Genre interference in Vietnamese novels after 1986

37 HNUE JOURNAL OF SCIENCE DOI: 10.18173/2354-1067.2018-0047 Social Sciences, 2018, Volume 63, Issue 7, pp. 37-41 This paper is available online at GENRE INTERFERENCE IN VIETNAMESE NOVELS AFTER 1986 Nguyen Thi Hai Phuong The Faculty of Philology, Hanoi National University of Education Abstract. Genre interference is a striking feature that contributes to the genre style of Vietnamese novels after 1986. The phenomenon of interference between the genre of novels and other genres in contemporary Vietnamese novels has actually brought new aesthetic effects. By combining multiple genre language channels in contemporary novels, writers have taken over which covers the extremely complex issues of modern life. In addition, the combination, the interference of this genre has contributed to create the inter-text for the current Vietnamese novels, which will bring the positive, active and creative for readers.. Keywords: Genre interference, contemporary Vietnamese novels, postmodern literature, the manifold 1. Introduction Compared with the novels in previous periods, especially in the period of 1945 - 1975, Vietnamese novels after 1986 had made many profound changes: changing in discoursing structure, changing discoursing components and the dialect also had been changed. One of the characteristics that showed the deeply change was that it had shattered the uniqueness or the original to move into the manifold. The contemporary Vietnamese’s manifold was expressed in many ways and the genre interference was one of the most important and prominent manifestations. And this interference may well be the consequence for postmodern literature because: “With the postmodern literature, the concept of interference seems to be a forced meaning” [6]. The phenomenon of genre interference in Vietnamese literature in general and in novel in particular has also been mentioned in some articles such as: The current literature – the crooked logic of the genre, issues and prospects by Nguyen Ngoc [5], Life of the gerne in the process of contemporary literature by Vu Tuan Anh [1, 462], Innovative sence in the contemporary novels by Nguyen Bich Thu [11], An experiment about Vietnamese novels from the late 80's until now by Nguyen Thi Binh [3], The phenomenon of short story - novelize in contemporary Vietnamese literature by Le Huong Thuy [13]... On the basis of inherit the notion from the previous generation, our article wants to go detail into the theory of genre interference, which explains the reason why novel can be capable of interference, interact and synthesize many literature genres at the highest level. Especially in this article, we will go into a detailed and meticulous analysis of the manifestations of the genre interference in the contemporary Vietnamese novels and point out the aesthetic effect that this phenomenon brings the impact on the reader. Received January 17, 2018. Accepted July 29, 2018. Contact Nguyen Thi Hai Phuong, e-mail address: haiphuongdhsp@yahoo.com Nguyen Thi Hai Phuong 38 2. Content Genre is one of the most important elements of literary history, as noted by researcher M.Bakhtin - “Genre is the main character of literary; the literary history is the history of development, the interaction of genres rather than the history of literary schools and movements” [2]. In the history of developing literary, we often see the phenomenon of genre interference. Interference genre can understand to be the penetration, interwoven, interaction, mutual influence between two or more categories of one or more different genre systems. In the works of Literature open world, Nguyen Thanh Thi said that the interference genre is the "phenomenon of two or more kind of a stage, a period, a literature period, belong to one or more of the genre system, impact, influence each other, penetrate to each other, simulating each other ... to change or form new genre” [9]. The genre interference is an indispensable phenomenon, which was popular in the development of literary history, and it was rooted in the very nature of literary genres. As we all know, in addition to the stability, structurality, literature genre has an really important characteristic that is the variability. This variability allowed each genre to have interference each other, it could be interacted with other genres in order to exploit and absorb the virtues of those genres, as well as to overcome some drawbacks in the structure of its genre. Following the development of literary history, we can observe the phenomenon of genre interference that was expressed in many different genres. The drama in Nguyen Cong Hoan's short stories; the poetry in Thach Lam's short stories and the story in Nguyen Binh's poetry However, perhaps from the novel, we can see that the genre interference is most commonly expressed, because the novel has capability synthesizing all genres. It has the ability to synthesize and interact effectively with other genres. Unlike other genres, “Novel is the only literary genre that is changing () The core of genre of the novel has never solidified and we have not been able to predict its full potential” [2, 21]. “Every genre has its own influences in literature as a real historical power. But novel does not have norms like other genres” [2, 22]. In its development, the novel is difficult to live in harmony with other genres that often struggle for dominance, absorbing other genres within itself: "The novel is ridiculous and it dominated other genre, which attracted the other genre into their structure, re-interpretted and rearranged their focus” [2, 