Compose the Essay: Literary Evolution and Styles

COMPOSING THE ESSAY LITERARY EVOLUTION AND STYLES, concise 1

A. BASIC KNOWLEDGE

I. Literary Evolution

1. Concept of Literary Evolution
- Literary evolution is a concept referring to the dynamics of literature.
- It encompasses all literary works, forms of literary existence from the past to the present and even forecasts the future.
- Literary evolution includes elements of literary life such as authors, readers, literary organizational forms, research activities, criticism, translation... and the mutual influence between different forms of art.
- General laws of literary evolution: + Laws of literature associated with life.
+ Laws of inheritance and innovation.
+ Laws of conservation and transformation.

2. Literature Associated with Life
- Literature is a form of cultural activity, a part of the spiritual life of society. Therefore, literary activities are closely linked to other activities in social life.
- Historical movements in social life often lead to changes in the consciousness of writers and the public. This leads to changes in literary life.
- For example: + The formation of the semi-feudal colonial society in the early twentieth century when French colonialism invaded, plundered resources and enslaved our nation laid the foundation for the emergence of romantic literature, critical realism literature.
+ The August Revolution in 1945 opened up a new horizon for literature: revolutionary literature with a strong sense of struggle, serving the cause of protecting national independence, expressing pride and the strong will of a resilient nation.

3. Laws of Literary Inheritance and Innovation
- The laws of inheritance and innovation are the laws of existence and development of literature. Without adhering to these laws, literature cannot exist.
- Inheritance is based on tradition, the foundation of literary existence. For example, Modern Poetry inherits emotions, imagery, poetic forms,... from classical poetry.
- Innovation creates something new that did not exist before, keeping literature dynamic and developing. Innovation always builds on what already exists. Through innovation, new artists express their styles and affirm their place in the literary process. Viet Bac by To Huu is a unique innovation in the poetic form of the Old Bridge to suit the emotions and feelings of people in a new era.
- Inheritance and innovation are inseparable aspects of the literary process. Thanks to these laws, literature continues to develop, meeting new aesthetic needs of people.

4. Laws of Conservation and Transformation
- Conservation preserves the beauty of literature. The form, emotions, imagery... of hexameter poetry form the basis for many poetic innovations afterwards. This is the poetry form imbued with national identity.
- Transformation is the process of selectively absorbing the literary essence of the world and adapting it to the national spirit. Huu Can borrows the smoke waves quatrain from Thoi Hieu in the two closing lines of Trang Giang. Nam Cao's Chi Phèo absorbs the images of Ca-di-mô-đô and Giang Van Giang from Huy-go's novels.
- Conservation and transformation are common expressions of all literary traditions. On one hand, it reflects the deep national character, on the other hand, it opens the door to the world, blending into the common rhythm of world literature. Today, our short stories still retain many traditional elements such as heavy narration, emphasis on plot,... but some writers have expanded the scope of their stories to postmodern aesthetics with labels like “mini-master”, fragments, surrealism...

5. Concept of Literary Movements
- Literary movements describe the historical development of literary art. Romanticism, realism, impressionism, surrealism, magical realism... are literary movements.
- This is a phenomenon with a historical nature, it arises and disappears within a certain period of time.
- It refers to the relationship between writers, works with closeness in inspiration, principles of describing reality, central imagery or thoughts, and emerges as a prominent trend in literary life.

6. Basic Characteristics of Romanticism
- Romanticism is the offspring of bourgeois revolutions in the late 18th century in the West.
- This trend fully recognizes the role and creative personality of the artist opposed to the “natural imitation” of classicalism. Romanticism believes that artists have the right to transform the real world by creating a more beautiful, more authentic world, therefore more real.
- Romantic literature is a personal voice full of emotions, it loves imagination, rejects norms in aesthetics and regulations with logical characteristics in art.
- This literary trend tries to escape from the banality of reality to delve into the inner world, the world of dreams.
- The creative inspiration of romanticism is praise. The principle of reflection tends to the noble, majestic with an often happy ending.

