
survey, there are many authors who are focus on investigating
autobiography and autobiographical novels, but it is generally
only a combination of perceptions and evaluations. Or, if so, just a
brief survey (Autobiographical novels in contemporary
Vietnamese literature by Do Hai Ninh), there has not been an
intensive study of the autobiographical and autobiographical
features of 20th century Vietnamese novels.
1.3. The evaluation and comment on specific works
1.3.1. The period before 1945
A century-long survey, from the early traces of
autobiographical novels to the novel's mainstream of Vietnamese
fiction, we find that the existence of autobiographical novels is due
to the "reading" of the readers through all ages, including the
presence of super-readers, who provide a link between this subgenre and the readers.
Here, we summarize the articles, the research on the
autobiographical
novels in Vietnamese literature in the period
before 1945: “Nha van hien dai” (Vu Ngoc Phan); “Nhung ngay tho
au” - a special memorable autobiography (Nguyen Ngoc Thien);
“Song nho of Manh Phu Tu” (Bui Huy Phon); “Two spaces in Song
mon” (Do Duc Hieu); Read back and look back on "Song mon"
(Phong Le); “Featured autobiography style in Song mon” (Nguyen
Ngoc Thien), etc.
It is possible that studies of autobiographical novels that
took place before 1945 were written at different time. These
studies often generalize, or they only exploit the singularity of
the works both in terms of content and art.
1.3.2. The period from 1945 to 1975

For a long time, in the period from 1945 to 1954,
autobiographical novels almost did not appear on Vietnamese
5


literature. In the years after 1954, this novel began to reappear in
the heart of the South and in the resistance, with some works
such as: “Vong tay hoc tro” of Nguyen Thi Hoang, “Bep lua” of
Thanh Tam Tuyen, “Toi nhin toi tren vach” of Tuy Hong, “Nguoi ve
dau non” and “Hoa buom buom” of Vo Hong, etc. The appearance
of these works can be seen as remarkable achievements of
autobiographical novels in Vietnamese literature from 1954 to
1975.
However, the majority of these novels have been widely
acknowledged and evaluated by researchers in the study of
contemporary fiction: The novel of 1961 published by Phuong
Thao on Encyclopedia (121) January 15 th, 1962; Comment on
the modern novel by Nguyen Ngu I, published in Encyclopedia
No. 136, September 1st , 1962; The modern novel (1963) (New
Life Publisher); The novel in 1964 of Thu Thuy (News in
February, 1965); One year of novels by Nhat Tien published on
Bach Khoa No.266 - 266 (January 15 th , 1968), etc.
1.3.3. The period from 1975 to the end of the twentieth
century
Since 1975, when the country began to revive gradually, it
is also the time when autobiographical novels have flourished,
among them are novels: “Thoi xa vang” of Le Luu, “Noi buon chien
tranh” of Bao Ninh, “Tuoi tho du doi” of Phung Quan, “Chuyen ke
nam 2000” by Bui Ngoc Tan, “Mien tho au” of Vu Thu Hien and
other works of Ma Van Khang,etc.

We would like to point out the writings and comments on
the specific works that came out in this way, including: The
development of Vietnamese prose after 1975 (Le Tien Dung);
Prose of Vietnam 1975 - 1995 (Thai Thi My Binh); Le Luu and
narrative narration in “Thoi xa vang” (Nguyen Thi Nhu Trang Ngo Thu Thuy); “Noi buon chien tranh” from America (Pham Xuan
Nguyen); "Noi buon chien tranh" written about postwar period
from heroism to the need to innovate writing (Pham Xuan Thach);
Self-aware narrator in "Noi buon chien tranh" (Cao Kim Lan);
Special features of Phung Quan’s art (Vinh Man); “Chuyen ke nam
2000” – un published indictment (Le Minh Ha); Reading “Chuyen
ke nam 2000” by Bui Ngoc Tan (Nguyen Thi Hai Ha); “Song tu
truong II” (Thuy Khue); Reading " Chuyen ke nam 2000" by Bui
Ngoc Tan (Tran Binh Nam).
In our survey scale , we found that researchers through a
variety of approaches have evaluations and comments on
6


