Abstract. Vu Hanh is a famous warrior-writer in Vietnamese literary history.
The Blood Pen is his excellent work. The series demonstrates profoundly the
combination of elitism and popularity, which can also be found in other works
written about the urban Southern areas of Vietnam during the period 1954 – 1975.
This article analyses this combination in the series, mainly surveying mysterious
horror writings such as Essence of Gem, Ancient tower gold, Blood Pen. It is
apparent to see his courage to convey the profound ideology of art to the public.
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HNUE JOURNAL OF SCIENCE DOI: 10.18173/2354-1067.2017-0031
Social Sci., 2017, Vol. 62, Iss. 5, pp. 39-46
This paper is available online at
ELEMENT OF FANTASY/ “LIEU TRAI”*
IN THE BLOOD PEN SERIES BY VU HANH FROM THE VIEWPOINT
OF THE COMBINATION OF ELITISM AND POPULARITY
1Le Hai Anh and 2Nguyen Thi Minh Thuong
1University of Education, Vietnam National University
2Faculty of Philology, Hanoi National University of Education
Abstract. Vu Hanh is a famous warrior-writer in Vietnamese literary history.
The Blood Pen is his excellent work. The series demonstrates profoundly the
combination of elitism and popularity, which can also be found in other works
written about the urban Southern areas of Vietnam during the period 1954 – 1975.
This article analyses this combination in the series, mainly surveying mysterious
horror writings such as Essence of Gem, Ancient tower gold, Blood Pen. It is
apparent to see his courage to convey the profound ideology of art to the public.
Keywords: Popularity, elitism, Vu Hanh, “lieu trai”, horror, Blood Pen.
1. Introduction
The trend of studying the fusion of elite and popular literature has long been
of interest to researchers around the world. J. Derrida in the work Structures, Signs
and Games in the Discourse of Humanists (La structure, le signe et le descriptors des
sciences humaines) counteracted the traditional model “one center” by emphasizing
the role of the “periphery” in literature, asserting that central and peripheral literature
do not restrain but enhance each other [1]. Professor Zhaoyong explained in more
details: “The central place of pure culture is thoroughly destroyed, the basic values are
dissolved. Popular culture with its unique characteristic, reproduction, secularization, and
orientation towards entertaining function, along with the support of communication and
audiovisual media, has strongly attacked literature in general” [2]. In Vietnam, the fusion
of elite and popular literature was also discussed in the Scientific Seminar on Central -
Peripheral Literature with many profound, interesting reports [3]. However, research on
the combination of elitism and popularity based on the history of modern Vietnamese
literature is still requiring more attention. Vu Hanh, a prominent writer of Southern
Vietnamese literature from 1954 to 1975, was deeply aware of utilizing this fusion in
his works. The Blood Pen can be considered as a typical example of this trend. Our article
presents a study of the fusion of elitism and popularity in The Blood Pen series by Vu
Hanh, mainly surveying writings with “lieu trai” color.
Received date: 10/2/2017. Published date: 1/5/2017.
Contact: Le Hai Anh, e-mail: lehaianhsphn@gmail.com
*“lieu trai”: the word can be used as a noun or an adjective. Its meaning relates to horror, myth and mystery.
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Le Hai Anh and Nguyen Thi Minh Thuong
2. Content
2.1. Vu Hanh and the concept of fusion of elite and popular literature
Vu Hanh’s real name is Nguyen Duc Dung. He was born in 1926 in Binh Nguyen
commune, Thang Binh district, Quang Nam province. He is known not only as a tireless
writer in the field of art and literature, but also a courageous, patriotic revolutionary
working wisely in the enemy’s sides. The humane writer and soldier inside him merged
into one, containing both the artistic responsibility and revolutionary duty.
Living in a special social context, the warrior-writer Vu Hanh was not willing
to take the pen to write for entertainment and fun, and ignore the “painful heart”.
