Professor, Academician, People's Teacher Phan Cự Đệ and a diverse, rich, and unified career.

As a son of a land known for its scholarly tradition, Professor Phan Cự Đệ not only received a thorough education in both Confucian and Western studies, but he was also a constant self-learner – learning from books, practical experience, and travel. His ability to self-study, self-discipline, and cultivate foreign language skills enabled him to become fluent in many languages, allowing him to access the knowledge and resources of various Eastern and Western educational systems to impart to his students. As an educator, the strong impression Professor Phan Cự Đệ left on the students of the Faculty of Literature was that of a kind yet serious teacher, deeply committed to the training mission of the University and the Faculty. Having worked at the Faculty since its inception, even in his later years, he continued to lecture with boundless energy and an open capacity for dialogue on current literary issues. He has directly supervised over 100 undergraduate theses, 20 master's theses, and 10 doctoral dissertations, earning the respect of many generations of students. He has been awarded the title of Professor and the title of People's Teacher by the State – the most prestigious titles bestowed upon a teacher.

However, Professor Phan Cự Đệ's teaching career was not limited to the Hanoi University and the Vietnam National University, Hanoi, because almost everyone who studies or researches literature knows his name and indirectly becomes his student through his books, articles, and elaborate research works on literature. As one of the first and leading experts in the new higher education system, researcher Phan Cự Đệ has published more than thirty books and hundreds of articles on literary theory, research, and criticism, and was awarded the State Prize for Literature and Arts in 2007.

Professor, Academician, People's Teacher Phan Cự Đệ (1933-2007)

Professor Phan Cự Đệ's body of work, which received the State Award, includes:Vietnamese writer(literary studies)Modern Vietnamese novels(literary criticism)Ngo Tat To(literary studies)Han Mac Tu(Literary studies). These works partly reflect the systematic nature as well as the diversity in the author's literary research career. Taking modern Vietnamese literature as its subject, Professor Phan Cự Đệ has both a historical perspective to see the process of movement and development of literature, and a conscious effort to examine and summarize phenomena from a theoretical perspective, while also studying typical cases. In this series of books...Vietnamese writer(conducted in collaboration with Professor Ha Minh Duc), the researcher's materials and analysis have helped readers visualize modern literature in a concrete and vivid way through the portraits of selected writers. This is extremely valuable in the context of a post-war country where information and materials are scarce and difficult to access.Vietnamese writerIf it is a work of literary history, thenModern Vietnamese novelsAs the author himself acknowledges, "it has the nature of a theoretical treatise rather than a literary history book. More accurately, it is a theoretical treatise on genre based on the practical realities of Vietnamese novels." The researcher is deeply aware of the need for a Vietnamese literary theory book stemming from Vietnamese reality to avoid the situation of "dressing up in borrowed theoretical clothes," but at the same time, he places national characteristics within universal laws to illuminate modern Vietnamese novels. Nearly a thousand pages demonstrate the author's labor and abundant knowledge, not to mention the individual articles on modern Vietnamese novelists that illustrate and supplement this work. Before being awarded the State Prize, the work had already received the First Prize for scientific research from the Scientific Council of the University of Hanoi on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the university's founding (1976), and was one of ten works that won the first National University of Hanoi Science and Technology Award.Ngo Tat ToIn a series of other articles about this prominent critical realist writer before the August 1945 Revolution, Phan Cự Đệ pointed out Ngô Tất Tố's journey from "A Confucian scholar 'disrespectful' to Confucius" to "An outstanding realist writer about the countryside before the August Revolution," the author of "a chronicle of Vietnamese society in the 1930s and 1940s," with a thorough and systematic survey and analysis of Ngô Tất Tố's literary career.Han Mac Tu (criticism and commemoration)This book is a work born from "a special affection for Han Mac Tu." It explores his unique, complex, and mysterious artistic world, highlighting the distinctive features of his aesthetic conception and creative personality. It analyzes the harmony between "the spiritual and the worldly in Han Mac Tu's poetry," not only from the objective perspective of a researcher with extensive knowledge of literary and philosophical schools and movements, culture, and religion, but also with the empathy and sorrow of someone who cherishes beauty and whose heart is sensitive to suffering.

Place the collection of works that received the State Prize for Literature and Art by Professor Phan Cự Đệ within the context of his entire career in literary research and criticism, alongside other elaborate treatises such asThe New Poetry Movement (1932-1945), the Self-Reliance Literary Group – its people and literature.or large-scale scientific projects that he led, which were later published as substantial books such as20th-century Vietnamese literature, Vietnamese short stories – History, Poetics, PortraitsAnd across a series of articles and books that span the landscape of modern Vietnamese literature, one can see the key and unifying quality that permeates this person and their career: meticulousness and fidelity to the working methods of a Marxist researcher, seamlessly combined with passion, subtlety in literary appreciation and criticism.

He is one of the outstanding scientists of Hanoi University, University of Social Sciences and Humanities. / Photo: Bui Tuan

Professor Phan Cự Đệ was not only diligent and passionate in the lecture hall or among his books, but also a sharp, dynamic, and insightful intellectual, excelling in his roles as a diplomat and administrator. The International Cultural Research Center, where he served as Director, and the International Economic and Cultural Exchange Club, where he was President, operated actively, vibrantly, and effectively, making significant contributions to the development of the country's culture and diplomacy. He was also elected a full member of the Russian Federation's International Academy of Information. His travels and international cultural exchanges kept his knowledge alive and seemed to keep him youthful and increasingly inspired in his work. And, as the Professor himself confided during his lifetime, regardless of his position or the work he did, he always resolved to dedicate himself wholeheartedly, fulfilling his responsibility as an intellectual to the Party and the country.

In the rather extensive career of educator, researcher, and literary critic Phan Cự Đệ, many issues and arguments have been inherited and continued, and some historical viewpoints have been surpassed – this is normal for social sciences, especially literary research and criticism. However, his qualities, enthusiasm, and work ethic remain a precious asset that this scientist and teacher, though small in stature, possessed with abundant life energy and a fierce spirit of dedication, leaving behind for those who had the opportunity to interact with him, listen to his lectures, and read his writings. Therefore, it is perhaps a matter of destiny that Professor, Academician, and People's Teacher Phan Cự Đệ... Phan Cự Đệ chose the very day of the school opening, September 5th, 2007, to pass into eternity – he ended his life's journey in the early morning, as generations of his students would begin a new school year, continuing the noble cause that he and other intellectuals like him had diligently built throughout their lives.