Văn xuôi về đề tài lịch sử viết cho thiếu nhi từ sau cách mạng tháng tám 1945 đến nay tt tiếng anh

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION  TRAN HAI TOAN HISTORICAL PROSE FOR CHILDREN POST THE AUGUST REVOLUTION OF 1945 TO PRESENT Specialty: Vietnamese Literature Code: 9.22.34.01 A SUMMARY OF PHD DISSERTATION IN PHILOLOGY Ha Noi, 2020 THE PROJECT WAS COMPLETED AT: HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION Scientific supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Le Quang Hung Reviewer 1: Assoc Prof Dr Ly Hoai Thu Reviewer 2: Assoc Prof Dr Ton Phuong Lan Reviewer 3: Assoc Prof Dr Tran Thi Viet Trung The dissertation will be protected before the thesis review board at university level at Hanoi University of Education on …… hours … … day ……… month …… year 2020 Further information of the dissertation can be found at National library or at Library of Hanoi University of Education LIST OF WORKS OF THE AUTHOR RELATING TO THE THESIS Tran Hai Toan, Historical material, folk materials and creativity of To Hoai in the novel “desert island”, Journal of Education, No 292, 2nd term, August 2012 Tran Hai Toan, A study on introducing historical prose for children to school curriculum, Journal of Science, No 21, January 2018 Tran Hai Toan, Some features of Vietnamese historical prose for children, Journal of Theory and Criticism of Literature and Arts, No 6, 2018 Tran Hai Toan, Some writing tendencies in historical prose for children, Journal of Theory and Criticism of Literature and Arts, No 4, 2020 INTRODUCTION Rationale 1.1 The literature for children plays an important and indispensable part in the national literature It is the literature for children, which has a close and mutual relationship with literature for adults, having created a complete appearance for the literature of each country in the world The formation and development of Vietnamese literature for children was quite late It was not until the early 1940s of the twentieth century, especially after 1945, that literature written for children was truly developed and produced many unique works Despite less than a century of development until now, it can be said this area has gained many basic achievements, with a , with a large number of composers, variety of subjects, diversity of genres, innovation in methods However, , literature for children and the study of this kind have not really been interested by many people in compared with literature for adults 1.2 Writing on historical topics is one of the great inspirations, an indispensable need in the development process of the national literature Along with the process of formation and development of Vietnamese literature for children, historical stories for children have also developed and achieved many outstanding achievements since 1945, especially from 1954 to present The studies of historical novels written for adults have attracted a lot of interest, while those for of historical prose for children are rather limited Most of the studies are just articles published or printed in specialist reference or scientific journals There are few extensive, comprehensive and systematic research works on this topic Therefore, studying historical prose for children post 1945 as a full and complete object is a necessary work, contributing to the systematization of typical achievements, analyzing perception on history, artistic characteristics, generalizing writing trends and affirming the indispensable position of this topic in the flow of the literature for children in particular and Vietnamese literature in general 1.3 Historical proses for children has also been included in the learning curriculum However, the number of these works included in the cirriculum in the content of teaching, story telling has been too little and the quality of these works has not been well – qualified The writing and publication of historical prose works for children along with the introduction of more works and excerpts of valuable works on historical topics in Reading and storytelling programs, literature programs are one of the effective solutions to help students become more interested in and excited with historical knowledge, and contribute to language development, ideal orientation, build up children’s sentiments and dreams With the above reasons, along with the interest in children literature, the author has chosen the title: historical prose for Children post the August Revolution of 1945 to present Research subject and scope 2.1 Research subject The research subject of the dissertation is historical prose for children from after the August Revolution of 1945 This topic has attracted a lot of researchers in the literature progress The landmark of research works in the frame of this thesis is in 2015 to survey and research 2.2 Research scope The dissertation researches, surveys, covers the historical prose works for children from after the August Revolution of 1945, mainly focuses on achievements in two genres: short stories and novels with the most successful works In particular, we focus on studying nine typical historical works for children by Nguyen Huy Tuong, Ha An, To Hoai, Nguyen Duc Hien and Nghiem Da Van At the same time, in the analysis process, we also compared those with historical prose works (mainly historical fiction) written for adult Research objectives and tasks 3.1 Research objectives - Analyze features and evaluate the achievements of historical prose for children in Vietnamese literature from after the August Revolution of 1945 through typical cases - Affirm the characteristics and position of historical prose for children in children literature in particular and Vietnamese literature in general - Draw some issues on