The term "socialist realism" and the theory it referred to were, like most everything in the Soviet Union at this time, ascribed to Stalin himself, but Soviet critics and writers, particularly Maxim Gorky, were chiefly responsible. A resolution passed by the Central Committee of the Communist party in 1932 created a single Union of Soviet Writers. Writers who wished to join had to accept the general policy of the Soviet government, support socialist reconstruction, and adhere to the method of socialist realism. Though socialist realism is now seen as a restrictive doctrine, it was formulated in Russia as a reaction to an even stricter regimentation by a group known as the Russian Association of Proletarian Writers. This group insisted on proletarian literature that would serve Russia's Five-Year Plan for industrial and economic development. Approved works glorified workers in factories and on collective farms. Disappointed with the quality of this proletarian literature, party members established a new Union of Soviet Writers and the new doctrine of socialist realism in order to improve literary quality. Restrictions were still in place, writers had to produce socialist realism, but they were relieved of the requirement to write purely industrial or political novels.
Russia
In 1934 Maxim Gorky summarized the four key features of socialist realism. First, socialist realism
is a programmatic literature that affirms something. Second, it is a literature in which
collectivism is presented as the main factor in shaping man. "Socialist individuality can
develop only in conditions of collective labor," said Gorky. Third, socialist realistic literature
provides an optimistic outlook on life. Fourth, this literature must have an educative
function.2 Zhdanov, another prominent critic at the time, offered this definition:
"[T]ruthfulness and historical concreteness of artistic depiction must be combined with the task of
ideological remolding and re-education of the toiling people in the spirit of Socialism. This method
in fiction and in literary criticism is what we call Socialist Realism . . . ."3
Gorky and other critics who helped define socialist realism often contrasted it with critical or bourgeois realism--the realism of Balzac, for example, or of Russia's great nineteenth-century novelists Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. According to Gorky, the problem with critical realism was that it was too negative, too pessimistic. It was good at exposing the evils of pre-socialist society but it was not upbeat enough to develop a new socialist personality.
Vietnam
Vietnamese intellectuals followed debates in the Soviet Union relating to socialist realism by
reading accounts in French journals, including l'Humanite', the official newspaper of the
French Communist Party, and Monde, edited by Henri Barbusse, a leading communist
intellectual. These journals were available in Vietnam when the Popular Front gained control in
France (1936-39) and relaxed the censorship of materials sent to the colonies (See Hue^. Ta^m
Ho^' Ta`i, "Literature for the People"). In Vietnam arguments
over socialist realism emanating from the Soviet Union became part of a Vietnamese debate
between a group advocating "art for art's sake" and another group in favor of "art for life's sake."
The leading spokesperson of the latter group, a communist Party member named Ha?i Trie^u,
aligned himself with Soviet (Maxim Gorky) and French (Romain Rolland and Henri Barbusse) critics
who advocated flexible definitions of socialist realism. According to Hue^. Ta^m Ho^' Ta`i, Ha?i
Trie^u was "the leading proponent of the communist conception of literature" before the outbreak
of World War II (65). The war caused Soviet critics to tighten their definitions of socialist realism,
primarily by making patriotism a dominant theme. It was these more rigid definitions, rather than
Ha?i Trie^u's more moderate views, that were adopted by the Indochina Communist Party in its
"Theses on Culture" that it promulgated in 1943--the Party's first formal statement of its position on
literature.