autobiographical novel based on many aspects, from the author,
the work to the subject, the character to the view of narrative art.
This is not only a source of information but also providing an
useful theoretical basis for the study of autobiographical novels.
CHAPTER 2
THEORETICAL BASIS AND AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL
APPEARANCE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
OF VIETNAMESE LITERATURE
2.1. Introduction of Category
2.1.1. Autobiographical novels
Using the terminology of autobiographic in this thesis, we
would like to concretize the works where the author uses

autobiographical material to fictionize a novel, including the
autobiographical novels which have the shapes and the
autobiography characteristics in the novel. In these novels,
almost every author selects the novel genre to "rewrite" his life
story. But in the process of creativity, each writer has a way of
handling the material of the true life in their own ways.
2.1.2. The concept of autobiography
According to some research papers on the autobiography
of scientists, the first autobiographical works began appearing
from the modern time in Western Europe. But by the beginning
of the eighteenth century, a new official autobiography was used.
However, in order to have a fairly full definition of autobiography,
it has to wait until the work Le Pacte Autobiographique of
Philippe Lejeune's Narrative was born (1975). In this treaty,
Philippe Lejeune defined: "Autobiographical is a genre of selfrediscovery, in which a man is genuinely telling his or her own
life, emphasis on private life, especially in the history of
personality formation" [150]. The Dictionary of French Literature
from A to Z defines: "Autobiography is a literary genre at which
the author rewrites a story about his own life" [92, p. 35]. The
dictionary of literature of Do Duc Hieu (chief editor) defines the
autobiography as "a literary genre in which the author tells the
story of his life. The main character of the story is the author
"[92, p. 35]. Le Ba Han's Dictionary of Literary Terminology (co7


editor) defines "autobiographical as a literary work of a narrative
type written by the author about his life" [33, p.389]. From the
above definitions, it can be seen a noticeable point in the opinion
of the authors: it is recognized that the autobiography is a
literary genre in which the material made the main work from

the author's real life.
2.1.3. The concept of autobiographical novels
In the novel seminar, at the Strasbourg University (1970),
there were a number of discussion around the role and
development path of the autobiographical novel in the time of
novel genre renewal. It has many argued that the fusion and
penetration between the novels and the autobiography has
opened a promising development direction in the future for the
novel genre. However, in fact, there have still many contrary
opinions.
There are many authors who disagree with the inclusion of
the autobiography in a novel work and cannot innovate the novel by
the way of narrative in the first person (autobiography). In the
Autofiction & Cie Workshop (novel autobiography and co-type) held
at the Nanterre University (1992), in the Autobiography Novels
essays: A bad genre? (l'autofiction: un mauvais genre?), Jacques
Lecarme confirms that autobiography novels are "stories in which
the author is both a narrator and a character, sharing a title together,
and the name demonstrates the novel" [20, p. 35]. T.S. Eliot again
said that "the advancement of the artist was the relentless
abandoned himself, the reduction of personal factors" [94, p. 40].
According to Pierre Alexandre, the Autobiography (self-fiction) is
the story, in which the author is both a narrator and a character,
they share the same title together, and the text and/or around the
text shall prove that is fictional "[20, p. 35].
It is possible to say that autobiographical novels are
fictitious art based on the biography of the author's life. The
details from the author's life become the material to make the
novel work.
2.1.4. Novels are nonfictional in relation to similar categories

2.1.4.1. Relationships with memoir and diary
These are genres associated with the story of private life,
8


these are ideal types which are able to "certificate" to honest
describe the experience of the times, but if the diary is often
associated with topicality time, done as a record of occurring daily
activities, with specific date numbers, autobiographical novels and
memoirs are often backward from time by the author, found the
past - recount the events that have taken place in his life. The diary
is often a monologue, written for their own, and the novel has an
autobiographical character, written in order to express and give to
others. But, there is a clear distinction region between
autobiographical novels and memoir. By, on the shaft of the literary
genre system, the nature of signing is the record, requiring the
accuracy of the events and evaluation of an intuitive manner of the
written. The fictional elements, if any, only carry the same function
as additives to support the visual events. The nature of the novel is
fictional to form the complete literary images. Furthermore,
memoirs often need time to "fill up" the memory region, so there is
usually no ego in the present. In contrast, in autobiographical
novels, there is often a self in the past that looks back on the past
as a journey to find ourselves.
2.1.4.2. Correlation with autobiography
The similarities and differences in the nature and
characteristics of autobiographical and autobiographical novels can
be documented in the following table:
The
relationship