historical prose for children in the current phase; suggest introduction of works and excerpts of historical prose works for children to school curriculum 3.2 Research tasks - Generalize the development process of Vietnamese historical prose for children from after the August Revolution of 1945 in terms of its paths, trends, achievements and typical authors - Analyze and explain historical perception and typical writing trends in historical prose for children from after the August Revolution of 1945 - Analyze the artistic features of the Vietnamese historical prose for children in a number of aspects: narrative art, structural arts, language art Research methodology - Methods of analysis and synthesis; - Methods of System research; - Methods of Category research; - Social historical method; - Method of Interdisciplinary research In addition to the above methods, the dissertation also uses some other methods and operations such as classification, comparison, analysis, synthesis The above mentioned research methods and operations will be flexibly applied in the analysis process Contribution of the thesis The dissertation is the first study of Vietnamese historical prose works for children as an independent and complete subject The thesis has systematized the process of formation, development and analysed the typical features and outstanding issues bringing in a comprehensive view of historical prose for children in the period of 70 years of development The results from the study partly contribute to the theory, research on children literature in general, historical prose for children in particular which has not really attracted much attention and has not had many achievements Summarizing and assessing the features and trends of historical prose for children, the dissertation initially wants to explore to find new ways and new paths for historical literature for children especially in the current period when its achievement is leveling off The dissertation is a useful reference for teachers, students, learners, those who are interested and love children literature The dissertation also provides suggestions to make the history closer to the children with the introduction of a number of typical works, excerpts to the school curriculum, contributing to the widening of knowledge, stimulating their interest and passion with the history of the country The structure of the thesis The thesis consists of chapters, besides an Introduction, Conclusion, Appendix and References: Chapter 1: Theoretical basis and overview of the research Chapter 2: Historical prose for children in the development process of Vietnamese children literature Chapter 3: Historical sensory perception and mainstream trends in historical prose for children from after the August Revolution of 1945 Chapter 4: Some artistic features of historical prose for children from after the August Revolution of 1945 Chapter THEORETICAL BASIS AND OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH 1.1 Theoretical basis 1.1.1 Some basic concepts 1.1.1.1 Historical novel Historical novel is a literary genre that combines fiction and historical elements The historical factor (the core of history) dominates and influences the topic, the writer’s creative inspiration, forcing the writer to stick to historical documents The fiction element expresses the character in a multi-dimensional relationship, embracing a wide range of life, allowing the writer to exert a high level of imagination and creativity 1.1.1.2 Children literature Children literature includes works written for children These readers dominate the choice of the topic, thought, theme of each work 1.1.1.3 Historical prose for children Historical prose for children includes the genres: short stories, long stories, novels written about historical topics for children These are literary works based on two main sources, legend and history which are written in narrative form, directing at historical events and figures 1.1.2 Basic requirements for historical prose for children 1.1.2.1 About the character system For adult readers, the writer can choose complex historical figures with many different perspectives and views For children, historical figures are mainly selected on issues that have been agreed on how to understand and evaluate In addition to the real figures in history, writers can also invent or create other characters and figures 1.1.2.2 About the plot The plot of historical novels for adults can be complex with many situations, open details, writers may even describe in contrast to the recorded historical fact for readers to consider and evaluate by themselves while that of children novels is often simple, easy to understand and coherent The writer's creation should not and cannot go beyond historical truths, affecting their perceptions 1.2.1.3 About the language Writing for children requires writers and poets to write in children’s language which requires writers and poets to have a linguistic standard to help train children’s thought, language and imagination 1.2.1.4 About the educational function in writing purpose Children's history books, directly or indirectly, often bring them valuable lessons about the nation's fine traditions, such as patriotism, a sense of national pride, thus orient and inspire them to live better, more valuably for the present life 1.2 Overview of the research on historical prose for children 1.2.1 General studies on historical prose for children 1.2.1.1 Articles directly discussing historical for children In this research direction, there are many articles and exchanges by authors Ha An and Van Thanh The authors discuss the issues such as: the purpose of composition, how to choose characters, themes, topics, the relationship