He always intended to dedicate his compositions to direct public awareness, utilizing
his words to share, to love, and to win justice for the workers. Nguyen Ngu I in the
workshop on “Improving education and eradication of negative works for children”
(1965) gave a formal introduction to Vu Hanh: “Vu Hanh, the teacher, the writer, and
also the journalist, who uncovered the difficulties and suggested measures to eliminate
pornography, healed the children’s poisoned souls” [4]. However, the social practice and
the particular condition of the writer - the soldier did not allow him to speak out his
deep ideology. He had to borrow the form of entertainment literature to convey his deep
artistic ideology. In the introduction of the story of The heroic dog, Vu Hanh related the
inspiration for dogs to the purpose of Luong Ngoc’s work to express his artistic vision:
“That extremely intelligent and clever man bearing extraordinary courage, lived a moral
life along strict regulations, thus easily resented the unfairness at that time. It was similar
with Bo Tung Linh, who lived in the ancient China and felt bored of the contemporary life,
praised the fox, the lyre and the ghosts in “Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (Lieu
trai chi di)”. Through this character, the author Luong Ngoc wanted to relieve his inner
suffering by collecting dog stories.” Embracing Luong Ngoc’s compassion and eagerness
to express his perspective, Vu Hanh utilized the “lieu trai” writing style. The Blood Pen
series with many bizarre horror books was born so.
Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio is a famous classic Chinese literary work,
in which Bo Tung Linh borrowed elements of ghosts, horror stories to convey deep
thoughts about humanity. The monsters and ghost have become valuable features in the
work: “During a long time, when it comes to the aesthetic value of “Strange Stories from
a Chinese Studio”, people always emphasized the “intimacy between the devil and the
human being, to the point where we can forget the different origins”, emphasized the
loneliness of rage and educational content, the complexity of the story or the elegant
style of prose. These are not wrong but there is one thing that cannot be ignored but
has been not mentioned for a long time. Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio contains
aesthetic horror factors which are also the unique aesthetic value of the work” [5].
“Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio” has a strong influence in literature, the word
“lieu trai” has escaped the scope of the title of a specific work to become a trend, a nature,
a writing style. “Lieu trai” in literature relates to works utilizing the mysterious, horror,
elements embedded in Eastern mythology. For such a long time, works with “lieu trai”
elements have attracted many readers because of the mythical, fictional and lyrical appeal.
Therefore, in many works in the series The Blood Pen, Vu Hanh used this substance to
increase the attractiveness of the work, thereby sending his deep thoughts on life and
human beings to readers.
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Element of fantasy/ “lieu trai”* in the Blood pen series by Vu Hanh from the viewpoint of...
2.2. The Blood Pen and the trend of fusion of elitism and popularity in “lieu
trai” works
The Blood Pen [6] series contains 12 short storiess and was published in 1958,
which is considered as the artistic manifestation in the career path of the writer Vu Hanh.
In the series,Vu Hanh “set the context of ancient time to talk about the contemporary one
with the utilization of metaphor” [7]. There are works such as Essence of gem, Ancient
tower gold, The Blood Pen... written in the style of horror stories, just as “Strange Stories
from a Chinese Studio”. However, there are obvious implications that the writer wanted
to convey. This can be seen as a clear expression in the trend of fusion of popular - elite
literature in the works of Vu Hanh.
2.2.1. Utilization of prose fiction to describe the power of righteousness
Essence of gem is a story about Sam Hieu, a man with a frank and firm
characteristic but could not get married. In a visit to the graveyard, he bumped into a
woman who was willing to be his wife. Before their love could be fruitful, Sam Hieu
was called in the militia to suppress riots against corrupting policies of the officials. Sam
Hieu declined to serve, loudly spoke out in front of the officials and the civilians while
making a statement: “I eat rice given by the officials, but those rice are made from people
who worked miserably. I am then the people’s soldier. Only when the officials and the
people are united, I am then the officials’ soldier. As long as the officials are pirates, I am
determined to fight against”. Witnessing such attitude from Sam Hieu, the official ordered
him to be beheaded. By introducing a real-life situation of the people’ suppressed life by
the officials in the story, Vu Hanh expressed a sentiment of resentment towards the pain
and injustice suffered by the civilians. Sam Hieu is a typical character of righteousness,
rigor, determination that is not overwhelmed by the power of injustice. However, if that
was all that Essence of gem was about, the author’s intention would be revealing, and
the ability to communicate and get into the readers’ emotion would be ineffective. The
writer utilized fictional details, embedded in mythology to boost the artistic effect of
his work. The decapitation of Sam Ngoc was interestingly fictionalized: “How strange
it was that after more than ten slashes, Sam’s head was still impassive. Executioners were
all frightened. The official shouted at other people, pulled out his royal sword, landed 3
slashes but each time the blade touched his neck, it appeared to be repelled by a mysterious
force”. The essence of fiction and horror filled the story in a very natural way. From the
main flow bearing an essential value, another flow of fiction, mystery prevailed without
blurring the realistic and persuasive characteristic of the personality, strength, and the life
force of the character. Thanks to the power of will and justice burnt within Sam Hieu, no
enemy could defeat him. The realistic prose and the fictional one were fused delicately.