Tru+o+`ng Chinh, General Secretary of the Central Committee, amplified these "Theses" in his 1948 report "Marxism and Vietnamese Culture." Here is how Tru+o+`ng Chinh defined socialist realism in that report:
As we understand it, socialist realism is a method of artistic creation which portrays the truth in a society evolving towards socialism according to objective laws. Out of objective reality we must spotlight "the typical features in typical situations" [from Engels' definition of realism] and reveal the inexorable motive force driving society forward and the objective tendency of the process of evolution. (285)
For example, shall we report a battle we have lost truthfully? We can, of course, depict a lost battle, but in doing so, we must see to it that people realize how heroically our combatants accepted sacrifices, why the battle was lost, what our gains were and notwithstanding the defeat, that our combatants never felt demoralized because all were eager to learn and draw the appropriate lessons in order to secure victories in future battles. (286)
Tru+o+`ng Chinh, despite his reputation as the most pro-Mao member of the Central Committee (Tru+o+`ng Chinh, his chosen pseudonym, means "long march"), does not refer in his address to Mao Tse-tung's speeches on literature and art at Yenan, which were delivered six years earlier. He, however, makes many of the same points as did the Chinese communist leader. According to Georges Boudarel, a Frenchman with close ties to the communist leadership in Hanoi, Maoism began to be imported massively into Vietnam beginning in 1950. Official policy in the arts "followed the guidelines laid down by Mao Tse-tung in Yenan in 1942":
Vietnamese writers and artists were urged again and again to reexamine their ideological stand. Their works were expected to revolve around stock characters or 'types' (DDie^?n hi`nh) and to serve the political requirements of the moment in a 'timely' fashion (phu+?c vu+? ki.p tho+`i). The catchword was 'hate' (ca(m thu`): hate for the foreign 'imperialists' (DDe^' quo^'c) and for the native 'feudalists' (phong kie^'n) or landowners. (155)
"Ivory Comb" is a fairly typical story, the beautiful and brave female liaison girl is a stereotypical
figure in revolutionary stories, but it does present a Vietnamese perspective. Instead of looking
down on the Vietnamese from a helicopter, the perspective encouraged by American stories, the
reader looks up at the Americans in the helicopter, seeing them through the eyes of Thu, the liaison
agent, and the other cadres. The story also contains some common themes in this literature:
how, from the revolutionary perspective, the resistance against the Americans was a continuation of
the resistance against the French, all one "Long Resistance," to use the title of Nguye^~n Kha('c
Vie^.n's history; and how though normal family life was sacrificed for the Revolution, still family
loyalties were affirmed as sons and daughters followed their parents along the road to
revolution.
Students will certainly recognize that stories like "Ivory Comb" are propaganda to further a cause,
and no doubt they will and should judge them harshly, at least as harshly as many of their creators,
Nguye^~n Sa'ng included, are now judging them in Vietnam (See Section
XI). One can suggest, however, that the persistent emphasis on private experience in American
narratives, although not overtly forced by the State, is not a universal tendency. Nor is propaganda
absent from American works on the war. It might be instructive to make these stories part of a unit
that included readings from U.S. Army magazines published during the war, some male adventure
stories like those in Robin Moore's book the Green Berets (or the movie the Green
Berets) and the anti-war movie Hearts and Minds. With these works in mind, one could
try to identify American cultural stereotypes, counterparts to the brave liaison girl, and attempt a
definition of propaganda. The goal would be to get students to see that American works on the war
are not as politically disinterested as they might think.
For example, to generate discussion one could pair Robin Moore's "Home to Nanette" (a chapter
from the Green Berets) with an excerpt from Nguye^n Ngo.c's the Village that Wouldn't
Die. Moore's story is a semi-fictionalized account of a Major Arkin who is dropped into Laos to
organize the Montagnard tribesmen to fight the communist Pathet Lao. Nguye^n Ngo.c's account,
also semi-fictionalized, concerns the heroic efforts of a Montagnard village, assisted by a
Vietnamese representative of Ho^' Chi' Minh's government, to defeat the French. Both accounts
are formulaic, but written, of course, to different formulas.
Teaching Suggestions
If students know that the writers represented in this section had to follow the rules
of "socialist realism," they will read their works more intelligently and sympathetically, even if they
are still put off by the one-dimensional characters and clear political intent. Possessed of this
information, they will not reject a story such as Nguye^~n Sa'ng's "Ivory Comb" too hastily. This
story is narrated by an older Resistance fighter and features a brave female liaison girl who helps
the narrator and other resistance fighters elude American helicopters in the Plain of Reeds. It turns
out that the girl is the daughter of an old friend and comrade-in-arms of the narrator. The story
ends with the narrator giving the liaison girl an ivory comb that her father had made for her many
years ago.
Sources
A novel describing heroic revolutionary action around 1961 in a hamlet called Ho`n DDa^'t in the
western part of South Vietnam. The revolutionaries take refuge in a cave and with the help of the
people withstand all attacks by Die^.m's soldiers and their American advisors. Affection between
revolutionary families and cadre members is sometimes effectively rendered. ARVN commanders
and Americans are stereotypical villains
Three stories on the theme of returning home after the war. The title story by Du+o+ng Thu
Hu+o+ng is about a soldier returning to Qua?ng Tri. to set up a State farm. He meets a widow, a
member of bomb removal team, and her young son. The story emphasizes traditional loyalties to
husbands and wives and devotion to the revolution. This story with its one-dimensional characters
could be compared to Du+o+ng Thu Hu+o+ng's Paradise of the Blind, a novel which offers
more complex characters and a less optimistic view of post-war Vietnam (Section XI).
Collection of stories set in the North that glorify socialist construction and workers supporting the
military effort. Several stories feature effective leaders of agricultural production brigades. Others
describe truck drivers and cadre that detonate American bombs that have failed to explode.