between historical truth and artistic fiction in composition 1.2.1.2 Studies on a development stage of children literature including historical prose for children This direction attracts a lot of interest from researchers and critics with typical articles by Bui Thanh Ninh, Van Thanh, Nguyen Chi Ben when they read a number of historical works, researchers discuss some aspects of content and art in works for children 1.2.1.3 Studies on a development stage of children literature including historical prose for children Researching on a development stage of children literature, the authors give out their comments and view on the historical prose for children before and after 1975 There are few articles, research systematically presenting the historical prose for children 1.2.2 Studies on outstanding authors 1.2.2.1 Nguyen Huy Tuong with “Lá cờ thêu sáu chữ vàng (Flag with six gold letters) Comments and assessments on Lá cờ thêu sáu chữ vàng” (Flag with six gold letters) are often cited by the authors when they summarize and comment on a literary stage or a literary issue for children It is also considered as one of the typical works by Nguyen Huy Tuong and in historical fiction for the children 1.2.2.2 Ha An with three works “Bên bờ Thiên Mạc (On the Thien Mac river)”, “Trên sông truyền hịch (Transmitting Orders on the River), “Trăng nước Chương Dương” (Chuong Duong River on a Full Moon Night) Works by Ha An, especially three above works are often cited in most of the research, reviews on a development stage of children literature or reviews on historical works for children All the articles confirm the specific position of these works in the historical prose for children 1.2.2.3 To Hoai with three novels "Đảo hoang (Desert Island), "Nhà Chử (Chu Dynasty)”, “Chuyện nỏ thần (Story of the Magical Bow) (Story of the Magical Bow)” In general, the articles and research on these three novels often focus on the value of the work on the content, art form and confirm the creativity of To Hoai when opening the direction to exploit the history in association with legends for children 1.2.2.4 Nguyen Duc Hien with “Sao Khuê lấp lánh (Twinkling morning star)” There are a number of articles, research papers, introduction of Sao Khuê lấp lánh (Twinkling morning star)” on newspaper or websites, etc affirming the value of the work and the author’s creativity Sub- conclusion Via the process of survey and research, we have conducted reading and classifying documents according to the contents related to the thesis topic In fact, though there have been quite a lot of studies on historical prose for children, they just focused on researching and evaluating one or several works and making general comments on this literary array The theoretical part of the request to compose historical stories for children was also paid attention, however, these research have focused on the period before 1975 - when the country was at war and when historical works for children have gained the most typical achievements Since the 90s of the twentieth century, a small corner in newspapers and magazines has been reserved to criticize children's books In particular, specific research on the historical topic for children has not received the deep attention of researchers or graduate students It is necessary to have more comprehensive and systematic research and studies on historical prose for children 10 Sub-conclusion Historical prose for children, in each period, has had its own features and inspirations associated with the historical, political, social context and discourse In the more than 70 - year process of formation and development of historical prose for children, we surveyed and selected five typical authors They are Nguyen Huy Tuong with a epic historical style; To Hoai with the way of exploiting the history associated with the legend and culture; Nguyen Duc Hien with exemplary pages, harmonizing the history and education; Nghiem Da Van - a talented and emotional writer These writers have made excellent contributions to the students as well as affirmed their style in the difficult and picky historical topics Chapter HISTORICAL SENSORY PERCEPTIONS AND MAINSTREAM TRENDS IN HISTORICAL PROSE FOR CHILDREN POST-1945 3.1 Sensory perceptions of the mighty beauty with the praising trend This is the key sensory perceptions in works on history in general before 1975 that prolonged in several works written after 1975 The trend derived from the historical context of the period 1945-1975 with the French colonist resistance war and the US colonist resistance war including three main contents: 3.1.1 Reconstituting significant events in national history 3.1.1.1 Reclaiming virgin soil and expanding the country: To Hoai has depicted a part of the national picture in the early days of history basing on historical facts about the construction of the country in the early stage and materials in folklore, Nhà Chử (Chu Dynasty), Đảo hoang (Desert island) are considered proud songs about the development of the country that partly portrait the process of building and expanding the country by the ancestors from the delta to the mid-land, the mountainous areas, and then to the sea 3.1.1.2 Fighting against enemies to protect the nation’s sovereignty: Building and defending the country is a throughout task in the process of formation and development of the nation's history Chuyện nỏ thần (Story of the Magical Bow) reflects one part in the fight against the north enemy; Sừng rượu thề (The vow) is about a period in history when 11 the Ly dynasty started to build the country and fight against armies of Tống and Chiêm; the triple historical novels of Bên bờ Thiên Mạc (On the Thien Mac river), Trên sông truyền hịch (Transmitting Orders