However, Sam Hieu’s determination alone was not enough to defeat evil. Evil
is always deceptive and takes many forms. The official “suddenly came up with the
malicious intention to arrest Sam’s parents, and Chuc Anh as well for decapitation. As
the executioners showed Sam Hieu a bloody scimitar, his face became pale and he bowed
down. This details showed that despite his willpower, Sam Hieu was, in the first place, a
human of gratefulness and love. His parents’ and lover’s blood on the scimitar made him
aware of his loss and lose balance in an instant. But in the end, such loss transformed into
power, Sam Hieu “held his head high”, “the blade cut into the flesh, blood vigorously
poured out but the head refused to fall”. The courage, righteousness, undefeated will of
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Le Hai Anh and Nguyen Thi Minh Thuong
Sam Hieu grew into godly power. At that moment, the official came up with another
malignant idea: “The official ordered to behead those who refused to pay taxes extradited
from Tra Ly. The evil again played another ill tactic. And before such loss, justice could
not cope”. “As the blade covered in the innocent people’s blood touched the neck, Sam
Hieu’s head fell to the ground”. By utilizing horror and fiction details, Vu Hanh has bolded
priceless value emerged from Sam Hieu’s personality. The blade of suppression, injustice
could not defeat him, but the blade covered in the blood of his family, his people could.
The family and people was “Sam Ngoc’s Achilles’ heel”. He accepted death as he could
no longer protect them.
Nevertheless, justice could not be overthrown so easily. Death of the human body
is merely temporary. Vu Hanh has borrowed the notion “The human body is just one kind
of substance while the soul is the quintessence” and utilized the motif of embodiment to
levitate the story in a new climax. The respect, love, and trust of the people dedicated to
Sam Hieu surged after his death. Civilians visited Sam Hieu’s grave, expressing respect,
making his grave bigger and bigger. The mayor was aware of this and ordered to dig Sam
Hieu’s grave up and burn his body. Surprisingly, Sam Hieu’s body had condensed into a
crimson gem like crystalized blood of resentment from his heart. This detail was highly
surprising and fictionalized but also rational. Its rationale lies in the belief and respect
of the people towards righteous value. Gem has always been the symbol of beauty and
immortality. By letting Sam Hieu embody in a gem, the writer asserted his immortality.
However, the evil still refused to repent. The official would not tolerate Sam Hieu and
ordered to wash the gem and keep it at his home. At night, “looking at the gem, the
official was shocked when seeing Sam’s visage”. The light emitted from the gem “blinded
the room”. As he could not stand against the long-living personality of Sam Hieu, the
official ordered to throw the gem to the bottom of the sea. But when the night fell, “the
brilliant light penetrated every level of water and shone gloriously”. Burying or sinking
could not defeat such power. The light of the gem was the light of beauty, good, justice
that no hand might cover. The gem got brighter and was honed, vitalized as it suppressed,
and more importantly, it had tremendous power to win over evil. Looking at the gem,
“everyone shed tears, which fell on the gem, making it strangely brighter”. The official
thought that “confiscating the gem”, “ordering the executioner to smash it to pieces” may
kill Sam Hieu’s personality. But that was impossible as Sam Hieu was no longer alone.
All the love, respect, sharing and hope of the people had melted into Sam Hieu’s gem.
Such power had been multiplied. “The more the hammer hit, the stronger the gem was”.
The mayor used the old bloody sword to cleave the gem, “the gem broke into hundred
pieces. Each shard of gem had Sam Hieu’s figure with hatred, love on his eyes, his lips.”
The message that Vu Hanh intended to convey was enormous and meaningful. As
long as the country was clouded by too many injustice, inhuman things, the people still
suffered from inequality. Gem shards or value of justice that Sam Hieu represented have
become the faith and the spiritual harbor for the people. The shards were “spread amongst
the people. The people kept those shards as a treasure for later generations. Now, many
soldiers still carry such essence of gem within them, the essence of gem representing
the determination to protect righteousness and love for the people”. Such ideologies
were expressed by a prose fiction, embedded in “lieu trai” color. Such storytelling is
encountered frequently in folklore, as it values interesting, sensational, horror elements.
But Vu Hanh has ingeniously combined popularity and elitism, ensuring the composing
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Element of fantasy/ “lieu trai”* in the Blood pen series by Vu Hanh from the viewpoint of...
objective of genuine literature and making the story naturally welcomed by readers.
