Conference Report- Literature and Journalism in the Republic of Vietnam (1955 - 1975) and the Reception of Western Thought

13. Juli 2021, von AAI Webmaster

Foto: unsplash

A report from the conference on Literature and Journalism in the Republic of Vietnam (1955 - 1975) and the Reception of Western Thought from the 11th of July, 2021

Organized by Prof. Dr. Thomas Engelbert and Dr. Chi P. Pham,

University of Hamburg

Time: June 10, 2021, 09-18 h

Virtual conference

Without any doubt, the conference was a novelty. Vietnamese researchers from within the country and abroad as well as Western researchers discussed the works of literature and journalism which originated in the Republic of Vietnam (1955-1975). When the T34 tanks broke through the iron gate of Saigon’s Presidential Palace, both a historical era and a period of Vietnam’s literary history came to an end. Writers and journalists were silenced, imprisoned or fled the country. Works were temporarily forgotten or, at least partly, reprinted in the US, Canada or France, but could not appear at home. Especially Western philosophical influences, like Existentialism, Phenomenology, Personalism or Psychoanalysis, were an anathema in a country where only one ideology was allowed to serve as an official doctrine, and only one ideologically based style was admitted for artistic expression. It took several years after the beginning of Đổi Mới (1986), until a cautious approach to these works was sought in Vietnam. They were no longer regarded as “products of decadent Western culture”.

Finally, a not always easy dialogue started between Vietnamese researchers and literary professionals inside and outside of the country. The response and feedback of many participants and listeners after our event has been very positive. Especially the scientific depth, the academic character and the professional yet respectful tone have been emphasized.

The conference included thirty-two presenters and co-presenters from Germany, the US, Japan, Canada, and Vietnam, and had 89 registered attendees from all over the world. Thirty presentations of the conference offered different perspectives about literature and journalism in the Republic of Vietnam in connection with Western theories in the humanities. Many presentations discussed and analysed different aspects on how South Vietnam’s literary authors perceived and were influenced by Western thinkers and writers such as Sigmund Freud, Graham Greene, Martin Heidegger, Hermann Hesse, Edmund Husserl, Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann, Somerset Maugham, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Stefan Zweig. All presentations offered different ways of approaching South Vietnam as a culturally diverse and dynamic historical period and entity.

The conference also included scholarly dynamic exchanges between presenters and scholars who had personal political and literary life experiences in the Republic of Vietnam. Most of these scholars migrated to the West after the Fall of the South Vietnam in 1975. There, they continued writing and publishing. These scholars shared with the presenters and the audience their experiences and their thoughts about RVN literature. They also learned through the presentations of scholars coming from Vietnam, that perspectives about South Vietnamese literature have changed in today’s Vietnam.

The presentations and exchanges were influenced by different academic and educational traditions, but also by perspectives of generations with different life experiences. The inclusion and respect for different investigations, interpretations, and perspectives in this performance both reflected the multi-faceted, multidimensional, and complex meanings of works, trends, and themes of South Vietnam’s literature and journalism. Opening the door to a multi-faceted and multidimensional approach is also helping to expand the knowledge on and prolong the life of this literature and journalism in space and time.

Nine contributions can be assessed as video lectures in the folder “Lecture2Go” situated on the website of the Faculty of Humanities, University of Hamburg.

After the conference, the organizers will work with an international publisher for the publication of an edited-book that includes selected papers of the conference. The organizers plan, at least, two publications: one in English, and one in Vietnamese.

The conference organizers were honoured to receive generous funding from the Ideen- und Risikofonds (University of Hamburg), the Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft and the Hamburger Wissenschaftliche Stiftung.

The conference organizers would like to express their deep gratitude to all who helped to make the conference a success. This regards especially Cao Quang Nghiệp, Dr. Trần Tịnh Vy, Dr. Trương Th y Dung as well as Melina Kaiser, Nguyễn Hoằng Duy and Nguyễn Ngọc Linh.