on the River), Sông nước Chương Dương (Chuong Duong River on a Full Moon Night) are a chain of feats of the nation’s arms under Tran dynasty; Lá cờ thêu sáu chữ vàng (The flag with six gold letters) reflects the sense of fighting against Nguyen enemy under the leadership of the hero Tran Hung Dao, etc 3.1.2 Depicting feats of arms and heroic characters The real characters in the history, once again, become literature images reviving in works for children The similarity of these heroes is their courage, love for the country, and enthusiasm for the country’s and the people’s future Đảo hoang (Desert island), Chuyện nỏ thần (Story of the Magical Bow), Nhà Chử (Chu Dynasty) by To Hoai praises Mai An Tiem family, Ly Ong Trong, Cao Lo, Chu family - the triple novels by Ha An revived a period in history with sense of Đông A pride with a number of historic characters leaving their good names in the history including Tran Quoc Tuan, Tran Quang Khai, Tran Khanh Du, Tran Binh Trong, Truong Han Sieu and Pham Ngu Lao, etc Sừng rượu thề (the vow) by Nghiem Da Van praised the hero Ly Thuong Kiet in the fight against Tong enemy to save Chiem region, making contribution to the country’s prosperity Besides, the works also portrait the feats of arms and contributions of children, teenagers, the elderly people, and public characters with or without the names 3.1.3 Praising the beautiful sentiments of life The sentimental attachment between the king and the subject, one of the key inspirations in works about the medieval times, continue to be expressed via historical novels for children: Chuyện nỏ thần (Story of the Magical Bow) by To Hoai; the triple novels by Ha An; Lá cờ thêu sáu chữ vàng (Flag with six gold letters) by Nguyen Huy Tuong; Sao Khuê lấp lánh (Twinkling morning star) by Nguyen Duc Hien, etc The valuable family membership is reflected in Nhà Chử (Chu Dynasty) is the love of the consecutive generations in building and expanding their life The family of Mai An Tiêm in Đảo hoang (Desert Island) have always been together in any circumstance, giving them a 12 strength to overcome challenges Family love in Lá cờ thêu sáu chữ vàng (Flag with six gold letters) is attached to the intellectual origin and national patriotism in Sao Khuê lấp lánh (Twinkling morning star) Friendship is mentioned in the form of people to people and people to animal relationships that are rather attractive to children One could say that the works have strong sense of patriotism and national pride, which is expressed in praising feats of arms and heroic characters These include works for children both before and after 1975 Sensory perceptions of the mighty beauty with the trend to praise the traditions, feats of arms, and national heroes make works on history topics in this period affirmative and admiring discourses 3.2 Sensory perceptions of the woeful and majestic beauty with the tendency to exploit public and personal life elements 3.2.1 Exploiting the idyllic beauty of characters and historical events in multi-dimensional view The sensory perceptions of the woeful and majestic beauty with the tendency to exploit public and personal life elements of the characters in the multi-dimensional view were the typical writing tendency selected by many writers for the "Adults" audiences after 1975 to present This trend also appears in many of the writings written on historical topics for children, especially after innovation; The main purpose is not really to explain and re-discuss history, but to provide them with a more comprehensive view of events and people that are considered constant "monuments" and "heritage" in history Sao khuê lấp lánh (Twinkling morning star) by Nguyen Duc Hien chose the history context of chaos, dynastic conflicts, and dishonest mandarin domination, etc to give children a more comprehensive look at the history to understand and sympathize the injustices that Nguyen Trai and his family had to suffer The formidableness of the war and childhood is hero-worshiped and romanticized in Tuổi thơ dội (Formidable childhood) One of the messages perceived by readers reading the work is that war, even a defense it may be, either the winner or loser, brings about tremendous damage There is no "dialogue", so the selected characters are mainly those who have agreed the majority of researchers' understanding in history The 13 writer's point of view on historical events and figures did not contradict the political viewpoint Exploiting the elements of public and personal life, writers writing for children helps the character image become more complete and closer to children Reading these works, children will more or less "realize" interesting things: it turns out that feats of arms not consist only of sparkling aura; the heroes are also very ordinary people with pranks and tears 3.2.2 Discovering the hidden corners of the people, the fate drifted History is a stream with constant fluctuations with calm time, rushing time, writhing and wriggling rapids In these general fluctuations, the human beings appear with different fates with hidden corners filled with tragedies The most outstanding works in this direction are those by Nghiem Da Van với Sừng rượu thề (the vow) Luu Son Minh với Trần Quốc Toản Trần Khánh Dư (Tran Quoc Toan and Tran Khanh Du) Ly Thuong Kiet in Sừng rượu thề (The Vow) is a strategic hero but also a Ly Thuong Kiet with full of tragedies inside Tran Quoc Toan of Luu Son Minh, “is not an epic song about a heroic and innocent young man storming into battle" but "an epic song about a majestic warlord who has entered history" [148] Tran Khanh Du in the work of the same name by Luu Son Minh was portrayed as a rather "strange" character in the history of Vietnam feudal with all kinds