Portrait of a teacher
Among the 58 works nominated for the 7th National Book Award, "The Teacher" is the only book to appear in 2 award categories, including the Readers' Favorite Book Award.
The book tells the story of the memories between the author, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, former Director General of the General Department of Intelligence (General Department II), former Deputy Minister of National Defense, and Mr. Ba Quoc - Major General Dang Tran Duc, Hero of the People's Armed Forces.
The author does not focus on the merits and glorious achievements of Mr. Ba Quoc, but mainly revolves around his daily life and the teacher-student relationship. Therefore, "The Teacher" is both a research on Mr. Ba Quoc's life, but also a diary recording the vibrant years of youth of Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh.
Talking to a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper, writer Nguyen Thi Thien assessed "The Teacher" as an outstanding work with profound philosophy. She was impressed by the narrative, simple and modest writing style of author Nguyen Chi Vinh.
"I read "The Teacher" last year. I think that the teacher here is not entirely a teacher in school but a teacher of life. And life is the greatest school for each person. The teacher in the story by Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh made a strong impression on me. That is the way the author expressed his love, admiration and respect for the teacher.
Mr. Ba Quoc is a generous, friendly person who loves his students like a father loves his children. When reading the book, I admire the teacher-student relationship of Mr. Nguyen Chi Vinh. In addition to lessons on professional expertise, the author also shows patriotism, a spirit of loyalty to the Revolution and the nation's long-term resistance," said writer Nguyen Thi Thien.
Not a professional writer, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh has been working on this book for many years. Nearly 500 pages of the book about Mr. Ba Quoc from the time he worked as an intelligence officer in Cambodia until his retirement are written simply and sincerely. Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh vividly depicts memories of famous generals such as Dang Tran Duc, Pham Xuan An, Vu Ngoc Nha, Le Huu Thuy... both in their intelligence careers and in their lives.
The beauty of the work comes from the storytelling and guidance of author Nguyen Chi Vinh. Talking about the special thing about Major General Ba Quoc's intelligence career, Mr. Vinh raised a few points: First, the Major General alone took on three roles in the intelligence industry, second, the skill of penetrating deep into the enemy's interior, third, his character of honoring chivalry...
Mr. Ba Quoc's personality is revealed only from small details. Through the stories of comrades who worked with Mr. Vinh, Mr. Ba Quoc is an extremely strict and quiet person. Or the Major General's use of words is also very special, easy to impress. Talking about his unhappy mood after being pointed out by his superiors for a big mistake, he used the phrase "like coffee without sugar", and without sugar means bitter.
Mr. Ba Quoc's role as a teacher is further emphasized through the way he teaches his students, from everyday speech to important knowledge on the battlefield. At the end of the book, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh wrote: "A teacher, a virtuous, humane and very ordinary life."
The fact that "The Teacher" appeared in the Readers' Favorite Book Award category shows that the work is well received and has a widespread influence in society. When it was released, "The Teacher" caused a surprise when it sold out in a short time.
The monumental work of the 104-year-old author
At the Social Sciences and Humanities Book Subcommittee, the book series "Gia Dinh - Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City: Long Mile of History" by 104-year-old researcher Nguyen Dinh Tu was highly appreciated by the Judging Council and recommended for the A prize.
This is a massive work of more than 1,600 pages, fully demonstrating the development stages of Ho Chi Minh City from its inception in 1698 to 2020, covering many fields and aspects. During the evaluation process, the Judging Council said that although the book still had some errors, they were not too big and did not affect the value of the work.
Assessing the value of the book series, Mr. Tong Van Thanh - Director of the Press and Publishing Department, Central Propaganda Department, affirmed that researcher Nguyen Dinh Tu has a very large work, demonstrating perseverance in research and great contributions to historical science. Mr. Do Quang Dung - Vice President of the Vietnam Publishing Association - said he was very moved when reading the elaborate book series of an elderly historian who alone and silently completed a very valuable work for Ho Chi Minh City.
For over 20 years, author Nguyen Dinh Tu has devoted his efforts to going to libraries and the National Archives Center 2 in Ho Chi Minh City to collect documents and write books alone. He took advantage of every bit of time, every day, to meticulously record invaluable documents for posterity in areas such as place names - geography, history - culture of the South.
This is the second time author Nguyen Dinh Tu has received the highest award at the National Book Awards. In 2018, he received the A prize for his book "French Colonialism in Cochinchina (1859 - 1954)" at the age of 97. The author spent 10 years searching for documents at the city library and another 2 years to systematize and complete this work. The advantage of being fluent in French has helped him access many valuable original documents.
Up to now, although he is 104 years old, author Nguyen Dinh Tu still reads documents every day, uses computers skillfully to research and draft documents. The researcher is considered an example of hard work, diligently working with documents, searching for new research topics.
Throughout his more than 80-year writing career, he has a huge fortune including works in the fields of historical novels and historical research such as "Administrative geography of the Southern provinces during the French colonial period (1859 - 1954)", "Inner city streets of Ho Chi Minh City", or many books on history and geography of the provinces of Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen, Ninh Thuan.
Writer Nguyen Thi Thien believes that each history book is a slice that helps readers, especially young people, understand more about history and the lives of people many years ago. "Books about history help the author and readers connect with history, love and be proud of the history of the nation. From there, readers can draw useful lessons for themselves. That is a valuable source of knowledge that needs to be spread and preserved," Ms. Nguyen Thi Thien shared.