The truth of
Person
between the
private life
Genre\
author - the
Subclass
character - the
storyteller
The author - the
The first
character - the
Autobiography Play a central role
person, I
narrator is one.
Leaning on novels
May be similar,
The first or
Autobiographic - The truth of
but not
third
al novel
private life +
completely
person
fiction
identical.
Characteristics

From

what

we

investigated
9

and

studied

on


autobiographical novels, we preached the notion of
autobiographical novels as the basis for the thesis:
Autobiographical novels is one kind of novel which the author uses
his own personal material to fictionalize the art world of fiction. In
the autobiographical novel, the self-portraiture of the author is
refactored into an artistic creation. Thus, the relationship between
the author - the narrator - the central character of the work is
quite similar match.
2.1.5. The basis of autobiographical novel
2.1.5.1. The birth and development of new genres
Before the appearance of Western-style autobiographical
systems such as: novels, autobiographies, autobiographical
novels, short stories..., Vietnamese literature has also had a
system of character type that is shaped throughout the length of
the background middle-time literature. To the twentieth century,

on the basis of cultural and social changes, Vietnamese literature
has made new variables, only for less than half a century (19001945), Vietnamese literature has soon been a relatively complete
system of genres. The remarkable thing here is that nearly all
genres that are formed and developed in the modernization
process exist "in dynamic state", which has a combination of
mutual penetration. This is one of the factors that stimulate the
development of literature, at the same time it also makes each
category more abundant and more diverse. Along with the
mobilization of the system of genre, one of the most rewarding
phenomena is the process for the modernization of literature on
the category of genre that is booting from a prose that is first to
be a novel genre, one of the genres though was present in the
middle-life literature but not much achievement. Novel, a genre
bearing a bold "Life view from a private perspective... it is capable
of combining most of the artistic abilities of other literary
genres," [33, p. 330], along with a category "Unsuspended" it
attracts the other genre into its structure... it makes them infect
the transformation and its incompleteness. It allures them in a
powerful way to its orbit "[76, p. 27 – 30]. As a result of the
novel's characteristics, the novel has an autobiographical
character, a sub-intermediate between the novel and the
autobiography.
2.1.5.2. The personal appearance of the literature
In the early twentieth century, France accelerated the
colonial exploitation, making Vietnam’s social structure of a
10


profound changes: from a feudal country with a longstanding rice
farming to a semi-colonial one. Especially, the one-day-wide

travel of Western culture into Vietnamese social life has a strong
impact on literary life. This fact has created the individual human
being have the occasion to be awakened and quickly became the
central factor, changing Vietnamese literature in the early
twentieth century. The explosion of this personal consciousness
was conceived throughout the length of the Chinese literature
and by the early twentieth century, due to the integration of
Western culture that had relay for the birth of the pregnancy,
which became a fresh self-sufficient technique.
2.2. The appearance of the autobiographical novel in twentieth
century
2.2.1. The period from the beginning of the twentieth century to
1945
On the background of the literary life of the New Testament,
the novel works of self-fiction also began to shape their sub-genre
mirrors on the literature. In the early days when Phan Boi Chau or
“Giac mong lon” came out, the reader was still like a fish out of
water, but then there were a series of novels such as “Boc dong”,
“Muc mai nuoc mat”, “Chiec cang xanh”, “Song nho”, “Da trang”,
“Ngam mieng”, “Hai nguoi dien giua kinh thanh Ha Noi”, “Song mon”
published with the story of self-confidence, which quickly graved
into the heart of the reading of worry. Nonetheless, the personal
pronoun "I" means the absolute meaning of individual writers in the
novel still have certain limitations. However, the presence of the ego
in the autobiographical novels has also created significant
achievements for Vietnamese literature on the path of
modernization.
2.2.2. The period from 1945 to 1975
From the initial step at the first half of the twentieth
century, autobiographical novels saved the bold marks through a