of bad habits: promiscuous behavior, alcoholism, self-interest, unruly but also talented 3.2.3 Interweaving historical events with personal emotional levels Discussion on the history in connection with public and personal life also becomes closer and accessible to children as the writers add stories of family sentiments and loves with personal stuffs which are thought to be difficult to mention in works on the history, especially for children In Nhà Chử (Chu Dynasty), readers come across the rustic and sincere affection of the old lady in the homeland for Mr Chu Chuyện nỏ thần (Story of the Magical Bow), in addition to the story of solidarity lessons, the spirit of vigilance there is also a touching love story of General Cao Lo with Ms Tam The sad, unfinished, unrequited love story of Ly Thuong Kiet with the girl Thuan Khanh in Sừng rượu thề (The vow) by Nghiem Da Van, the love of Tran Khanh Du and the princess Thien Thuy who dared to live true to themselves despite knowing her love for 14 wrong people (Tran Khanh Du - Luu Son Minh) are the "sad melodies in the epic song that gives readers a repercussion The woeful and majestic historical sensory perceptions with the trend of exploring hidden corners of the characters and lives … provide the comprehensive knowledge of the history This trend has tended to develop in recent years with the coming of several works which are, despite being not really excellent, a positive sign of the partly regained attraction of this topic 3.3 Sensory perceptions of the culture with the trend of describing traditional customs and novelizing legends 3.3.1 Describing traditional customs and traditions Sensory perceptions of the historical beauty in connection with the cultural tradition in works for children are mostly related to a description of customs and traditions and the country’s traditional festivals The triple novels by Ha An allow young readers to integrate into the atmosphere of the spring martial art competitions in Hương Vạn Kiếp (Thousands of Generations), discover the traditional jobs of the old capital, watch the life of citizens of the elegant Thang Long (Rising Dragon) capital, and to feel the sounds of the buyers and sellers in all streets of the city The triple historical novels by To Hoai describe in detail the festival of buffalo fighting, wrestling, whip fighting, crossbow shooting, midautumn festival, etc With clever description and storytelling, the appearance of Van Lang's cultural history was vividly displayed through To Hoai's picturesque pages 3.3.2 Exploiting history from the legends The most typical representative for the direction of exploiting history from legends is To Hoai The triple historical novels by To Hoai Đảo hoang, Chuyện nỏ thần, Nhà Chử opened up a new direction of exploiting history: history associated with culture and legends In other words, legends, fairy tales, myths with historical colors have been novelized by the talents and strengths of the writer and are also very suitable for the children perception In general, culture in historical works for children is not a measure to discuss issues of public and personal life as in works for adults In the former, culture is the basis and the evidence to specifically affirm the 15 nation’s beauty Therefore, the trend to exploit the history in close connection with culture is still the mainstream sensory perception in works for children which is history-admiring 3.4 Traditional sensory perception and the educational trend 3.4.1 Inspiring the passion and pride in the nation’s history Historical novels written for children enable them to explore the history through artistic images The historical events from the beginning of the nation’s construction through feudal dynasties to the France and colonist-resistance war and American imperialist-resistance war and building socialism to some extent help them understand and remember historical events in a more natural and exciting way than the dogmatic memorization of the subject at school 3.4.2 Inspiring belief in people and the goodness In writing historical novels for children, the writers express their belief in people and the truth that the good always wins The belief has been proved to be true through historical witnesses, time and space Nhà Chử, Đảo hoang, Chuyện nỏ thần are all about the beginning of the country’s construction with an optimistic sense and deeply praising inspiration of human strength During the most formidable moments in the battle field or after discussion on the nation’s defense plan, one could still hear the voice citing poems by the young king Tran Nhan Tong who had to leave his citadel for the country’s future (Bên bờ Thiên Mạc) The final pages of the novel Bên bờ Thiên Mạc describe the death and the mood of Tran Binh Trong which are not pessimistic at all thanks to his optimism and courage King Le Thanh Tong saved his best monologues and memories for Nguyen Trai at the end of Sao Khuê lấp lánh inspiring the reader to the belief in the eternal truth, goodness, and beauty 3.4.3 Building the ideal of the life and personality orientation for children One of the specific features of historical works for children that is different from those for adults is the education function being the top priority Behind the events and characters, sense of fighting, the love for the country, and the will to develop are the lessons of life’s ideal and personality orientation for children 16 It is the thirst for moving forward in the triple novels by To Hoai; it is the ideal of the youth to serve the country in Lá cờ thêu sáu chữ vàng by Nguyen Huy Tuong, in the novels by Ha An, etc Life and youth’s ideal is always connected to a common goal and directed to the love for the country Lessons of