Meritorious Teacher Dang Thi Hanh: Some reflections

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Associate Professor, Meritorious Teacher Dang Thi Hanh. Hanoi, 2013.

At first glance, if one only reads the opening lines of this memoir, brimming with memories, few would guess that these are the writings of an educator, a scientist, and even a scientist who deeply cherishes "academic" principles and precision. However, knowing that Associate Professor and Distinguished Educator Dang Thi Hanh is one of the "beloved daughters" of scholar Dang Thai Mai, who spent many years immersed in French culture and was deeply influenced by her father's literary culture, then one would find no surprise at all. For over half a century, she has been "friends" with literature and words, never tiring of learning from the endless ocean of literary knowledge, always restraining herself in every word. On the contrary, the Distinguished Teacher Dang Thi Hanh, at nearly 80 years old (at the time of publication of her autobiography), still writes such youthful and "fresh" sentences. Having been fortunate enough to be her student and colleague for almost 40 years, I have come to understand a little about her personality, character, and work style. That's my bold claim, though. But how much I truly understand is impossible; each person is a world containing countless mysteries and new things. I dare not claim that these brief lines can fully portray her. For people like her, many sketches are needed to hope for a complete portrait.

I still remember, when I first entered the Faculty of Literature at the University of Hanoi, then commonly known as the Faculty of Literature, Professor Dang Thi Hanh was still very young. I think she was only around 40. In my vague and limited memory from that time, Professor Hanh then wasn't much different from Professor Hanh now. I'm referring to her somewhat "austere," thin appearance, which, given her background and living circumstances at the time, should have been quite the opposite. Professor Dang Thi Hanh, an Associate Professor and Distinguished Teacher, possessed qualities that remained largely unchanged over a long period: at first glance, she seemed rather strict and cold, but if you got to know her, became familiar with her, and interacted with her for a while, you would see the simplicity and naturalness emanating from her every gesture, manner, and word. Judging by appearances, few would guess that she is one of the "outstanding" daughters of a prominent 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; and Associate Professor Dang Xuyen Nhu). Her father, scholar Dang Thai Mai, served as Minister of Education, Head of the Faculty of Literature, Director of the Institute of Literature, and a leading expert among literary researchers in our country during its early period. For me, knowing and working with Associate Professor Dang Thi Hanh for nearly 40 years has been a great honor. Working alongside her in the Department of Foreign Literature, Faculty of Literature, Hanoi University, I discovered in this highly respected "teacher" a radiant beauty that I believe not everyone possesses.

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First and foremost, it's the beauty of simplicity, unpretentiousness, and genuineness of a person who never liked "showmanship or ostentation." Born in Central Vietnam (Luong Dien village, Thanh Chuong district, Nghe An province), having experienced many ups and downs in life, and even having served as the principal of a large high school in Hanoi (Truong Vuong High School), the Distinguished Teacher Dang Thi Hanh has always maintained her simple, honest, open, and endearing nature. Having known her for a long time, I find these personality traits to be almost unchanged. When she needs to express or understand a truth, the daughter of scholar Dang Thai Mai never beats around the bush; she always speaks her mind directly, without fear of offending anyone, never praising anyone just to flatter them, and never "crushing" anyone she finds truly "unlikable." Truth is the number one criterion in all her statements. I remember once, before a colleague from the Literature department wrote an article about a concept in French literature ("para-literature"), published in a fairly prestigious specialized journal (Literature Journal). Because the author didn't quite understand the concept but kept boasting about his knowledge, she wrote an article in the same journal, scientifically analyzing the literary concept, and concluding with a concise, profound sentence ("I think seriousness (and understanding) is necessary for readers and writers today"), but placed it in the footnotes so that the recipient of the feedback wouldn't feel embarrassed. For almost 40 years, I myself have rarely received praise from her, and have even been criticized quite a few times. Only recently, after completing my work...Anthology of Modern Poetics – Some Theoretical and Applied IssuesI immediately presented this book to Professor Do Duc Hieu, knowing she was very interested in it. The very next day, she called to discuss every detail of the comprehensive essay I had written about Professor Do Duc Hieu. Still very frank and sincere, she said to me: “You wrote well; you’ve basically clarified the professor’s career, but if you had delved a little deeper into this issue, it would have been even better…” That was the rare compliment she had given me over the years, yet I still cherish and appreciate her simple, sincere personality.

