At first, if you only read the first few lines of this memoir, which is full of memories, few people would think that these are the lines written by a teacher, a scientist, even a scientist who loves "academic" and precision. But if you know that Associate Professor, Distinguished Teacher Dang Thi Hanh is one of the "beloved daughters" of scholar Dang Thai Mai, who has been attached to French culture for many years, who was "soaked" in the literary atmosphere of her father's time, then you would not be surprised at all. For more than half a century of being "friends" with literature and words, never tiring of learning the endless knowledge of literature, always knowing how to be moderate in each sentence, Meritorious Teacher Dang Thi Hanh, on the contrary, always makes us surprised that, at the age of nearly 80 (the time of publishing her autobiography), she still writes youthful and "fresh" sentences like that. Having been fortunate enough to be her student and colleague for nearly 40 years, I have understood more or less her personality, character, and working style. That is what I "risked" to say. But how much I understood, each person is always a world containing countless mysteries and new things, I dare not affirm that with these short lines, I can fully sketch her portrait. With people like her, many sketches are needed, maybe to hope to have a complete portrait.
I still remember, the year I entered the Faculty of Literature, University of General Sciences, at that time people often called it General Literature, teacher Dang Thi Hanh was still very young. It seemed like she was only 40 years old. In my little, blurred memory at that time, Ms. Hanh of that day was not much different from Ms. Hanh now. That is to say, the somewhat "ascetic" and thin appearance of a person who, based on her origin and living conditions at that time, should have been completely the opposite. Associate Professor - Meritorious Teacher Dang Thi Hanh had qualities that, over a long period of time, had hardly changed: at first, she seemed a bit strict and cold, but if you understood, got to know and interacted with her for a long time, you would see the simplicity and rusticity emanating from every gesture, posture, and word. Looking at her appearance, few people know that she is one of the “elite” daughters of a large intellectual family (alongside Professor Dang Thi Ha, wife of General Vo Nguyen Giap, Professor Dang Thanh Le, Associate Professor Dang Anh Dao, Associate Professor Dang Thai Hoang, Associate Professor Dang Xuyen Nhu). Her father, scholar Dang Thai Mai, once held the position of Minister of Education, Head of the Department of Literature, Director of the Institute of Literature, a leading expert in the team of literary researchers in our country in the early period. For me, getting to know and work with Associate Professor Dang Thi Hanh for nearly 40 years has been a great honor. Working alongside her at the Department of Foreign Literature, Faculty of Literature, Hanoi National University, I discovered in this highly respected “teacher” sparkling beauty, which I believe not everyone can easily have.
First of all, it is the beauty of simplicity, rusticity, and genuineness of a person who never likes "showiness and ostentation". Born in the Central region (Luong Dien village, Thanh Chuong district, Nghe An province), going through many ups and downs in life, and at one time being the Principal of a large high school in Hanoi (Truong Vuong school), Meritorious teacher Dang Thi Hanh always maintains a simple, honest, open, and lovable appearance. Having known her for a long time, I see that these personality traits have almost not changed. When it is necessary to reveal or find out the truth, the daughter of scholar Dang Thai Mai never beats around the bush, she always speaks her mind directly, without fear of offending, never praising anyone just to please, and never "putting down" anyone when she finds them "hateful". Truth is the number one criterion in all her statements. I remember the previous time a colleague in the Literature Department wrote an article about a concept in French literature (“para-literature”), published in a fairly prestigious specialized magazine (Literature Magazine). Because the author did not understand the concept very well, but kept “talking” about her knowledge, she wrote an article in this very magazine, scientifically analyzing that literary concept, and finally concluding with a short, profound sentence (“I think seriousness (and understanding) is necessary for today’s readers and writers”), but put it in the footnote section, so that the recipient of the feedback would not be “embarrassed”. Personally, for nearly 40 years, I have rarely been praised by her, and have even been “criticized” many times. Only most recently, after completing the projectCollection of Modern Poetics - Some theoretical and applied issuesby Professor Do Duc Hieu, I immediately respectfully gave it to her, because I knew she was very interested in this book. Just the next day, she called to discuss with me every detail of the summary article I wrote about Professor Do Duc Hieu. Still very frank and sincere, she told me: “You wrote well, writing like that has basically clarified the career of the teacher, but if this issue […] had been delved a little deeper, it would have been better…”. Her rare compliment to me over the years was just like that, but I still cherish and love that simple, sincere personality of hers.
