Professor, Associate Professor, People's Teacher Phan Cu De and a diverse, rich, and unified career

As a son of a land of studious people, not only was he systematically trained in both Confucianism and Western studies, Professor Phan Cu De was also a person who constantly self-studied - learned from books, learned through practical experience and trips. The ability to self-study, practice and improve foreign languages ​​has made him fluent in many languages, thereby accessing the system of documents and knowledge of many Eastern and Western educational systems to convey to generations of students. As a teacher, the strong impression that students of the Faculty of Literature have of Professor Phan Cu De is the image of a gentle but serious teacher who is extremely dedicated to the training career of the School and the Faculty. Working at the Faculty from the early days of its establishment, until he was past his "ancient" age, he still went to the lecture hall with full energy and the ability to openly dialogue on current literary issues. He has directly guided more than 100 bachelor's theses, 20 master's theses, 10 doctoral theses, and is respected by many generations of students. He was awarded the title of Professor and the title of People's Teacher by the State - the most noble titles for a teacher.

But the training career of Professor Phan Cu De is not limited to the scope of Hanoi University of Science and Hanoi National University, because most of those who study and research literature know his name and indirectly become his students through his books, articles, and elaborate research works on literature. As one of the first and leading experts of the new university education system, researcher Phan Cu De has published more than thirty books and hundreds of articles on theory, research, and literary criticism, and was awarded the State Prize for Literature and Arts in 2007.

Professor, Academician, People's Teacher Phan Cu De (1933-2007)

The cluster of works by Professor Phan Cu De that received the State Prize includes:Vietnamese writer(literary studies),Modern Vietnamese Novels(critical theory),Ngo Tat To(literary studies),Han Mac Tu(literary research). These works partly reflect the systematic nature as well as the diversity in the author's literary research career. Taking modern Vietnamese literature as the subject, Professor Phan Cu De has both a thorough historical perspective to see the movement and development of literature, and a sense of reflecting and summarizing phenomena from a theoretical perspective, while studying typical cases. In the book seriesVietnamese writer(conducted with Professor Ha Minh Duc), the researcher's documents and analysis have helped readers visualize modern literature in a specific and vivid way through the portraits of selected writers, which is extremely valuable in the context of the country after the war, where information and documents are still difficult and scarce. IfVietnamese writeris a literary work thenModern Vietnamese Novels, as the author himself stated: “is more of a theoretical subject than a literary history book. More precisely, this is a theoretical subject about genres based on the practical basis of Vietnamese novels”. The researcher is deeply aware of the need for a Vietnamese literary theory book originating from Vietnamese practice to avoid the situation of “dressing up in a borrowed theoretical outfit”, but at the same time he also places national characteristics in common rules to illuminate modern Vietnamese novels. Nearly a thousand pages of the book have shown the author’s labor as well as his abundant knowledge, not to mention the individual articles about modern Vietnamese novelists as illustrations and supplements to this work. Before being awarded the State Prize, the project was awarded the First Prize for Scientific Research by the Science Council of the University of General Sciences on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the school's founding (1976), and was one of ten projects that won the first Hanoi National University Science and Technology Award.Ngo Tat Toand a series of other articles about this typical critical realist writer before the August Revolution of 1945, Phan Cu De pointed out Ngo Tat To's journey from "A Confucian scholar who was "disrespectful" to Confucius" to "An excellent realist writer writing about the countryside before the August Revolution", the author of "a chronicle of Vietnamese society in the thirties and forties" with a thorough and systematic survey and analysis of Ngo Tat To's literary career.Han Mac Tu (criticism and commemoration)is a work of “love and affection for Han Mac Tu”. The book explores the unique, complex, and mysterious world of art, points out the characteristics in the aesthetic concept and creative personality of the poet, analyzes the harmony between “the Tao and the Life in Han Mac Tu’s poetry” not only with the objective view of a researcher with rich knowledge of literary and philosophical schools and movements, culture and religion, but also with the sympathy and regret of a respectful heart and a heart sensitive to beauty and pain.

Placing the cluster of works that received the State Prize for Literature and Arts by Professor Phan Cu De in his entire career of literary research and criticism, alongside other elaborate treatises such asNew Poetry Movement (1932 – 1945), Tu Luc Van Doan – people and literature,or large-scale scientific projects he led, which were later published into monumental books such as20th Century Vietnamese Literature, Vietnamese Short Stories – History, Poetics, Portraitsand a series of articles and books spread across modern Vietnamese literature, we can see the key and unified quality covering this person and his career, which is the carefulness and loyalty to the working method of a Marxist researcher, smoothly combined with passion and sophistication in literary perception and criticism.

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

Not only diligent and passionate in the lecture hall or in the pages of books, Professor Phan Cu De is also a quick-witted, dynamic and sensitive intellectual in the role of an excellent diplomat and manager. The International Cultural Research Center of which he is the Director and the International Cultural and Economic Exchange Club of which he is the President have been active, vibrant and effective, making many contributions to the development of culture and diplomacy of the country. He was also elected as an official academician by the Russian Federation Academy of International Information. The trips and international cultural exchanges have made his knowledge more vivid, and also seemed to make him younger and more inspired in his work. And, as the Professor once confided during his lifetime, no matter what position he held or what job he did, he always determined to do his best, to think about the responsibility of an intellectual to the Party and the country.

In the rather massive career that the teacher, researcher, and literary critic Phan Cu De left behind, many issues and arguments have been inherited and continued, and there are also historical viewpoints that have been overcome - this is normal for social sciences, especially literary research and criticism. However, his qualities, enthusiasm, and working style will always be a precious asset that the scientist and teacher with a small stature but with abundant life energy and a strong spirit of dedication left for those who have ever met, listened to his lectures, and read his writings. Therefore, perhaps it was fate that Professor, Associate Professor, People's Teacher. Phan Cu De chose the exact opening day of school, September 5, 2007, to enter eternity - he closed his life's journey on a morning, when many generations of his students would begin a new school year, to continue the noble career that he and intellectuals like him had worked hard to build throughout their lives.