Realism Socialism Vietnam
From: Aliénor Anisensel
Date: Thu, May 27, 2010 at 7:06 AM
Dear VSGers
Does anyone know in which year realism socialism is put aside in cultural politics in VN ?
Thanks in advance
Aliénor,
PhD Student
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From: Dan Duffy
Date: Fri, May 28, 2010 at 6:35 AM
Wow, what a great question. You would have to find someone who takes those squirrels seriously. A broader periodization, noted forcefully by Michel Fournie in his Langues O lectures on doi moi literature and tacitly assumed by the Viet Kieu lecturers I heard at different universities in the Paris system, would be the date in 1986 when Ng Van Linh, I think, called on writers to aid in the renovation of society. I need a date of the speech for the calendar of commemoration I am putting together.
Another periodization would be when this shift is noted and finally accepted in the diaspora, with issues like the split from the Party organs in Paris by the group in cluding Phan Huy Duong and the rejection by the new Hop Luu group of the "ba khong" maintained by the California journals.
--
Dan Duffy
Editor, Viet Nam Literature Project
Chair, Books & Authors: Viet Nam, Inc.
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From: Tai, Hue-Tam Ho
Date: Fri, May 28, 2010 at 7:58 AM
I don't know that one can point to the formal abandonment of Socialist Realism in Vietnam. I believe that the speech by Nguyen van Linh took place in 1988, not 1986 (the Doi Moi policy was approved in December 1986). He invited writers and artists to be bold and sincere, but I do not believe he had anything to say about Socialist Realism. Nora Taylor's article in The Country of Memory includes discussion of the debates around painting following Doi Moi that are relevant to this issue. Overseas Vietnamese were not subject to state control, so I wonder if it is helpful to use their publications in this context.
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Kenneth T. Young Professor
of Sino-Vietnamese History
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From: Michael Digregorio
Date: Fri, May 28, 2010 at 6:13 PM
Dan
Socialist Realism is alive an kicking in mobilization posters and in the activities of state art troupes, in particular, theater and dance.
Mike
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From: Tai, Hue-Tam Ho
Date: Mon, May 31, 2010 at 3:17 PM
By coincidence, Voice of America broadcast an opinion piece on May 12, 2010:
Socialist Realism [chu nghia xa hoi hien thuc] Is Outdated.
http://www1.voanews.com/vietnamese/blogs/quoc/chu-nghia-hien-thuc-05-12-2010-93604264.html
From: vsg-bounces@mailman2.u.washington.edu [vsg-bounces@mailman2.u.washington.edu]
On Behalf Of David Marr
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From: william turley
Date: Mon, May 31, 2010 at 10:22 PM
I wondered about this, and how as well the term related to "real existing socialism" and whether there was/is a Vietnamese equivalent. There must be, at least among VNese Russian speakers.
Bill Turley
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From: Tana Li
Date: Mon, May 31, 2010 at 11:13 PM
In China there were Shehui xianshi zhuyi (chu nghia hien thuc xa hoi) - social realism
and
shehui zhuyi xianshi zhuyi (chu nghia hien thuc xa hoi chu nghia) - socialist realism
Li Tana
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From: Nguyen-Vo, Thu-Huong
Date: Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 2:48 AM
Besides social realism and socialist realism in literature as mentioned, I have come across the term "chu nghia xa hoi hien thuc" as the equivalent for the term "actually existing socialism" in the Eastern European context.
Huong
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From: Raymond Mallon
Date: Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 3:23 AM
Aliénor,
These links to a Ph.D thesis published by Tuan Ngoc Nguyen in 2004
"Socialist Realism in Vietnamese Literature: An Analysis of the Relationship
between Literature and Politics" might provide some useful insights to your
question.
http://wallaby.vu.edu.au/adt-VVUT/uploads/approved/adt-VVUT20050131.112703/p
ublic/01front.pdf
http://wallaby.vu.edu.au/adt-VVUT/uploads/approved/adt-VVUT20050131.112703/p
ublic/02whole.pdf
Regards
Ray
_______________________________
Raymond Mallon
Economist, Hanoi
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From: Aliénor Anisensel
Date: Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 8:02 AM
Dear all,
Thank you very much for all your answers (I'm sorry, I had no time to reply before, I'm very busy....I'm writing my thesis !)
I asked you this question because I was remembering a discussion with Prof Trân Van Khê who told me about his work when he returned to Vietnam in 1976. He told me that thanks to Vo Nguyen Giap, Xuân Thuy and the composer Do Nhuân, he managed to convince To Huu to let him publish 2 CDs on musics which were banned or marginalized before.He told me that it was very difficult to convince To Huu because of the pregnance of realism socialism in cultural politics. I think it was effective till 1986 or around,
I'm going to read all your answers more carefully,
Thank you again,
Aliénor Anisensel
(Last publication in french : "Singing Ca trù in the village of Lô Khê in Northern Vietnam : a ritual festival in front of the communal temple and the house of the founders of Ca trù", in Revue Péninsule, n°59 (2), p. 143-169.)
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From: Tai, Hue-Tam Ho
Date: Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 8:21 AM
Alienor:
To Huu was seen by many as an enforcer of Socialist orthodoxy, so it is not surprising that it would have been hard to convince him to relax policy in 1976, when this very orthodoxy was being spread to the South.
I am not sure that there can be an exact date for the disappearance of Socialist Realism; as some have pointed out, the style is still alive and well in posters.
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From: Michael Digregorio
Date: Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 7:48 PM
Alienor,
What Prof. Khe is referring to is a clear goal among promoters of socialist realism to project the future - the goals of society in the contexts of present reality - rather than present "reality" in its raw textures. This was a very powerful means of making revolutionary statements in the past, but because the goals of society took precedence over the details of the present, the two became de-linked over time. For example, you can still see socialist realist theater in which the actors dress like they were workers in an early 20th century factory - bib overalls and work caps - even though this is not connected to anyone's current reality. It becomes more or less symbolic of all workers as a class. And, hence, the problem of connecting with anyone's current reality. In many cases, this kind of theater, art, dance, and literature has passed over into something called tradition, truyen thong, a term used here as short hand for revolutionary tradition. It still has an audience, though that audience is diminishing with time as the younger population has increasing alternatives in commercial cultural sectors like film and TV dramas, and is increasingly absorbed by another dreamworld through advertising.
Mike
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From: Hai Le
Nguyen Ngoc Tuan had a thesis and then a book on this. As I understand him well, the latest attempt to put it aside in literature went into failure and a number of writers had to flee abroad after the Doi Moi literature. If it's about Hien thuc xa hoi chu nghia- socialist realism.
Hai.