series of works in the middle of the southern urban in the years
of resistance. When “Muoi dem nga ngoc” of Mai Thao was come
out, the public opinion of the readers had seen the shadow story
love beyond the Eastern cultural framework hidden in the heart
of "three people" as the story of love of Mai Thao and Thai Thanh.
Until “Vong tay hoc tro” of Nguyen Thi Hoang also did the wave of
public opinion of the doubt whether this would be the love story
of herself? However, these are also just a few sketch line of the
author's life through the works. The autobiography in the novel
11


in urban South only really prints his mark through “Hoa buom
buom” and “Nhu canh chim bay” of Vo Hong, “Toi nhin toi tren
vach “ of Tuy Hong, “Bep lua” of Thanh Tam Tuyen,… In these
works, the level of recognition of the truth in the work is
somewhat harder than the work in the previous phase. Because,
most of the truth in the work has been "refreshed" through the
fictional art, the novels in these works are darker and the
narrative is rather faint. If the reader does not have a certain
understanding of the author, they will be hard to identify where
the life is, who is truly the author, where the fictional character is
in the work. Luan (Hoa buom buom), Tram (Vong tay hoc tro),
Khanh (Toi nhin toi tren vach) was no longer "carrying the ID
card" the life matched to the writer again that they were just "the
shadow", "decimated" the same author.
2.2.3. The period from 1975 to the end of the twentieth
century
Since the renovation period, the changes in the conception
of realism and humanity have facilitated the writer "self-finding

themselves", to once be honest with himself, sincerely, to show
the unbelief of, the python becomes deeply hidden in the soul
tank. Perhaps so that the public today's readers are more or less
caught in the shadow of the writer's life down the novel page
through: “Thoi xa vang” (Le Luu), “Noi buon chien tranh” (Bao
Ninh), “Chuyen ke nam 2000” (Bui Ngoc Tan) , “Tuoi tho du doi”
(Phung Quan), and this phenomenon lasted until the beginning of
the century XXI through the works: “Thuong de thi cuoi” (Nguyen
Khai), “Mot minh mot ngua” (Ma Van Khang), “Gia dinh be mon”
(Da Ngan), “Tam van phong dao” (Mac Can)... In these works,
nearly as part of the author's personal biography has also been
"rewritten" by the art methodology according to the author's
discretion.

12


CHAPTER 3
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL IN VIETNAM’S LITERARY IN
THE 20TH CENTURY- LOOKING FROM THE SENSE
OF REALITY AND HUMAN
3.1.The reality of meaningful life through expreienced of
insiders
3.1.1. Reality is reflected in the nostalgic
The majority of autobiographical novels were written in
the early period of time, reflecting the author's childhood which
is not very far away from their age.
Vietnam’s autobiographical novels during the first half of
the twentieth century, when the authors were written about
childhood, often go into the dark colour in life. The sense of wellbeing, the pain of the misfortunes of life which the author must

always face became prominent feature in these works.
Through “Nhung ngay tho au”, “Song nho”, “Song mon”, or
“Muc mai nuoc mat”, the readers feel the pain of the orphan or the
widow. If the misfortune and the lack of humanity misuse the
children, the poor writers or teachers in the miserable life, the
backward unsound customs torment young women who soon
suffer the three subjections-four virtues catastrophe that they just
need only one step to the free desire, private happiness then
immediately they will be abused by the public opinion and a
servere feudal ethical behavior
3.1.2. Reality through retrospection and contemplation
The character of the autobiographical novel is to tell the
author's life in the past by fictional art. Thus, this sub-genre often
tends to rebuild human through a view of destiny retrospect.
Characters in autobiographical novels are often ordinary, small
people who always have a pain in their life. However, the problem of
the human condition is quite bold in autobiographical novels in the
southern city.
From “Bep lua” (Thanh Tam Tuyen), “Hoa buom buom”,“Nhu
canh chim bay” (Vo Hong), to “Toi nhin toi tren vach” (Tuy Hong),
The “Vong tay hoc tro” (Nguyen Thi Hoang), etc are deep sense
about the human condition in the war. In these writings, the authors
deepened the ego of the people who reached up their hands
repeatedly, struggled to escape from their meaningless lives, but
they are helpless before the reality of life as "tragedy" and
13


