Associate Professor, People's Teacher Bui Duy Tan - a lifetime of passion for literary history

Starting his career in the early stages of modern literary history research, Bui Duy Tan, like most of his colleagues of the same generation, was forced to temporarily put aside general theoretical issues that were not suitable for the “right time and right place” to choose a more reasonable direction, which was to study and discuss specific authors and works. He was also fortunate to attend the first Han Nom class organized for young lecturers and researchers of research and university teaching institutions in Hanoi. After a long process of diligent accumulation and work, due to his personal interests and strengths, this is still his main direction and his main contributions to social sciences.

Associate Professor, People's Teacher Bui Duy Tan (1931-2009)/Photo: Bui Tuan

It can be said that his name is a guarantee for the certainty and reliability of research documents. He conducted research and located a series of authors from the 10th century - the first half of the 18th century, from big names like Nguyen Trai, Nguyen Binh Khiem to lesser-known names like Thai Thuan, Nguyen Bao, Phung Khac Khoan, Dao Duy Tu, Nguyen Tong Quai, Mac Thien Tich... This quiet work not only helps to visualize medieval literature more comprehensively but also lays a solid foundation for the research of later generations. Besides, his research on specific texts and words demonstrates a solid academic spirit, always carefully questioning the beliefs that have become obvious not only in the research community or the community but also in himself. One of the typical examples is the problem of the author of the famous poem that we often callMalecountry. Based onComplete Annals of Dai Vietand other colleagues' documents, he resolutely wrote a series of articles to clarify that the author of this poem is Vo Danh Thi, not Ly Thuong Kiet as most of us are used to thinking. Whether this poem is anonymous or by Ly Thuong Kiet greatly affects the understanding that the poem belongs to the early stage of the nation's written literature. This seems trivial but is actually extremely important for the field of medieval literature research, belonging to an era where the storage and transmission of documents have their own characteristics. Along with the above discovery, in this work, he has restored the position of the first work of Vietnamese written literature to the poem.Southern country mountains and riversinstead ofPlan to defeat Hong Thaoof Ngo Quyen as inLy-Tran poetryandNationalityas inAnthology of Vietnamese Literature.He was also one of the people who tried to correct a mistranslation that lasted for decades that we are very fond of: "Uc Trai tam thuong quang khue tao" was mistranslated as "Uc Trai long sang nhu sao Khue". Although this mistranslation was very popular because it was like a vindication for Nguyen Trai, it was an unfamiliar and meaningless metaphor in the Middle Ages. The correct translation should be "Uc Trai's heart shines brightly in literature". Because of the particularly important role of literature in the Middle Ages, the feudal dynasties praised Nguyen Trai, and praised the impact of his literature on politics and society. Regarding the Tao Dan Association, he also searched for original documents in the 15th century but could not find any documents recording the establishment of this association or this name. He came to the conclusion that this was something that later generations (19th century) had come up with. This discovery has many implications for understanding literary creation as well as the causes of "falsification" intentions (if any) of later generations.

Among his research works, we can mention the selection of books on medieval literature. Medieval literature is still a difficult field for the majority of readers to access, not only because of language and writing barriers, the cultural gap between the past and the present, but also because of the difficulties in finding reference materials, especially books selecting original works. Bui Duy Tan not only participated in compiling large, highly academic books for professional researchers such asAnthology of Vietnamese Literature(editor-in-chief 6, 7) but also designed valuable book series aimed at a more general audience, most notablyAnthology of Vietnamese Medieval Literature(Volumes 1, 2, 3, Education Publishing House, 2004, 2008, 2009). The book series is quite large in scale, capturing the outstanding works of the most representative authors while still ensuring the ability to cover the general appearance of literature in each period. Inheriting the achievements of predecessors, the book series selects appropriate translations and updated annotations. It can be said that the book series is a contribution of Bui Duy Tan and the authors to the study of medieval literature by literature lovers in general.

Associate Professor, Meritorious Artist Bui Duy Tan was awarded the State Prize for Science and Technology in 2007 for his work.Research and discuss some genres, authors and works of medieval Vietnamese literature(2 episodes)/Photo: Bui Tuan

In the field of essays, as a researcher and lecturer at the university for many years, Bui Duy Tan has many achievements in generalizing the characteristics and trends of literary periods, summarizing and summarizing scientific topics and issues. He wrote a part of the literature textbook.Vietnam from the 10th century to the first half of the 18th centuryof the University of General Sciences (Education Publishing House, Hanoi, 1979), full curriculumVietnamese Literature from the 10th Century to the Mid-18th Century(Education Publishing House, Hanoi, 1998), many general and summary articles in large and small research works on literary periods and authors. The appeal of his articles is not in the ornateness of the writing style or the novelty of the theory but focuses on the solidity of the materials, the richness of the information, the carefulness of the arguments and the profound way of looking at problems of someone who has absorbed ancient literature throughout his life.

Associate Professor, Dr. Le Huy Tieu and the late Associate Professor, Meritorious Teacher Bui Duy Tan/Photo: Bui Tuan

Among the thousands of pages of books that he published throughout his research career, many works will certainly overcome the test of time to continue to accompany the medieval literature research community. Even after his retirement, until the last years of his life, he still worked tirelessly to continue to produce new works. He was a researcher who was always passionate about his profession, and a teacher who was always enthusiastic about passing on to generations of students not only knowledge but also boundless love for the research of ancient literature and culture. I was in the last class of students who had the opportunity to study with him. The image that I always remember of him is his sparkling eyes and clear voice at the age of "ancient and modern" who was still enthusiastically correcting the issues of "Nam Quoc Son Ha", Hoi Tao Dan or "Uc Trai Tam Thuong Quang Khue Tao".