life’s ideal and love for the country are also hidden in lessons of the people’s solidarity and caution in building and protecting the country Lessons of life’s ideal are also expressed in young people’s respect for the current life Tuổi thơ dội by Phung Quan make the reader understand more about a historical period with fierce wars and feel sorry for the teenagers who should have no bothers but had to sacrifice their life for the peace, thus trying their best to study and make contributions to the country Sub-conclusion During the development, prose on historical topic for children post1945 has basic sensory perceptions and writing trends which are the sensory perceptions of the history’s mighty beauty deriving from the context of the period 1945-1975; the sensory perceptions of the woeful and majestic history bring about the trend of writing about public and personal life; sensory perceptions of the history in connection with the nation’s cultural tradition through works describing customs and traditions Reflecting the history through literature images with the receptors being children, in historical novels for children, the authors also recommend lessons to the youth The above mentioned outstanding historical sensory perceptions and writing trends are not totally separate in works for children Besides the key one, historical sensory perceptions may be intermingled in one work These historical sensory perceptions and writing trends have both popular and particular features in comparison with historical prose written for adults The popular and particular features are influenced by the historical and social context of each period, especially the influence of the receptor 17 Chapter SEVERAL ARTISTIC FEATURES OF HISTORICAL PROSE FOR CHILDREN FROM AFTER 1945 TO PRESENT 4.1 The art of structure organization 4.1.1 Structure by time order and happenings The structure by time order and happenings is really suitable for little readers as this group needs the clarity and logic in receiving With this structure, the mainstream of the work is the linear time order and the events happening around the characters’ life Most of the works are numbered by chapter each of which is the development of events along the time axis from the first event forward like in Bên bờ Thiên Mạc (5 chapters), Trên sông truyền hịch (4 chapters), Trăng nước Chương Dương (3 chapters), Đảo hoang (16 chapters), Chuyện nỏ thần (14 chapters), Nhà Chử (3 chapters), etc Several works have the quoted poems or notes at the beginning (Nhà Chử, Đảo hoang, Lá cờ thêu sáu chữ vàng, Trăng nước Chương Dương) The triple novels by To Hoai are extraordinary and attractive to children in adding details of adventures under the closing-opening structure One of the factors helping to control the events and details so that they wouldn’t be too complex and difficult for children to remember is the organization of the work structure in linear time order In other historical novels like Chuyện nỏ thần by To Hoai, Quận He khởi nghĩa (Rising He) by Ha An, Lá cờ thêu sáu chữ vàng by Nguyen Huy Tuong, the work structure follows life order, character’s fate, or a period in the characters’ life Several authors also make use of supporting elements such as legends and fairy tales to adventurize the plot and highlight the naturalness of the historical characters and making the happenings lively and appealing 4.1.2 The structure of combined present-past and event-feelings Historical prose for children organizes the structure mostly in linear time order and happenings timeline However, in a number of works, the historical events and characters are not described simply in time order but they are also flexibly combined with the innermost feelings, and in many circumstances, the linear time order is inverted, the past and the present combined This structure implies more meanings drawing children into the work 18 The retrospective structure repeats in a score of happenings in the triple novels by Ha An The major changes of Trần dynasty in Bên bờ Thiên Mạc and Trên sông truyền hịch intermingle with thoughts and recalls to describe the mood of Tran Quoc Tuan Talking about the life of Nguyen Trai with the biggest injustice in the feudal history, a number of unclear details, and different arguments spread in history and among masses of the people, Nguyen Duc Hien wisely organized the work’s structure to be retrospective with the characters’ narration and innermost feeling changes The main character Nguyễn Trãi and the happenings in his life were not directly described but appeared indirectly in the relationships with other characters The innermost and bitter feelings of the hero interlace with the events of the present and the past All are described by Nghiem Da Van with an affectionate and bitter style in Sừng rượu thề With the combination of past-present and innermost feelings-events, though many works have ended, they still open up gaps of thinking for young readers The most common ending scence are desciption of the nature with the message of the good and bright future The combination of past-present and innermost feelings-events in historical works for children are hardly as vague and polysemantic as works for adults To some extent, the combination of past-present and events-innermost feelings complies with a certain line of events and time This structure is useful to inspire the imagination, creativity and interest in receiving in the children 4.1.3 The harmonious combination of the novelistic-historical elements in the plot structure In historical works for adults especially ones after 1986, the history is recalled in different pieces, making the plot ambiguous and loose In historical works for children, basing on the features of the