2.2.2. Utilization of horror elements to express karma
Ancient tower gold is also a work with “lieu trai” color. Reading the story, readers
are lost in the ancient tales where kings recruit concubines, where power rules; and at the
same time, lost in the tale of immortal but pure, faithful love of a disable couple. From
the ancient tower, the myth appeared to linger somewhere, like a warning, but also like
a challenge (through mysterious calls) for humanity and the greed of human. The story
wakes daily living values that humans often pay little attention. There exists challenges
for family bond: That is the brotherhood of Ta-Khot and Kha-Lai, the love between Cuu
Dat and his wife; and the philosophy of the good standing up to eliminate evil (Cuu Dat
killed Ta-Khot and then acknowledged that he killed his brother), but could not overcome
himself (after killing Ta-Khot, he continued his greed to search for a treasure of Ta-Khot).
All of those had a price to pay. Similar to karma in Buddhism: you reap what you sow.
The interesting feature is the message of justice, the sanction for greed told by Vu Hanh
in a mesmerizing “dance” of word. The strain of “lieu trai”, horror stimulates curiosity,
eagerness and creates the attractiveness and appeal of the story. It was not a moral lesson.
It clearly appeared that Vu Hanh tied readers to real emotional experience. The mystery
provokes curiosity, and implicitly hints at an enigmatic event that is happening or will
happen. Ta-Khot is a motif of character that is greedy and cruel in tales. But his cruelty
was well-described by the writer as he looked for every way to murder his brother, putting
all his hatred in his innocent, miserable brother. “Suddenly, Kha-Lai heard a horrific
laughter above him. As he climbed up, Kha Lai looked up and saw in fear the bloody
red eyes of his brother (. . . ). Kha-Lai had never seen such a visage in his life. Probably
all the evil, the cruel in the bottom of the soul turned into facial expression to make
human appear as devil”. As Ta-khot was choked by Cuu Dat, readers may be satisfied and
enjoy, seeing the bad had paid its price. But Vu Hanh led his pen into deep in the secret
corner of human that we cannot believe in ourselves and we cannot be aware that we are
parts of the modern time. After killing Ta-khot, Cuu immediately “felt that his uneasiness
towards Ta-khot might be too reckless, too sudden. It appeared that he did not really hate
his cruel brother”. From there, Ancient tower gold is no longer merely a story about the
fight between the good and the evil. More complicatedly, readers realized that the good
is sometimes the root for the evil to take action. Cuu Dat also desired the treasure like
Ta-khot. In his motive to kill Ta-khot also lies the motive to solely possess the treasure.
But life was fair to not let the evil easily realize what it wanted. The philosophy of karma
was expressed delicately by Vu Hanh. After committing the crime, in his sleep, Cuu saw
“many nightmares of corpses, bloody hands, hanging skills with pendulous eyes and pale
teeth, chasing after his heels. He screamed, stumbling his arms in the air as he wanted
to hold on to a salvation”. Human messages woke readers in a storytelling style filled of
horror and mystery.
Ancient tower gold was embedded in death. There were five deaths in the story,
which were all horrific: The death of the Ta-Khot brothers, the unjust death of A Doan,
the death of lady Pho – Mai as she determined to leave all behind to follow the call
of love, the death in fear and remorse for his crimes of Cuu Dat. One may believe that
Vu Hanh has utilized death – a horror element to satisfy the readers. Nonetheless, if
carefully considered, the element of entertainment is just second. Thrilling and horror
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Le Hai Anh and Nguyen Thi Minh Thuong
details make readers more interested in finding the answer or being satisfied with the
evident consequence of greed. But besides, it communicates meaningful messages about
karma, a big ideology since the ancient time. Vu Hanh also wanted to say: “All the
works of creativity are not just merely imagination or personal interest but has to be in
accordance with two realities: its own reality, and the reality of its circumstance. The
work itself, in your opinion is to show protection. But what is protection? It is sheltering,
covering, cuddling, expressing love, keeping the beloved people close to us. The righteous
spirit of protection is about the sacrifice of the strong, not obligation of the weak to be
dependent miserably on the heroes”. Vu Hanh always imparted the hidden messages about
his concerns of the contemporary era.
2.2.3. Utilization of prose fiction to talk about the responsibility of the writer
The Blood Pen contains a clear and human message of Vu Hanh. As a writer, Vu
Hanh always concerned about his job which was in the first place the consciousness of
a civilian for the people, the nation. His serious consensus about his job has engulfed
Vu Hanh’s pages in a strong harmonization of the miserable people, with the inequalit