24]. In the medieval period, the phenomenon of genre interference also appeared but not common, excel by this period, each genre is usually a relatively solid, pure, monolithic structure. In contrast, in the current literature in general and in particular novel, the phenomenon of genre interference has appeared quite popular. This is probably not entirely a coincidence, it has reasons. First of all, probably due to social circumstances Vietnam after 1986 with the complexity, chaos, a mixture of old and new, between traditional and modern values.... Therefore, the writers want through the combination of the language channels of different genres in their works to describe this chaos situation of the life. On the other hand, the phenomenon of the genre interference in the Vietnamese novels after 1986 partly derived from the acquisition of foreign literary theory by the writers. These works about genres of Jacques Derrida, Kate Hamberger... have more or less impact on their thinking.. We can see that, contemporary Vietnamese novel discourse is hybrid and fused with different literary genres. First of all, it is the interference between the novel and the essay. In the Angel written by Pham Thi Hoai, there are two chapters: The faces and No title can be separated into independent essays; they are the reflections on the nature of man and the relationship between humans. The chapter of The faces are the writer's thoughts about alienation, who loss of character and human identity: “The process of dissolving and dissolving private faces”. The chapter of No Genre interference in Vietnamese novels after 1986 39 title mentions the writer's distress, a belief between the people in life: “There are people who was born to each other. They know that they belong to each other and they are not hurry, they can immune to the chronic disease of their fellow, which is considered as the disease that push into back, hit the human butt”. Late revelation (Nguyen Viet Ha) also contains many essays about aching nature of life. It is about the gay male model, about the sports officials, about the musicians to stretch, journalism, literature and art, especially it talks about the discussion about religion... These main merges and these interactions between the novel and the essay has contributed to the problematic nature of the genre. It allows the writer to express directly his subjective thoughts and it is capable of stimulating the ability of the reader's dialogue. Secondly, it is about the intersection and combination of novel and poetry. Discourse of novel and poetry are thought to be two extremes, but in contemporary Vietnamese novels, writers have naturally introduced poetry. It is possible to refer to a type of poetry structure in contemporary Vietnamese novel or, in other words, the contemporary Vietnamese novels is full of poetry. In Me rive Humans, Chau Dien has included many poems. There is a poem of Hoa’s father: A heavy burden day The banner is blank A girl in late night There is a poem of Lieutenant-General: The world is a long glance The world is forgotten one by one The world is immense but after all is small tank These verses suggest about the floating and the finite of human life before the infinite life. In Finding characters, Ta Duy Anh also introduces the poetry “urban smelly”: She is in G Street, where I was tired to stop After going through both heaven and hell. or: We live a life of worms Dreams stick together like a snail. Thirdly, it is about the interference between the novel and the play. The combination between two discursive styles can be seen in a series of novels such as: At the beginning (Nguyen Binh Phuong), Angel (Pham Thi Hoai) and Finding characters (Ta Duy Anh)... In At the beginning, the “Biography” section of the opening piece was presented by Nguyen Binh Phuong as a screenplay for characters in a play: 1. Mr. Phuoc who is a thin man with small head and hard hair. His height is 1.5 meter, hoarse, skinny, and he has 3 moles in right of earrings... 2. Mrs. Lien: tall, long hair, pointed chin, much wrinkle on her face. She comes from a worker family ... In Finding characters, the combination with dramatic discourse is clearly shown in the way that the writer creates the dialogue for dramatic characters and strips away the narrative form: - How do you see my face? - It's not like yours - Your face is same, it is not for you - So who is it? - I have not said it all: But it is often your Nguyen Thi Hai Phuong 40 - It's always different from where you are ... The dialogue is stripped of any contact with explanations, it is not any different from a scene in a play. The fourth point is a combination of novel and journalism, documentary. Nguyen Ngoc admits about the infiltration of the media discourse into the novel discourse: “Try to capture and occupy the new reality ... the whole novel is also close to the reportage and press, it is also a kind of “battle novel” [5]. The novel Paris - 11 August (Thuan) is profound evidence for the combination of the novel with the press. The novel consists of 22 chapters, each of which begins with information or excerpts from the press that coverages surrounding the heat on 11- August in France. It can be said that, by putting materials into the press, Thuan made a unique feature for this work. The writer said that: “22 excerpts about the heat on August 11, 2003 must be read as an integral part of the novel. They have been carefully selected between a huge amount of information. But how to use them, how to organize them, that is the work of the writer. The excerpts of this press in Paris- August 11 mostly is shown