In science, Associate Professor Dang Thi Hanh is someone who always knows her limits and exercises restraint in all her actions, both in her speech and in the publication of her works. Throughout her scientific life, despite extensive reading and broad knowledge, Dang Thi Hanh never "showed off" her knowledge or considered herself a "saint" who knew everything in the world. Perhaps that is why, throughout more than half a century of scientific work, Dang Thi Hanh never used the "quantity" of her scientific works as a benchmark for her aspirations. On the contrary, I know that she is extremely cautious and restrained in all her scientific activities, whether small or large. She never traded her intellectual work for money and "empty fame," although, even now, I know that she herself is not a person with abundant wealth. She once told me that a newspaper offered her short articles in the millions of dong, but she still refused. In truth, she only writes about things she truly believes in. She only speaks about things she understands thoroughly, things she knows "down to the core." The number of books she has written and published to date can be counted on the fingers of one hand.French Romantic and Realist LiteratureWritten jointly with Le Hong Sam, MinistryHistory of French Literature19th and 20th centuries, co-authored with many other authors, treatisesNovel by V. Hugo,Prominent figures in 20th-century French proseAnd some other articles and translations—actually not many compared to the vast knowledge of a scientist like her—but their scientific value is immense. In her memoir.The little girl looked at the rain.(Published by Women's Publishing House in 2008), she spoke very sincerely about this unique trait: "I prefer writing to teaching and reading to writing." I believe her statements are truly sincere. I remember when I first graduated, I was accepted as her "apprentice," teaching classical and romantic French literature alongside her. Whenever there was a teaching opportunity, she would always "give it to me," saying, "Hinh, you go teach there, that place pays well." Even though I was very young at the time, her words filled me with enthusiasm. As an outstanding teacher who had spent many years directly teaching and participating in management, Outstanding Teacher Dang Thi Hanh always admitted that she was very "limited" in both these areas. Ten years as Principal of Trung Vuong High School was a "heavy ordeal" for her. Later, when she left her "leadership" position and returned to teaching in the Literature department, I always remember that she never accepted a leadership position, not even a small one like deputy head of department. She sincerely confessed that she wasn't the type of teacher with a talent for teaching and leadership. Compared to her peer, People's Teacher Le Hong Ms. Sam admitted that she was significantly "inferior" in this area. I remember a recent phone call where she kept "hesitating" about an article by a student, also a colleague in the Literature Department (Associate Professor Huu Dat), published in a newspaper praising her "excellent teaching." I didn't think her colleague's praise was untrue. But during our phone conversation, she insisted that the praise was inappropriate. She refused to accept someone praising her for something she hadn't yet achieved. Another story illustrates a special quality in her scientific work. She told me that once, a specialist, without consulting her beforehand, sent her a doctoral dissertation on Hemingway for review. She frankly told the specialist that, professionally, she couldn't handle the task. Although everyone knows that for a brilliant researcher with extensive reading and broad knowledge like her, this was entirely a challenging task. The task was within her reach. But when it came to honesty and accuracy in evaluating a scientific work, she resolutely refused. Sometimes, when talking to me, she complained about how easy and simplistic it is to evaluate scientific work these days. There are doctoral thesis review committees where the reviewer, who has no firm grasp of the student's thesis subject matter, can still write smooth comments that sound very "scientific" when read aloud to the committee, but in reality, they are just empty, irresponsible statements…

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Lieutenant General Hong Cu assisted Associate Professor Dang Thi Hanh in recording information from a telephone conversation.

She retired nearly 30 years ago, but to this day, Associate Professor and Distinguished Teacher Dang Thi Hanh has never turned her back on literature. Almost every literary event that takes place daily is one she observes, inquires about, and learns about, sometimes participating to the best of her ability. Now 84 years old, her health is failing, and even after her most recent surgery, her eyesight is not very good. But her thirst for knowledge never diminishes. If she wants to learn something, she asks her husband, Lieutenant General Hong Cu, to read it aloud; when she needs to write something, she dictates it aloud for Lieutenant General Hong Cu to transcribe. Unable to handle everything herself, she still agreed to participate in translating a very difficult novel.Searching for lost timeby M. Proust. And before anything that required honesty and accuracy in writing, she remained steadfastly determined to defend scientific accuracy. Most recently, she confided in me on the phone: "This image, the title of the work."À la recherches du temps perdus, which one member of the translation team insisted on translating into Vietnamese.Reclaim lost time, whereas for a long time, people have been translatingSearching for lost timeIt's just a matter of adding or removing one word.Go searchingandFind it againWhen she saw that the demands of her fellow translator were unreasonable, she remained resolute in defending her work to the end. She said that the original French text contained the word...À la…that already meansGo searchingSo why change? That's just one small example among countless others that could be cited about the everyday scientific approach of the daughter of scholar Dang Thai Mai, which makes me admire her immensely. A scientist, by definition, never compromises out of deference or consideration. Truth is the only measure of science.

For her significant contributions to promoting French literature in Vietnam, and for over half a century of dedicated service to science and education, on February 21st, Associate Professor and Distinguished Educator Dang Thi Hanh was honored with the Order of the Academic Palms by the French government. At the solemn yet simple ceremony at the French Cultural Center, I was fortunate to be among the few acquaintances she knew. She confided in me that she disliked ostentation and didn't consider this a "big deal," so she didn't feel the need to invite many people. When invited to speak, with her small stature and humble voice, the "academic knight" Dang Thi Hanh gently shared simple thoughts, as she always does, still preferring not to talk about "big things." As for me, I've always felt that beneath that simple, wise, and intellectual woman lies a vast ocean of life lessons, which I probably wouldn't be able to learn completely even in my entire life.

First day of school, September 2013