"Everyone is a traveler to Dalat" has just been republished by Tre Publishing House, including 23 essays about memories and feelings about Dalat. Dalat is fog, moss, and the quiet but equally intense fates of people. Dalat has penetrated deeply into the author's soul like an obsession that cannot be expelled from the head and heart.
The book has been printed 8 times, proving that the attraction of the city of thousands of flowers to readers is always strong. Things about Da Lat, its people, culture, and history always make those who have been in contact feel excited, and for those who have not been in contact, it makes them feel curious and attracted. Author Nguyen Vinh Nguyen not only writes his own feelings about Da Lat, but also evokes in readers many sweet emotions.
Sharing about the essay, writer Nguyen Vinh Nguyen said: "The mountainous terrain of Da Lat can be imagined as a piece of music with many pitches and ranges. But that is meaningless in front of the rain. Long rains often make people forget that this land, this life, was once rough. Flat rain. Steady rain. Persistent rain. Monochromatic rain. Rain with a low tone. Rain with a volume. Rain with a density of falling. Rain with a flowing rhythm. Rain creates a background sound, a pedale d'armonia, which makes time and multi-variable space be sucked out and eliminated."
In the section "Dalat, a distant fragrance: A cultural tour of Da Lat 1954 - 1975", Da Lat was created from cultural journeys in the past. Da Lat used to be an urban cultural space with its own appeal, a meeting place for great intellectual aspirations, a destination for ideal creative journeys.
All of this is particularly condensed in the twenty-year period that the author of this book chose to examine - a recent past - but it seems to be facing the risk of being covered and erased by the dust of time...
Characters, events, and cultural phenomena are reconstructed through field research notes, connecting documents and personal interpretations. The past is co-presented in a literary style that is both poetic and rich in contemplation, shaping a literary style with Dalat, unique to Dalat.
With this travelogue, Nguyen Vinh Nguyen is no longer a traveler in a private, misty sky, but a traveler, a long-distance traveler, walking alone into the past with a desire to immerse himself in the soul of the golden age city.
In the section "Da Lat, the Encounters" is the third independent research work by Nguyen Vinh Nguyen about Da Lat. This book tells about special encounters in the history of the city. These encounters are the fate that makes Da Lat beloved by many people, creating a part of the culture, character, and identity of a true city.
The meeting of two French people who founded the city, of the first French-Vietnamese farmers who created traditional gardens and farms; the meeting of literati, politicians, upper-class aristocrats, international doctors, environmentalists, ethnologists... These stories bring a different image, a new conception, "what creates the spiritual life or noble values" of the dreamy highland city.
Always working very carefully and seriously, based on historical data provided objectively from the National Archives Center 2 in Ho Chi Minh City and in Da Lat, in addition to data from published books and documents, and personal research not influenced by "yesterday - today" prejudices, Nguyen Vinh Nguyen is truly successful in his three valuable research works.
“But to live with a city, not only love is needed but also responsibility, a rational attachment. The research is more of a rational attachment than love. The work of going back to the past, spending all day with piles of documents... originated from the curiosity, the desire to understand, the desire to delve into the life and consciousness of a city, which took me on a journey full of questions that also required a rational method to answer. There are many fascinating things, making me feel attracted, drawn in and delving deeper into them. Da Lat has a beauty that hangs before our eyes that we can never define” - Nguyen Vinh Nguyen shared.