in pairs, it often contradicts even conflict each other. It can be said that the information that they bring has been chattering, so that the most indescribable readers also become suspicious. To me, every question that the reader poses is a success of the writer. I would like to suggest a non-passive reading" [10]. It can be said that, by introducing press materials into the work, Thuan has brought readers a multi-dimensional approach to the same topic, writer wants readers to know how to “handle” the source of information brought by the press. Writer has deliberately given the mixed information to provoke the readers... Thus, the inclusion of press excerpts into the work can reflect the spirit of the writer's rebuttal to the problems about contemporary life. Finally, we want to talk about the interference between novels and autobiographical genres. Autobiography is a literary work of narrative style written by the author about his life. The autobiographical novel appeared in Western Europe the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, with works such as Adolphe (B.Constant), Confessing a child of the times (A.Muset), Finding the lost time (M. Proust) ... In Vietnam, the period of literature from 1930 to 1945 has also appeared some novels with autobiographical color such as Worn life (Nam Cao), Childhood days (Nguyen Hong), Wild grass (To Hoai)... In the period of 1945 - 1975, due to the literature of this period, it was influenced by the epic inspiration, the selfishness of the community, the autobiography almost did not develop much in this conditions. Until the renewal period, with the democratic atmosphere of society, with the candid line of statements given by the Party, the genre of autobiography was revived strongly. In this period, we encountered many novels with autobiographical colors like Three others (To Hoai); The story of the genius (Nguyen The Hoang Linh), God laugh (Nguyen Khai) ... The phenomenon of interference between the genre of novels and other genres in Vietnamese novels after 1986 has actually brought new aesthetic effects. By combining multiple genre language channels in contemporary novels, writers have taken over which covers the extremely complex issues of modern life. In addition, the combination, the interference of this genre has contributed to create the inter-text for the current Vietnamese novels, which will bring the positive, active and creative for readers. The fact is that novels tend to be shorter (Angel - 174 pages, T lossing - 257 pages, Chinatown - 83 pages...). A paradox is that although they are short, they cannot be read fast. With this type of inter-text, writers have brought to the reader the feeling that Kristeva has shown: "Any text is self-composed as a picture. In any case, it is the absorption and transformation of another text” [12]. This requires the reader to have a certain cultural capital to understand what the writer wants to put in the work. And we can also assert that it is genre interference, which contributes to the multiplicity of the contemporary novels. As said by researcher Nguyen Hung Quoc: “Postmodernism is the collapse of the unity and totalitarianism Genre interference in Vietnamese novels after 1986 41 that make room for piece and peripheral elements, it is also the crisis of consistency and it is the blossoming for the differences, the abolition of systemativity and the rise of manifoldness” [8]. 3. Conclusions In conclusion, genre interference is a striking feature that contributes to the genre style of Vietnamese novels after 1986. With this genre interference, writers have created a change in the art of writing novels, which has brought the reader to the novel's new possibilities. Besides, with using this kind of manifold discourse, writers have initially taken the Vietnamese novels out of the orbit of tradition that are able to integrate into the modern novels of the world. REFERENCES [1] Vu Tuan Anh, 2001. Life of the gerne in the process of contemporary Vietnamese literature, Printed in the book of Theoretical and historical issues of literature, Social Science Publishing House, Hanoi. [2] M. Bakhtin, 1992. Theory and novel Poetic (translated and introduced by Pham Vinh Cu), in Nguyen Du Literature Writing School, Hanoi. [3] Nguyen Thi Binh, 2006. An Experiment about Vietnamese Novels from the Late 80's until now, Printed in Vietnamese Literature after 1975 - Research and teaching issues, Education Publishing House. [4] Kate Hamburger, 2004. Logic of literary genres, National University Publishing House, Hanoi [5] Nguyen Ngoc, 2006. The current literature – the crooked logic of the genre, issues and prospects, Printed in Vietnamese Literature after 1975 - Research and ieaching issues, Education Publishing House. [6] Many Authors, 2004. Postmodern Literature in the World - Theoretical Problems, Writers' Association Publishing House - East-West Language Culture Center, Hanoi. [7] Many Authors, 2004. Dictionary of literary terms, Education Publishing House. [8] Nguyen Hung Quoc, 2007. Postmodern elements in Vietnamese literature, [9] Nguyễn Thành Thi, 2010. Literature open world, Young Publishing House, TP HCM [10] Thuan, 2011. Recommending a non-passive reading, (Replied to the Phong Diep) [11] Bich Thu, 2006. Innovative sence in the contemporary novels, Printed in Vietnamese literature after 1975 - Research and teaching issues, Education Publishing House. [12] Nguyen Van Thuan, 2013. Short hypothesis about inter-textual theory, https://phebinhvanhoc.com.vn [13] Le Huong Thuy, 2014. The phenomenon of short story - novelize in contemporary Vietnamese literature,