7. Basic Characteristics of Realism.
- As a movement following romanticism, emphasizing objectivity emerged with the purpose of criticizing the negative aspects of human society.
- In a narrow sense, as a literary movement, realism describes life through corresponding images of the essence of life phenomena and by typicalizing events of life.

8. Basic Characteristics of Socialist Realism
- Taking the Marxist-Leninist worldview as the philosophical basis, and the principles of the Communist Party as the guiding principles.
- Writers, artists must depict reality realistically, specifically in its dialectical development process.
- The main task in reflecting reality is to affirm through art the new, positive, progressive aspects of life.
- Actively propose solutions for social situations and optimistic about a better future for humanity.

II. Literary Style

1. Concept of Literary Style
- The unique, distinctive features of an author in the process of perception and reflection of life, these unique features are expressed in all content and form factors of each specific work.
- It is the artist's skill in providing readers with a fresh perspective on life through artistic methods, bearing the personal stamp of the creator.
- The style of To Huu's poetry is sentimental - political. Nguyen Tuan's style is 'arrogant' full of elegance, sophistication...
- Unlike the method of creation, the signs of style seem to emerge on the surface of the work, all converging to create a unified, tangible whole and can be perceived by all the basic elements of artistic form.

2. Expressions of Literary Style
- The perspective, perception characterized by the author's unique tone.
- Creative elements of the work's content also bear the author's distinctive mark.
- Literary style is the unity in the diversity of creation. Uniqueness, beauty must frequently appear, be repeated, with a sustainable, consistent nature.
- When we say Xuân Diệu is the master of love poetry, it means the theme of love always resides in his poetry and his handling of that theme is uniquely non-repetitive.

B. ANSWERING QUESTIONS, EXERCISES

1. Brief comments on the differences in characteristics between romantic literature and critical realism in the story 'The Man Who Was a Convict' (Nguyễn Tuân) and an excerpt from 'The Happiness of a Funeral' (excerpt from 'Dumb Luck' – Vũ Trọng Phụng).

Guidelines for writing
a) - Huấn Cao is the central character in the short story 'The Man Who Was a Convict' by Nguyễn Tuân. The work is written in a romantic style. This is one of the most beautiful artistic images of Nguyễn Tuân and Vietnamese literature. The characteristics of romantic writing mainly focus on the art of constructing the character Huấn Cao. A figure embodying the lofty ideals of romanticism. Specifically, this character encompasses:
- Artistry: the artistic talent of Huấn Cao.
+ Huấn Cao is an artist with exceptional talent in calligraphy. To emphasize Huấn Cao's talent, Nguyễn Tuân indirectly describes it through the conversation between the poet and the prison warden. In their secretive conversation, we see:
+ Huấn's letters are beautiful and square.
+ Huấn's beautiful handwriting is renowned everywhere.
+ Huấn's letters become a treasure to the warden, and even the poet regrets if someone like Huấn is punished.
- Ideals: the artist's heart.
+ This heart is expressed in the consciousness of the high value of art.
+ This heart is also expressed in his attitude towards the warden. He is afraid of losing his reputation in society, so he agrees to write for the warden.
- Heroism: the expression of a hero
+ Shown in his honest, calm demeanor when entering prison, in the face of the humiliation by the prison guards.
+ Shown in his calm, relaxed way of life in the last days of his life.
+ He even shows disdain towards the warden.
+ Even the night before going to the prison, he calmly writes and advises the warden with sincere words, profound.
- The beauty of talent, ideals, heroism of Huấn Cao is converged in the scene of writing.
+ To write the last lines of life not only requires the skilled hands of an artist but also the heroic spirit of a hero. The harmony of these noble qualities illuminates and supports beauty, goodness.
+ In this 'unprecedented' scene, Huấn Cao embodies genuine beauty with extraordinary power. That beauty can conquer evil, support good even in the prison.
- It can be said that Huấn Cao is one of the most beautiful artistic images of Nguyễn Tuân and Vietnamese modern literature. This image has become a hymn of talent and personality. The art of character building here mainly belongs to the writer's spiritual world rather than adhering to the objective nature of reality.
_ Romantic writing is also focused on constructing contrasting images between Huấn Cao and the prison, between darkness and light. The movement of these contrasts is to reach the goal of light pushing back darkness, good triumphing over evil.