receptor, the history evolves in a logical linear time line However, if the history stayed still within the changes of closed events under the procedure of reason, change, and result, historical works would be dull To get rid of the problem, the authors writing historical novels for children have wisely combine the novelistic and historical elements in the plot 19 Historical data on the beginning of the nation’s history are mostly legends whose plots have been edited and handed down from generation to generation by the people through words of mouth and variants On his part, To Hoai novelized the people’s legends, eliminating magic elements to bring the legendary events and characters to the real life In building the plot for Sừng rượu thề, Nghiem Da Van had a close look at the historical books on Ly, Tran, Le dynasties by well-known historians including Le Van Huu, Ngo Si Lien, and Hoang Xuan Han Processing the literature elements in the heroic tragedy with an excellent style, Sừng rượu thề became a heroic song of the majestic but woeful historical song of the life and fate of the hero Ly Thuong Kiet Ha An said that he encountered difficulties in writing Trên sông truyền hịch when choosing the conflicts between Tran Lieu and Tran Canh In his work, An characterized Tran Quoc Tuan who had always seek to satisfy his father’s wishes – one of the closing details of the novelistic character that helps to develop the story and appeal to the reader Lá cờ thêu sáu chữ vàng is a literature work; however, with few historical data on Tran Quoc Toan, the work by Nguyen Huy Tuong is the only document and best reminder in the reader’s mind of Tran Quoc Toan A combination of the novelistic and historical elements in building the plot is a common feature and requirement of historical works In works for adult, the focus might be on novelistic elements while in those for children, the priority of literature and history should be reasonably balanced 4.2 The art of building character 4.2.1 Choosing to build a real and unreal characters With the two main types of characters being epicalized and normalized characters, the authors writing historical novels for children choose to build a system of real and unreal characters, making the historical authenticity and clarifying the thought of the work The main characters chosen are always real in the history like Ly Thuong Kiet, Tran Quoc Tuan, Tran Binh Trong, Tran Quoc Toan, and Nguyen Trai Also, the context of the time and changes of the character’s life are also fully utilized to complete the characters and make the authenticity for the historical work 20 In order to make the work’s content varied and clear and to highlight the main character and the theme, the authors also create a system of unreal characters They are children like Hoang Do, Boi (novels by Ha An), adults such as Uan, the old man in Man Tro (novels by Ha An), the student Le Dam (Sao Khuê lấp lánh) by Nguyen Duc Hien), etc 4.2.2 Portraying the character from different viewpoints In historical works, one of the useful methods that allow the writer to express their thoughts and view of the world through characters is describing them from different viewpoints They may be the writer’s own viewpoints or the viewpoints from other characters in the work which are expressed by a combination of the descriptive and dialogue language Trên sông truyền hịch portrays the image of old general Tran Quoc Tuan from the viewpoint of the poor student Truong Han Sieu, thoughts and feelings of Tran Binh Trong, the viewpoint of the historiographer Le Van Huu and the people like old Uẩn or the notables at Bình Than Conference Bên bờ Thiên Mạc describes the main character Tran Binh Trong from the viewpoints of several characters in a series of dialogues between heroes and villains in the work Tran Quoc Toan in Lá cờ thêu sáu chữ vàng reflects a score of relationships that support each other to make a complete character Describing the character from different viewpoints, the writers also put the characters under challenges, especially dramatic situations and conflicts to highlight the image of the characters Sừng rượu thề sets off the politician talent of Ly Thuong Kiet facing the conflicts between the two royal concubines in Ly Dynasty: Queen Thuong Duong Royal concubine Y Lan In Trên sông truyền hịch, Ha An exploited the tension between Tran Lieu (An Sinh King) and Tran Canh and made Tran Quoc Tuan choose between the personal and public interest The life and tragedy of Nguyen Trai in Sao Khuê lấp lánh is described through the outstanding historical changes of his family and the nation Đảo hoang puts the characters in the flat line between death and life 4.2.3 Inserting the character’s thoughts and innermost soliloquy into the teller’s narration The words and phrases most popularly seen in describing the mood of the main characters include thấy (happen to see), thấy (see), nhớ lại (recall), cảm thấy (feel), etc Words of exclamation and long and short 21 sentences intermingling in the narration help to portray the character’s innermost feelings more clearly, making greater effects on the reader’s perception From history to literature, with the varied character system, the writers bring the character’s image to children in a gentle but impressive way These historical and literary characters have been embedded in young reader’s mind and emotion 4.3 The art of language use 4.3.1 The ancient-inspired and historical language Writing about the history means writing about something of the past Several events even happened a long time ago Therefore, one of the remarkable artistic features is the use of the ancient language in the works Han-Vietnamese words expressing time and space and descriptive