nothingness. Some characters like: Luan (“Hoa buom buom”, “Nhu
canh chim bay” - Vo Hong), Tam (“Bep lua” - Thanh Tam Tuyen), to

teacher Ton Nu Quynh Tram (“Vong tay hoc tro” - Nguyen Thi
Hoang), Khanh (“Toi nhin toi tren vach”-Tuy Hong), etc are full of
anxiety, sceptical before the dark life of the country in the fire of war.
In the turn of the autobiographical novel from 1945 to
1975, one of the most notable things is the appearance of female
writers. The appearance of “Vong tay hoc tro” (1966), “Toi nhin
toi tren vach” (1970) marked the breakthrough of
autobiographical novels. In the past, it seemed as though the
"confession" by novels was a male-only domain, since 1966, the
situation was different. The presence of the sincere "confessions"
that female writers revealed through “Vong tay hoc tro” and “Toi
nhin toi tren vach” gave the modern literary full of boldness and
female divinity. This also had shown that women in the modern
society are no longer bound by feudal conceptions. The woman
in modern society was completely liberated in thought and
sentiment. They insist their ego by the equality with men.
Expressing their opinions and individual views is no longer just a
"privilege" for men. With a sensitive heart, female writers have
deeply felt the pain of human identity, the fragility of humanity in
the world overwhelming the absurdities of modern society. With
a sensitive heart, female writers feel deeply the pain of the
human condition, the fragility of humanity in the world
overwhelming the absurdities of modern society.
3.1.3. Reality through reflection
Together in the flow of the autobiographical novel, but the
works which were written after 1975, such as “Tuoi tho du doi”
(Phung Quan), “Thoi xa vang” (Le Luu), “Chuyen ke nam 2000”
(Bui Ngoc Tan ) “Noi buon chien tranh” (Bao Ninh), etc bring a
different color. The problem posed in these works is not only to
exploit human destiny from the perspective of existentialism or

dim Buddhist-color but it also shows the view of human, back to
the past to discover themselves and answer the question "Who
am I?". Thus, the author's writing process is no longer a reimagining of the past, or revitalization the past from
retrospective, contemplative viewpoints; it is also a reflection
and enlightenment in their life. The authors do not understand
and can not understand all of themselves in the past which just
14


happened but to understand all about it is not easy. Therefore,
the writer does not say, re-present "the past time". It mainly
analysis, explains and interprets to find the truth about oneself, a
truth that the author wants to understand all about it, not the
truth the author has ever known.
3.2. From the archetype writers to the characters
3.2.1. From real people to self-presented characters
When building the character from the prototype of the
life, the character often found in autobiographical novels from
the early twentieth century to the year 1945 is the type of selfpresented character, a type of person recalling their life in the
past and reconstructed in chronological order, with almost no
disturbance of time.
These works tend to be self-presented in order to
reproduce the author’s life in the past through the viewpoint of
the current ego in "insight and consistency." However, each
person has their own life, own personality and own fate, no one
is the same, so each author has a different way of "presenting
themselves".
However, in this journey, some authors have exploited the
background of themselves from the perspective of a writer such
as the “Song mon” of Nam Cao and “Muc mai nuoc mat” of Lan

Khai. But this is still the predictor for the original movement of
autobiographical novel in the modern tendency.
3.2.2. From real people to retrospective and contemplative
characters
Having the features of the sub-genres of novels written
about the author's personal life, the autobiographical novels of
the period 1945 - 1975 when building character also derived from
the real material in the life of the writer. But the difference of
autobiographical novels in this period compared to the earlier
period is that the single-linear structure is gradually replaced by
many forms of multi-linear structure, the events in the past are
"reconstructed", interleaved with current events in the
contemplation. Sometimes, existing in the story is a whole series
of dialogues between the present and the past (“Hoa buom
buom”, “Nhu canh chim bay”, “Vong tay hoc tro”, “Toi nhin toi tren
vach”). Thus, the characters in the works of this period often back
to the past to find out themselves in the memory.
15