b) - Nguyen Tuan's creative inspiration in celestial stories is praise. Meanwhile, Vu Trong Phung's creative inspiration in 'The Happiness of a Funeral' is criticism, bitter mockery.
- 'The Happiness of a Funeral' holds deep real-life value. This reality value is based on insightful observation and objective reflection, as follows:
– Vu Trong Phung has exposed the ugly, rotten face of the upper-class society.
- Through the portraits of those outside the funeral: They come to mourn, but in reality, they feel no sympathy or respect for the deceased.
+ The high-ranking, influential figures.
+ The noble girls and guys of Hanoi.
+ A crowd comes to see and praise the big funeral..
- Through the portraits of those inside the funeral: They outwardly show grief but are actually extremely joyful. Each person finds their own happiness and acts in mourning to conceal that happiness.
+ Uncle Hong - the deceased's son.
+ Grandsons, granddaughters, the deceased's son-in-law: Van Minh, Tu Tan, Tuyet, Phan who's grown horns...
- They are all fools, ridiculous and contemptible, more than deceitful, ungrateful to the point of burying their conscience, trampling on moral principles..
- Through this, the writer vividly and deeply portrays the dark, rotten surface of a 'worthless', 'meaningless' society:
+ A morally declining society (So the father dies, the grandfather dies, but the children and grandchildren are excited and happy...).
+ A hypocritical society (even the pain is fake...).
+ A deceitful, despicable society (like the funeral of Mr. Ancestor...”
- With a tone of sarcasm and indignation towards the absurd actions of the upper class, Vu Trong Phung also reveals the true nature of the Westernization movement, superficial culture as a race for competition, extravagant fun:
+ So the funeral is organized in both Western and Eastern styles.
+ Those who attend the funeral wear the latest fashion from Western tailors to show off to the wealthy.
+ The funeral even takes photos like at a fair.
- This reality value has greatly affirmed the chapter's story as well as the entire work. This is also the major difference between the two pens of two different trends: romantic and realistic.

2. Highlighting the Main Features of Nguyen Tuan and To Huu's Artistic Styles.
- Nguyen Tuan: As a romantic writer, Nguyen Tuan's literature flies towards extraordinary, magnificent images, exquisite beauty in life. Through the world of imagery bearing the subjective mark of the author, Nguyen Tuan shows a masterful pen in using language and summarizing reality through unique images. Nguyen Tuan's creative inspiration is praise for idealized beauty. His character images are of people surpassing circumstances, goodness always triumphing over evil, darkness giving way to light...
- To Huu: As a poet - soldier, his poetic style is revolutionary. Poetry serves the revolutionary cause. To Huu's poetic language is exuberant, sweet in emotions. Poetic images stick closely to life. Realism is always emphasized. To Huu's creative inspiration is primarily praise. The objects of praise are people fighting for national independence, unity. To Huu's poetry is imbued with the folk cultural essence of the nation. He knows how to exploit the roots, images, words,... from folklore, combining with modern poetic innovations to carve out lasting impressions in readers' hearts: Such as the beloved image of Uncle Ho, the liberator fighting bravely on the anti-American frontlines, mothers Suot, Tom,...

COMPOSING LITERARY PROCESS AND LITERARY STYLE, short 2

Question 1. What is the literary process? Describe the general laws of the literary process?

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