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NTV: I meant to refer to those memoirs with political content, and in that connection I very much appreciate the statement made by David Halberstam, author of many books on the Vietnam War: "Memory is often less about the truth than about what we want it to be." (David Halberstam, in the New York Times). As to Mr. Nguyen Hien Le, he has never engaged in politics; rather as a pure scholar he worked conscientiously for more than 35 years to produce more than 100 books, and his illustrious personality has been respected by everyone. His memoir written after 1975 captures the shattered dreams of an intellectual living in South Vietnam who before that date sympathized with the Resistance and also admired the communists, and who after only 5 years under the communist regime awoke in hurt and pain to what he witnessed firsthand. There is no smokescreen, for his is a memoir of truth. LQM: Through your works, you are a writer of dreams, of conscience, and of society. In your view, how must a person live his life in society in turmoil as it is at present when "the sea of suffering is so immense that when you turn your head you cannot see the shores". (14) NTV: You asked about "how a person must live his life in society in turmoil as it is at present". To me, everyone will look for an answer himself in relation to his own circumstances. If you think to live means to live with others, let's wait and see how mankind in this new century will act in face of the catastrophe when "there is no one left in the whole of Africa". Would we choose to save dying mothers and children, or to protect the interests of those big companies that continue to produce AIDS drugs for another two decades until their patents expire? Your question also reminds me of my prison days when, outside the time spent in growing vegetables or chopping firewood, I tried to keep my mind active by studying classical Chinese from the fellow prisoner who lay next to me, who had been a math professor at the Military Academy before 1975. He was very smart, his instructions methodical, moving from basic roots of Chinese characters to analysis of meaning of new words containing those roots. Thanks to his methods, by the time I left the re-education camp I had a fair vocabulary. But now, all such language skills have been given back to the teacher so to speak, except for a few words I can never forget because they bear the imprint of a certain state of mind during that time. "The sea of suffering is so immense that when you turn your head you cannot see the shores.” LQM: You wrote: "The war brought about many pleasant and accidental encounters." When the war ended, did you have any other pleasant and accidental encounters? NTV: In war, love and death are entwined. Two things greater than all things are: the first is Love; and the second, War." And war is death. So wrote Rudyard Kipling. Just before Mua He Do Lua, The Red Fiery Summer of 1972 that inflicted great damage and suffering on Central Vietnam, a teenage girl who served coffee in a small shop located in an area bordering the Central Highlands, as if stricken by lightning fell in love at first sight with 2nd Lieutenant Hoang in our unit. She expressed her love through the melodious and sad singing voice of the famed Thai Thanh in the song "Don't Leave Me Alone". The next day, Lieutenant Hoang was inserted into the enemy's terrain to spy on them, and clashed head on with the enemy as soon as he touched the landing zone. His corpse was not recovered until two days later. When evening came, in the coffee shop we heard the same voice of the same singer, but this time choked with tears in "You Have Returned in a Poncho". If we think of encounters like that as interesting and pleasant, then it is "Thu Dau Thuong" (The Pleasure of Hurt and Pain, from Duong Kien's poetry) during wartime. But it was not always sorrowful like that: military operation should have meant homesickness away from home; but for the sergeant in charge of provisions for our unit, no matter where in all four corps tactical zones our operations took us, he needed only a very short time to find a home provided him by a woman! LQM: In your first work May Bao (Storm Clouds), on page 58, you wrote: "Perhaps love dreads layers of fat and measurements of girth." Was the statement drawn from a medical or an aesthetic point of view? NTV: As I remember, when you asked: "Was the writer Doan Quoc Sy himself in pain then?" quoting a sentence in his work Khu Rung Lau (The Reed Forest Area), the writer himself answered that it refers only to the emotion of a character in the book, not expressing the sentiment of the author. In the same manner, "dreading layers of fat and measurements of girth" is simply a view unfolding in personality development of a minor character named Hoat in the novel May Bao. All the more it is not from a medical viewpoint, because that would be unethical in terms of professional ethics. LQM: You also wrote elsewhere: "I am very fond of painting." (18) Would you please tell us about the artists and the painting schools you like most? NTV: Painting is another way of looking at life. I had a long-standing friend of 40 years who was a painter. We were different from each other in many ways, but we were close friends. I love his big oil paintings where, other than brushstrokes, what I like most are empty spaces marked with impressive delicate blocks of color. "An artist creates the right stroke in his painting from some where between two wrong strokes in life." Only, it's regrettable that this painter friend did not create many works. He was artist Nghieu De, and he is no longer with us. LQM: Please share with us your views concerning the Nobel Prize for literature in 2000 given to Gao Xingjian for his work Soul Mountain. NTV: Those books with the label Nobel Prize from Stockholm attached to them are not necessarily among the 100 excellent works produced in the 20th century. I enjoyed reading a few fine excerpts from Soul Mountain, but the work did not greatly move me. LQM: "Trifling skills in language were not what made good works of literature; what was important was a fiery ardor in writing, which existed only in the younger generation." (17) In light of that statement of yours, what do you think about prominent young authors at present like Dinh Linh, Andrew Pham, Le Minh Ha…? NTV: It’s true that trifling skills in language manipulation sometimes create beautiful lines of words. But truly good and timeless writings must carry contents full of humanity, which contents demand profound knowledge and vision from the writer. As for the talented authors you mention, I hope they will persevere in order to finish great works that we are waiting for. LQM: From your point of view, what difference is there between a well-known author who practices medicine and a physician whose works of literature are recorded in literary history? NTV: Literature enriches the medical profession and, conversely, in medical practice "everyday one is in touch with those selves that are not oneself". The two fields have reciprocal impact on each other. In his work Viet va Doc Tieu Thuyet (Writing and Reading Fiction), when discussing Truth, Goodness and Beauty as aesthetic values, Nhat Linh mentions the art of cooking, which implies that in whatever field of activity one can always bring his job to the level of art, and time provides the most severe and fair evaluation. LQM: If there were some power that prevents or forbids you from writing, how would you react? NTV: Using force to stop an author from writing in the long run only begets a reverse consequence. But "self-restraint" -- that is, knowing when to stop -- is a form of freedom for a writer, insuring that he doesn't write meaningless lines of words having contents disagreeable to himself. "If one does not oppose something, then at least one should not support whatever contributes fertile soil for the evils in life." That is a line in a letter written by a writer friend when he was about to reach 70, after a meeting at the end of another year. LQM: You have just completed a journey to Laos. Can you tell us the purpose of the trip? And what are your thoughts about that country at the present time? NTV: It was a field research trip, or more accurately speaking, the purpose was to see firsthand the reaches of the Mekong River in upper Laos not very far from the cascade of giant dams in Yunnan. Deterioration of the River has been faster than I imagined. Moreover, given that the country, which is only one third the size of Texas, is hurriedly embracing "Renovation", receiving more than 600,000 tourists a year, having AIDS and HIV epidemics, and a drug problem, you come away with the general impression that Lao society is in danger of becoming damaged by capitalism. LQM: In your opinion, in an interview where the interviewee is a scientist or an author who has written works focusing on research related to historical fact, should we pose questions concerning love and happiness in family life (the human aspect of life)? If we should pose those questions, would you care to answer them? If we shouldn't, then why not? NTV: Medical practice is a busy profession; writing and being passionate about writing, is a second busy preoccupation. Those two involvements take up much time from the 24 hours of everyday life. In the hope of being able to continue with these long chosen paths, surely one needs understanding, cooperation, and to a certain extent even sacrifice from one's family, and that is something one cannot have all the time. LQM: Thank you, author Ngo The Vinh. |