Exploring personal fate through a retrospective view, there
have been times when autobiographical novels have touched the
ego that is full of loneliness. Even so, many works in which the
colors of existence appear quite bold: the fragility of human life
against the aftershocks of history, the feeling of being lost, the loss
of faith, what human get and what human lost in a world of mess,
chaos and absurdity, etc. Almost we can not find in the
autobiographical novel that was written in the years 1945-1975, a
model of a warm and happy person. They are mostly people who
live in insecure, sceptical mood, both "homeless" and "no

hometown". The character Tam in “Bep lua”, Tram in “Vong tay hoc
tro”, or Luan in The “Hoa buom buom”, Khanh in “Toi nhin toi tren
vach”, etc. all of them are in a state of exhaustion, "nausea", are
skeptical of their own existence, living in the their life as if "a dusty
planet dangling in space, starting to fail and ending there. Living
like a stonyhearted move” [40]. In addition, in autobiographical
novels in the southern metropolis, especially in the writings of
women writers, the mutinous people in the soul, in action to
oppose, resist the reality has been successfully built by the writers
in “Vong tay hoc tro” and “Toi nhin toi tren vach”
3.2.3. From the real life to reflective character
In autobiographical novels after 1975, readers will find it
difficult to find a character who presents his or her background
in chronological order, with a series of narratives beginning with
I was born; I am; I did; I remember a lot; I still have a lot of, etc as
was previously present in the narrative of autobiographical
novels in the first half of the twentieth century. This stage
emerged very clearly reflective character model, "self-analysis,"
questioned to find himself in post-war life, interwoven well - bad,
happy - sad, happy - bitter and full of complexity.
It is still a narrative story, but in autobiographical novels
after 1975, a new way of dealing with real material has emerged.
From self-confession, going into the hidden reality to breaking all
the "rules" to go into exploiting the fuzzy, unconscious and dream
and even parody reality, "causing confusion" makes the receiver
quite depressed minds in reading - understanding the work of "cocreation".
CHAPTER 4
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL IN VIETNAM’S LITERATURE IN
16

THE 20TH CENTURY- LOOKING
FROM THE MODE OF EXPRESSION
4.1. Narrator and their point of view
4.1.1. The first person narrator with inner point of view and
the change of view
In autobiographical novel, there are many works which are
in the first person narrators, from “Nhung ngay tho au”, “Song
nho”, to “Nguoi ve dau non”, “Truong cu”, “Mien tho au”, etc. Using
the first person narrator, the narrator calls "I" as the main
character, the character call “me” to tell his or her story in
chronological order of linear time. Choosing the first person
narrator, the narrator act as a witness - who behold all the
happenings in his life and narrate by remembrance like "I can
not say how much"," I can not remember clearly", etc. In this
narrative form, the point of view of the narrators often point to
the psychological development within the ego as the narrator.
The border of this mode of narration is close to other type of
narration in which the narrator tell about themselves. In the first
person narration, the ego of narrators show on the page
performance. All the events, actions, emotional states, love, hate,
anger, etc. Those are may be of the character but those are also
the events, actions, emotional states which the author
experienced. And when we recall what has gone through in the
past, of course it has a certain distance of time. Moreover, the
past is in the memory, so sometimes the degree of authenticity is
not necessarily complete. However, the readers still have the
opportunity to live in a realm that has been hidden in the
author's soul in a long time.
When choosing the first person, the authors stand on the

position of their "ego" so they have called all the anxiety, the pain,
to the peaceful memory in their life, etc. The superiority of the
narrative in the first person is directly express the individual ego.
With this narrator, the writer easily establishes the inner
narrative view, so that the writer is able to exploit the complex
psychological development in order to satisfy the thought and
the mind of the character - the author - the narrator. However, the
story told in the first person is also limited by individuality,
subjectivity and visual limitation. The limits of the narration in
17


