Random thoughts about the Faculty of Literature before the 2014 admission season

I imagine the history of nearly 60 years of development of a leading Literature training institution in the country and the age of sixty of a person's life. Suddenly I find it interesting to compare and realize both the similarities and differences. A person approaching the age of sixty will find it difficult to assert that he is still as energetic as when he was in his twenties or eighteen, but the Faculty of Literature can. That is the difference. But a person approaching the age of sixty will certainly not be as impulsive, looking at life with blue eyes as when he was eighteen or twenty. At the age of sixty, people will know how to arrange their lives in the most scientific way, so that they are always healthy and still useful. The Faculty of Literature is the same. That is the similarity. These days, when a new admission season is about to begin, I always imagine the Faculty of Literature through that somewhat "strange" comparison.

More than three years ago, I was fortunate to be invited to attend the 30th anniversary meeting of the 22nd Literature course, a course with the largest number of students in the history of the faculty (the Literature class alone had 180 students), to meet again and listen to the confidences of the “22nd seniors” who were then over “50”. Witnessing the “excitement” of a generation of Literature students from that time, most of whom were now “grandfathers and grandmothers”, even though they had been away from the faculty and school for 30 years, I was as moved as I was when I first entered the school. It turns out that my classmates, who were six years ahead of me, I thought they had left school for a long time and were successful in their new environment (many of them are now General and Deputy General Editors of many prestigious newspapers, some like Nguyen The Ky are now taking on the responsibility of Deputy of the Central Science and Education Committee, Mr. Dang Vu Thao is currently the Director of Vietnam Animation Studio, Ms. Phung Thi Viet Huong - Vice Principal of the University of Theater and Cinema...), are still very attached to the three wordsLiterature Synthesis. Everyone confided with regret that, as society develops day by day, material life improves, the Faculty of Literature also develops, but why do we still feel like we are moving away from something sacred and precious? Now, every time we return to school, thinking about school, the Faculty of Literature and the Faculty of Linguistics are still there, but everyone feels regretful that the three words "Literature Synthesis. That said, to know how deep an impression the cradle of the Faculty of General Literature once left. As a student of the Faculty of General Literature class 16, now a teacher of the Faculty of Literature, I completely share and sympathize with the deep feelings of the K22 brothers and sisters. Believe that all the "children" born from here share the same deep feelings.

How can it not be profound when the leading training institution for humanities in this country once reigned “a whole cast of stars”, the leading researchers of Literature in the whole country. The names of the teachers, although until now, some have passed away, some are still alive: Dang Thai Mai, Hoang Xuan Nhi, Do Duc Hieu, Ton Gia Ngan, Tran Dinh Huou, Phan Cu De, Ha Minh Duc, Le Dinh Ky, Le Hong Sam, Dang Thi Hanh, Hoang Nhu Mai, Dinh Gia Khanh, etc., but every time I mention their names, the pride wells up and makes my heart feel like it is choking. Simply because there was a time when we were their students, there was a time when this was the dream address of many people. And not only that, from this cradle of Literature training, hundreds of members of the Vietnam Writers Association have "taken off" to fly high and far, making an important contribution to the beauty of national literature of a time: Phan Tu, Thanh Thao, Duong Huong Ly, Nguyen Trong Dinh, Hoang Trung Thu, Nguyen Duy, Hoang Nhuan Cam, Y Nhi, Be Kien Quoc...; thousands of famous and great journalists, editors, social activists, artists, teachers also grew up from this cradle, although the Faculty of General Literature at that time and the Faculty of Literature now are not necessarily multidisciplinary training institutions. But no one can deny that students graduating from the Faculty of Literature, regardless of any stage, cannot become talented and outstanding researchers, lecturers, journalists, sociologists, editors, and social activists. The important thing is the quality, love and determination of the learners. There was a time when, true to its name “General”, the Faculty of Literature, although not a multidisciplinary training institution, the students who graduated from here, no matter what position they were assigned to, all completed their assigned social responsibilities excellently. I still have in my hands the intact letter of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, a former student of the 8th course of the Faculty of Literature (at that time holding the important position of Editor-in-Chief of the Communist Magazine) written to the faculty on the occasion of its 35th anniversary with the following words: “We are very pleased to see that over the past 35 years, with tireless efforts, the Faculty of Literature, Hanoi National University has grown steadily and achieved very meaningful achievements in education and training. This has been specifically demonstrated in our agency: the number of students trained by the faculty and assigned to the Communist Review, from the first courses until now, accounts for a fairly high proportion of generations of staff of the Editorial Board. Most of those comrades, upon joining the magazine, quickly got used to the work and demonstrated themselves to be qualified and capable staff. Some of them have made outstanding contributions to improving the quality of the magazine and have been assigned to positions in charge of the Editorial Board. It can be said that in the achievements that the Communist Review has achieved over the past 36 years, there has been a significant contribution from generations of staff who were students of the Faculty of Literature, Hanoi National University.”

The wise and heartfelt comments of the person who held the highest position in the Communist magazine at that time, and now holds the highest position in the Communist Party of Vietnam, still hold their value. The Faculty of Literature has the right to be proud of that. Up to now, after a long journey of nearly 60 years of development, the team of teachers of the Faculty of Literature is now streamlined, youthful and has been trained more formally and systematically than before (45 teachers, more than 2/3 of whom are under 50 years old, many professors, associate professors and doctors). But why do I still wonder: its attractiveness to young people compared to before, has somewhat declined? That is something worth pondering for us, the teachers of the Faculty of Literature. We do not blame the choices of young people today. Living in a world that develops like a storm, sometimes it is difficult for us to have the peace of mind to choose the most correct path for ourselves. Furthermore, as social life changes, people's need to choose a career must also change. I think that people's love for literature may still be there, but choosing it as a career to make a living must be "weighed and measured". Therefore, to survive, the Faculty of Literature can only innovate itself. In recent years, after the Faculty of Languages ​​was separated, the Faculty of Literature still maintains teaching and training many basic majors that once made the brand of the leading Literature training institution in the country: Literary Theory, Vietnamese Literature, Folk and Medieval Literature, Western Literature, Oriental Literature, and Han Nom. To create more diversity and connection between the faculty and social needs, 5 years ago, a new and quite attractive department was opened in the Faculty of Literature: the Department of Art Studies. Built on the basis of the Ford Foundation-funded Cinema Project, this is a program to train screenwriters, film and television critics and theorists who are in great need of human resources today. In the 2014 school year, the first master's course in history, theory and criticism of film and television at the Faculty of Literature has officially enrolled students. In addition, the Han Nom major, after more than 40 years of development, now also enrolls students in all three training systems: bachelor's, master's and doctoral. A cultured country like Vietnam cannot lack a training facility for experts in researching the nation's cultural heritage such as the Han Nom major of the Faculty of Literature. A model of the Faculty of Literature consisting of "three legs": Literature, Han Nom and Art will be formed and develop stably in the near future. That is the wish of the teachers currently teaching at the Faculty of Literature. Current Literature students, if qualified and passionate, can also study for a “double” degree in related majors within the National University system. This means that the door to future careers is always open for young people… Why not trust and choose?

After nearly 60 years of establishment and development, the Faculty of Literature will always maintain its youthfulness, dynamism and creativity as ever to be worthy of the trust of all generations of students of the Faculty of Literature and Social Sciences.