In science, Associate Professor Dang Thi Hanh is a person who always knows her own limits, knows how to be moderate in all actions, both in speaking and publishing works and writings. Throughout her scientific career, she has read a lot and has a wide knowledge, but Dang Thi Hanh has never "showed off" her knowledge, never considered herself a "saint" who can know everything in the world. Perhaps that is why, during more than half a century of her scientific work, Dang Thi Hanh has never used the "quantity" of scientific works as a standard for her to strive for. On the contrary, I know that she is a very cautious and moderate person in all her scientific activities, in all scientific activities, whether small or large. She has never exchanged intellectual labor for money and "fake reputation", although up to now, I know that she herself is not a person with a lot of money. She once told me that there was a newspaper that asked her for short articles but was willing to pay millions in royalties, but she still refused. Actually, she only writes what she is passionate about. She only speaks about what she knows very well, understands “to the core”. The books she has written and published up to now can be counted on the fingers of one hand (French Romantic and Realist Literature,co-written with Le Hong Sam, MinistryHistory of French literature19th and 20th centuries, co-written with many authors, monographsNovel V. Hugo,Faces of French prose of the 20th centuryand a number of other articles and translation works, in fact not many compared to the vast knowledge of a scientist like her, but their scientific value is extremely great. In the memoirGirl looking at the rain(Published by Women's Publishing House in 2008), she spoke very sincerely about this special trait: "I like writing more than teaching and reading more than writing". I believe her confessions are truly sincere. I remember the day I graduated, I was accepted as her "disciple", taught with her the French classical and romantic literature courses, whenever there was an invitation to teach, she "gave me up: "Hinh, go teach, there is money there". Even though I was still very immature at that time, I was very eager to hear her words. As an excellent teacher who had many years of directly teaching and participating in management, Excellent Teacher Dang Thi Hanh always admitted that, for her, both of these fields were very "limited". Ten years as Principal of Trung Vuong High School was a "heavy exile" for her. Later, when she was released from her "leadership" position and returned to teach at the Literature Department, I always remember that she never accepted a leadership position, even a very small position like deputy head of the department. She sincerely confided that she was not the type of teacher with a talent for teaching and leadership. Compared to her colleague of the same age, People's Teacher Le Hong Sam, you admit that you are “inferior” in this regard. Recently, I remember calling me, you kept “worrying” about an article by a student, but also a colleague at the Faculty of Literature (Associate Professor Huu Dat), published in a newspaper praising you for “teaching well”. I do not think that the “praise” of your colleague is not correct. But in the phone conversation with me, you insisted that this “praise” was not appropriate for you. You did not admit that another person praised you for something that you had not achieved. There is another story that shows a special quality in your scientific work. You told me that once a specialist sent you a doctoral thesis on Hemingway without asking for your opinion first. You frankly told the specialist that you were not qualified for this job. Although everyone knows that for a well-read and knowledgeable researcher like her, this is completely within her reach. But in the face of honesty and accuracy in evaluating a scientific work, she firmly refused. Sometimes, when talking to me, she complained that why is it so easy and simple for people to evaluate and comment on a scientific work nowadays? There are councils that evaluate doctoral dissertations for graduate students, and the reviewer does not have a firm grasp of the student's thesis's expertise, but can still write smooth comments, read them to the council and sound very "scientific", but in fact, they are just empty and irresponsible things...
Lieutenant General Hong Cu helps Associate Professor Dang Thi Hanh record information from a phone conversation.
Retired for nearly 30 years now, but until now, there has never been a time when Associate Professor - Meritorious Teacher Dang Thi Hanh has turned her back on literature. Almost every literary event that takes place every day, she grasps, asks, learns, and sometimes participates to the best of her ability. This year, she has turned 84 years old, her health is not much better, even after the most recent surgery, her eyes can no longer see clearly. But her thirst for knowledge has never diminished. If she wants to learn something, she asks her partner - Lieutenant General Hong Cu to read it to her, and when she needs to write something, she reads it out loud for Lieutenant General Hong Cu to copy. Unable to take on too much, she still accepted to participate in translating an extremely difficult novel.In Search of Lost Timeof M. Proust. And before anything that requires honesty and accuracy in words, she still perseveres fiercely to the end, to protect the accuracy in science. Most recently, when calling me, she confided: "This picture, the title of the workÀ la recherches du temps perdus, but a member of the translation team insisted on translating it into Vietnamese.Find lost time, while for a long time, people have been translatingIn Search of Lost TimeJust adding or subtracting one word (Go findandFind again), when she saw that the translator's request was unreasonable, she still resolutely defended it to the end. She said that the original French had the wordA la…meant thatGo find, so why change. That is just a small example among countless examples that can be mentioned about the daily scientific style of the daughter of scholar Dang Thai Mai, which makes me unable to help but admire her. A person who works in science, means never giving in because of "respect". Truth is the only measure of science.
With her active contributions to promoting French literature in Vietnam, with more than half a century of dedication to science and training, on February 21, Associate Professor - Meritorious Teacher Dang Thi Hanh was honored to be awarded the Academic Palm Medal by the French government. In that solemn but also very simple ceremony at the French Cultural Center, I was fortunate to be invited among the very few guests she knew. Confiding in me, she said that she did not like to show off, did not consider this to be something too "big", so she did not see the need to invite many people. When invited to speak, still with her small figure and humble voice, the "academic knight" Dang Thi Hanh gently confided in very simple things as she often said every day, still not liking to say "big" things. As for me, I always feel that inside that simple, wise, intellectual woman is a vast ocean of life lessons that perhaps I could never learn all of in my entire life.
First day of school, September 2013
Author:Tran Hinh
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