the first person have been significantly overcome when the single
point of view has been replaced by the narration in the first
person with the polyline view.
In “Toi nhin toi tren vach” of the female writer Tuy Hong is
mainly told in the first person. The ego - I - Mrs.Khanh is both a
storyteller and the main character. In this work, Tuy Hong avoids
using of storytelling with a single point of view, limit the point of
view. Although the character "I"- Mrs.Khanh- the narrator still
plays a central role, the whole story is not only "I" tells the story
with the view of “I” - storyteller. The work has been handed over
the storyteller to many different people with different views. In
“Bep lua”, the writer Thanh Tam Tuyen also uses the first person
storyteller throughout the beginning to the end of the work.
Although the story is told by the "I" character - Tam with a nearly
linear narrative in a flowing vein that did not change in the work,
in the work the author applied quite ingenious multi-lingual
view. This element creates a new, modern work.
4.1.2. The third person narrator with an inner view

As a product of the hybrid process, the combination of
autobiographical and fiction, on the one hand the
autobiographical novel retains its autobiographical features. On
the other hand, it is also influenced by the fictitious nature of the
novel so it is completely free in the way of writing, as well as the
narration. There are many narrative novels that "reject" the
narrative in the first person - "I" by choosing the narrative in the
third person in order to create the objectivity for the narrative. In
the literary all over the world both in the 20th and 21st centuries,
there are many autobiographical novels that have come to the
third person as the central element of narrative (as “Nguoi tinh”
of M. Duras, “Mot mua dong o Stockholm” by Agneta Pleife). In
Vietnam, in the early of the 40s (20 th century), the third story
narrative was quite successful by Nam Cao and Lan Khai in “Song
mon” and “Muc mai nuoc mat”.
After 1945, most writers used the third person narrative to
fictionalize their story. In the autobiographical novels after 1945
we surveyed, two thirds of these works used the third person
narrative. However, each of the different paths, along with
changes in conception and artistic thinking, has constantly
renewed the narrative mode of the third person. The narrative
18


mode of the third person, with the inner viewpoint of the
autobiographical novel entering the new orbit in the years after
1945, maximizes its effect when it is combined in multi-view by
the writer's point of view. This combination has increased the
ventilation and openness for autobiographical novels.
4.2. The language of the autobiographical novel

4.2.1. The spoken language and the combination between
narrative and commentary
Generally, the narrator's language exists in two forms: the
third person narrator's hidden language, objective and the first
person narrator language, the witness, the subjective insider.
Studying Vietnam’s autobiographical novel in a century, we find
that, arising from sub-genres, autobiographical novels often
choose narrative form in the first person and have the
subjectivity: “Chiec cang xanh” (Luu Trong Lu), “Song nho” (Manh
Phu Tu), “Toi nhin toi tren vach” (Tuy Hong), “Nguoi ve dau non”
(Vo Hong), “Mien tho au” (Vu Thu Hien). Besides, there are still
works which are selected the narrative form by the authors from
the third person bring a lot of interesting as: “Song mon” (Nam
Cao), “Muc mai nuoc mat” (Lan Khai), “Hoa buom buom” (Vo
Hong), “Vong tay hoc tro” (Nguyen Thi Hoang), “Bep lua” (Thanh
Tam Tuyen), “Thoi xa vang” (Le Luu), “Chuyen ke nam 2000” (Bui
Ngoc Tan), etc. This can be explained easily by the superiority of
the third-person narrator's activeness and broadness, which
novels and autobiographical novels need more than any others.
In the first person's narrative, the beginning of the story, the
authors use the narrative language to reproduce, restore the
timeline which associated with childhood memories such as:
"That year, I was eight years old" (“Chiec cang xanh”); "Every time
I turn my eyes back to the past, the figure of my Uncle Ho show
up, cover a whole period of my childhood" (“Nguoi ve dau non”);
"When I remember the memory, I always remember my old
school" (“Truong cu”), etc. The use of temporal language in the
past is not unique in autobiographical novels. This language also
appears in the literary world of historical novels. In the
autobiographical novel, with the desire to "restore" the history of