Probably the best is the title story, "Distant Stars," by Le^ Minh Khue^, an account of three girls
from Hanoi who reminisce about childhood joys in their beloved Hanoi as they go about the
dangerous business of detonating bombs.
A collection of stories describing and promoting resistance to Die^.m and his American backers.
Several stories describe the people's resistance to Die^.m's strategic hamlet program. In "The
Little Wooden Sandal," a second lieutenant in Die^.m's army comes upon a child's slipper in a hut
after a raid and regrets his involvement in the attack. After witnessing a fellow officer torture two
women, he strikes him and then flees through the rice fields. Another story, "An American Sees the
Light," describes the capture and release (after he "sees the light") of an American soldier. Could
be assigned with accounts listed in Section VIII.
Describes how Soviet policies relating to literature influenced Vietnamese intellectuals in the late
1930's and helped to shape the Indochina Communist Party's definition of socialist realism.
A collection of short stories and excerpts from novels by southerners who joined the revolution. The
title story is by Nguye^~n Quang Sa'ng (pseudonym: Nguye^~n Sa'ng). Also includes a short story
by Nguye^n Ngo.c (pseudonym: Nguye^~n Trung Tha`nh) from his collection Ru+`ng Xa`
Nu [The Forest of Xa Nu Trees] (1963). All stories glorify revolutionary heroes in the fight
against "Mu~-Die^.m," the Americans and Ngo^ DDi`nh Die^.m.
A collection of articles about militant literature with a sample of poems and fiction. Tra^`n DDi`nh
Va(n's "Artistic and Literary Life in the Liberated Zones of South Vietnam" describes the dangers
faced by writers in the "liberated" areas. The fiction included is similar to that included in Nguye^~n
Kha('c Vie^.n and Hu+u Ngo.c's
Vietnamese Literature.
Most of the post-1945 works in this collection are in the socialist realism mode. See Section IV for
annotation.
Story of how a Bahnar (an ethnic minority) village in the central highlands, led by a heroic fighter-
organizer named Nup, resisted the French during the First Indochina War. In his introduction, the
author explains that his novel is based on the exploits of a real person, Nup, whom the author met
when he was "an organizing political cadre sharing the hard life of the Highland people." Though
awarded a First Literary Prize for 1954-55, this is a propagandistic account that idealizes all aspects
of the resistance, including Montagnard-Vietnamese relations. For biographical information on the
author, see Kevin Bowen's interview with Nguye^n Ngo.c annotated in Section XI.
Nguye^~n Sa'ng. "The Ivory Comb." The Ivory Comb. 2nd ed. South Vietnam: Giai Phong
Publishing House, 1968.
This story is described in the introduction to this section.
As explained in an "Editor's Note," the authors of the short stories in this collection "try to portray
south Vietnam as it was during the past ten years (1975-85)" (6). Collectively the stories present an
idealized and sentimentalized view of the effects of the war. Many are variations of this motif: a
former soldier returns looking for a young girl whom he loved before the war. Sometimes he finds
her, sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes he meets another woman who like him has lost a pre-war
lover and the story ends with hope for their relationship. The title story describes a mother's
struggle to prove that her son, rumored to have been seen at a "rallying center" for turncoats, did
not betray the revolution.
A collection of essays, reportage, and biographical sketches all designed to convince the reader
that women, repressed by feudal society and the Die^.m regime, are playing an important part in
the communist political and military struggle. Xua^n Vu~'s "Flames in the Night," an account of the
uprising in Be^'n Tre, is a good example of the kind of revolutionary journalism that Xua^n Vu~
describes in his oral history in Portrait of the Enemy(See Section
V).
Footnotes
1. Quoted in George Bisztray, Marxist Models of Literary Realism (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1978). My discussion of socialist realism is based on Bisztray's account
and also that of Gleb Struve in Russian Literature under Lenin and Stalin: 1917-1953
(Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971).
2. My account here is based on Bisztray's summary of Gorky's address to the Pan-
Soviet Congress of Writers which took place in 1934. See pp. 53-54.
3. Quoted by Struve, p. 262.
4. This "affair" take its name from two journals (Nha^n Va(n [Humanism] and
Giai Pha^?m [Works of Beauty]) that were founded by writers demanding release from the
strictures of socialist realism and also more democracy and respect for legal procedures. The
movement began in 1955 and was squashed in 1958 with several writers getting long prison
sentences.
Yale University Council on Southeast Asia Studies
Dan Duffy, Editor Viet Nam Publications
danduff@minerva.cis.yale.edu
P.O. Box 208206, New Haven CT 06520-8206
203-432-3432
Web Author: Andrew Kuklewicz
akuklewi@minerva.cis.yale.edu
Revised: June 18, 1996
Web Site-->http://pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~akuklewi/vietnam/
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