Professor, People's Teacher, Writer Ha Minh Duc: Celebrating his 89th birthday with 90 books published

Professor Ha Minh Duc continuously stood on the podium at the Faculty of Literature from 1957-1991, was Deputy Head of the Faculty of Literature and then the first Head of the Faculty of Journalism at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities from 1991-2000, in parallel with serving as Director of the Institute of Literature from 1995 to 2003. It can be said that throughout his life, Professor Ha Minh Duc mainly stood on the podium and researched literary theory.

Professor, People's Teacher, Writer Ha Minh Duc

The Ho Chi Minh Prize for Literature and Arts that the State awarded him has duly recognized the continuous creative process and tireless dedication of the Professor, People's Teacher, and leading literary critic of Vietnam. Just counting the books that he recently gave me, there were 3 books published in 2022: "Don't be afraid" (Collection of 96 short poems - Literature Publishing House), "Traveling to the rose garden and visiting the beautiful landscapes of mountains and rivers" (Notes, Thuan Hoa Publishing House" in 2022), and the latest book by writer Ha Minh Duc is the memoir collection "The moon still shines in the night garden" (Writers' Association Publishing House, released in September 2022). Writer Nguyen Tri Huan (former Vice President of the Vietnam Writers' Association, terms VI, VII, VIII, IX) once commented: "The books add to the enormous creative research legacy of him, a humanities scientist, an outstanding cultural figure".

I boldly asked him, why are there experiences of his 60 years ago, even 70, 80 years ago that he still remembers and writes down into extremely profound and impressive memories? Instead of answering, Professor Ha Minh Duc told a very detailed, attractive story, clearly stating that wherever he went, he took very meticulous notes. On every business trip, whether in China or the United States, Russia or France, Laos or Cambodia, he tried to visit many lands, many addresses, sometimes wandering around, walking slowly alone to learn about the scenery, landscapes, cultural relics to learn, remember in his mind, and when he returned to his accommodation, he took out a notebook to write down. Even when being treated by foreign friends or the group ate something strange, drank some wine, and where, he always asked carefully about the origin and preparation method, experienced the interesting enjoyment to remember deeply, then recorded the impressions of that day. Later, re-reading the main ideas and events will awaken many other memories from the life experiences with what you heard, saw, and traveled that will still be fresh because of the accuracy of the events and things.

 Some books by Professor Ha Minh Duc

Once, the professor told me that when he was young, at the age of 30, 40, he had many meetings with poets To Huu, Xuan Dieu, Che Lan Vien, Huy Can, To Hoai and many other famous writers and poets. Whether they were proactive or unexpected meetings, he always remembered them "deadly" in his mind, and then had to immediately write them down in a notebook along with the space and time where the meeting took place.

Once, poet Xuan Dieu invited him to his house to visit and talk. The two of them sat under the moonlight and talked. Poet Xuan Dieu recounted his memories of literary creation, his memories of his poetic path, the path that led him to the revolution from the New Poetry movement. The young teacher Ha Minh Duc quickly took out his pen and notebook to write down dense lines of words under the moonlight. After the meeting, he returned home and immediately did the work of "translating" his words in the most urgent way, harmoniously combining memory and "translating" words so that the documents were guaranteed to be accurate and fresh.

The same goes for writer To Hoai. Many times, Professor Ha Minh Duc invited the writer and his wife to dinner to celebrate an event. During the meal, he always brought up the topic for the writer to confide in. He could not take notes at the party because of the requirement to be polite and natural, so when he got home, he diligently wrote them down right away... That is why many good articles, scientific research works of the Professor on literature, on culture, the excerpts of the discussion always made many writers go from one surprise to another, admiring and always agreeing with the author...

At the end of the conversation, Professor Ha Minh Duc asked me to send him a new manuscript of a memoir to a publisher. On the first day of the Year of the Cat, I asked permission to call him to wish him a happy new year. The professor was very happy when I told him about the journey of the new manuscript. He jokingly said that it might be book 91 and stopped there. He asked for my address to send me the new book that was about to be printed at the publishing house. I was very happy and surprised. The professor also told me that on the eve of Tet, many agencies had respectfully invited him to attend a meeting, but due to traffic and weather, he was very grateful and asked to be absent. He whispered to me, "I'm 89 now. I still have some health, so I have to save money" and smiled happily over the phone...

I wish Professor, People's Teacher, Writer Ha Minh Duc good health to contribute to the world more books, good books that go before his new age.

Hanoi, 2nd day of Lunar New Year 2023