words appear in most of the works on the feudal history Feudal titles and dignities and words related to nations are also mentioned The characters’ discussions and conversations always present profound analysis and arguments of the good and the bad Connecting words and phrases are also clear and coherent The use of ancient language has big advantage in reviving the historical atmosphere of each empire The writers have chosen and applied it reasonably to avoid complicatedness to young readers 4.3.2 The language full of images, sounds, and rhythms The language is full of images, sounds, and rhythms made by the varied use of rhyming words, pictographic and onomatopoeic words, and rhetorical methods such as personification and comparison Describing the sailors of Van Kiep, Ha An used the unique personification and comparison The sunrise on river is portrayed with pictographic sentences The natural landscape is personified in a lively way in most works A number of works have inspiring titles like Sao Khuê lấp lánh (Nguyen Duc Hien) or Tuổi thơ dội (Phung Quan) Especially, To Hoai is exceptionally good at describing normal things and phenomena to be lively as if they were living in the pages, stimulating the imagination of children With the language full of images, sounds, and rhythms, historical novels for children have the common feature of the historical genre but 22 still satisfy general requirements of works for children at the same time This brings historical events and characters closer to children help them to practice and improve their language 4.3.3 The poetic language The lissome and poetic sentences are used to build the context and the character’s image This is one of the main differences between historical novels and historical recordings Chuyện nỏ thần by To Hoai is rather poetic in many of its details In the triple novels by Ha An, the history of an elegant Thang Long-Hanoi is portrayed poetically Poetic language is usually adopted in paragraphs describing the nature It is also made of the poems cited in the works themselves Sub-conclusion Deriving the features of the genre and receptor, historical prose for children after the August Revolution, 1945 has its particular artistic features which are expressed in the organization of structure, building the character and constructing the language Besides the advantages, historical prose for children still has several disadvantages However, given its excellence, historical prose post-1945 has its unique features and becomes an indispensable part in children literature in particular and Vietnamese literature in general 23 CONCLUSION Historical novels for children are of important interest among several writers that complete Vietnamese literature for children The development of Vietnamese prose of historical topic for children is one part of the development of prose for children in general which has only developed since the August Revolution in 1945 In spite of not a long period, historical works for children post-1945 have made tremendous achievements connected with the nation’s historical marks affirming its status in the flow of children literature in general Sharing the common inspiration in writing historical novels for children that is reviving feats of arms in the nation’s history, praising the good, and criticizing the bad, the writers including To Hoai, Nguyen Huy Tuong, Ha An, Nghiem Da Van, and Nguyen Duc Hien found their own way to exploit and form personal styles The works with the writers’ unique style have their own attractiveness appealing to both children and adults Through the survey on the development of historical novels for children post-1945, especially focusing on several typical works, the researcher analyzes the historical sensory perceptions, writing mainstreams, and several artistic features of historical prose for children since the August Revolution, 1945 In comparison with the historical sensory perception and trends of historical works for adults, the paper clarifies the similarities and differences in the historical sensory reception and trends in writing for children In terms of the art, historical prose for children post-1945 has its own features which are different to other genres for children and historical prose for adults The differences are surveyed and generalized in three main aspects of the art of plot construction, the art of building the character, and the art of language contruction Looking at the value of historical novels for children, the situation of history learning at school and children’s knowledge of the country’s history, the syllabus of subjects of Vietnamese and literature in school, with the research results, the researcher suggests bringing several extracts of typical historical novels for children into the syllabus of schools, particularly in the subjects of reading, narration, using words 24 and structures at primary schools and literature reading at secondary schools These are expected to be useful methods to make children interested in learning history naturally, thus helping to fix the lack of knowledge of history and improving children’s current reading culture ... and achieved many outstanding achievements since 1945, especially from 1954 to present The studies of historical novels written for adults have attracted a lot of interest, while those for of historical... historical prose for children This direction attracts a lot of interest from researchers and critics with typical articles by Bui Thanh Ninh, Van Thanh, Nguyen Chi Ben when they read a number... 2.2 Historical prose for children post 1945 - formation and development 2.2.1 The period from 1945 to 1975 The main contents of the historical works written for children in this period were to