his life, especially "the history of personality formation". Thus,
the temporal language is often unpredictable, as if the transitions
of the author's life has been fuzzy due to the time-frame of mind19


building.
However, in autobiographical novels, writers use in a
flexible way between the narrative and the description. This
makes the narrative which reborn from the past of the author's
life more lively. Even autobiographical novels which were born in
the heart of South Vietnam before 1975, although the authors
attempt to increase direct dialogue with the convention markers,
besides the narrative, the occurrence of the descriptive language
in the story has also maximized the ability of describing thing,
phenomenon, etc in detail. In some cases, in order to increase the
effectiveness of the narrative, the writer has a link between the
narrative- the description and the intrusion of the comment in
the narrative. This combination occurs a lot in the
autobiographical novels since 1945.
The combination of languages in the same narrative not
only brings the story's attraction, but also helps the
autobiographical novel escape the traditional narrative model.
Nowadays, this sub-genre has the right characteristics of
polyphonic, inherent unique features. The writers have been
constantly striving to create new principles of approaching,
expressing and deepening their "history". From the personal
story becomes the story of life, of the problems today and the
future in connection with the past. Thanks to this,
autobiographical novels have a new shape, a new vitality, new
voice, strange but familiar.

4.2.2. Free-indirect language (half-direct word)
Not as direct or indirect, free-indirect words often open
many receptions, becoming the typical type of speech in the
narrative language of the novel. This is the speech type of the
combination between the language of narrator and the language
of character, the voice of the narrator and the voice of the
character combine together.
In some works at the beginning of the twentieth century to
1945, semi-direct narrative style has also appeared in some
works such as: “Song mon”, “Muc mai nuoc mat”, etc. After 1945,
free-indirect words have been used extensively in
autobiographical novels. It can be said that this is one of the ways
of expressing modernity in opening the complex thinking of
20


human beings in front of multifaceted life. This is one of the most
basic features, marking the renewal of autobiographical novels.
The pervasion of discourse styles and, in particular, the presence
of free-indirect language have led to the innovation in the use of
language, contributing to the renovation of the narrative art in
the autobiographical novel.
4.3. Narration tone
4.3.1. Lyrical, nostalgic tone
Often, an autobiographical novel has an introverted
tendency, take emotional, personal feelings as the fulcrum of the
artistic expression. Therefore, the tone in the work is a soulful,
extremely sensitive voice, but also have the innocence in the soul
of young poetry. In “Song nho” (Manh Phu Tu) “the extreme
vibration of a young soul” is the deposition in the nostalgic

remembrance, creates the main tone covering the whole work.
Whenever childhood memories suffuse, the emotion as the flow
of the feeling. In “Song nho”, the phrases about the time in the
past such as: that winter afternoon, that winter, in that childhood,
that year ... always appear with a lot of frequency. This is also one
of the factors that help lyrical, nostalgic tone maximize its effect
in finding the farthest away of “Nhung ngay tho au”.
Surveying of autobiographical novels during the second
half of the twentieth century, from “Hoa buom buom”, “Nhu canh
chim bay” (Vo Hong), “ Toi nhin toi tren vach” (Tuy Hong), until
“Bep lua” (Thanh Tam Tuyen), “Vong tay hoc tro” (Nguyen Thi
Hoang), “Thoi xa vang” (Le Luu), “Chuyen ke nam 2000” (Bui Ngoc
Tan), and also in “Noi buon chien tranh” (Bao Ninh), etc we find
that the indispensable element to make the artistic value for that
work are the nostalgic, lyrical tone. In these works, although the
time delay is relatively close to what happened in the author's
life, sometimes there are stories that maybe have just occurred,
not far from the time when the writer writes a work (like “Hoa
buom buom”, “Toi nhin toi tren vach”), but that time is still the
time that happened in the past. And when we reconstruct, of
course, the nostalgic road becomes the fastest path to the
direction of what happened. Although the story is told in the
present, thanks to the nostalgic tone, it always has a relationship
with the past thanks to the nostalgic tone.
4.3.2. Philosophical and contemplative tone
21