A Study On Ethical Choices In Vietnamese Novels Since Reform And Opening Up

Since the Sixth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam in 1986,the country has implemented reform and opening up policies("D(?)i mói" in Vietnamese).As a result,its novels are closely related to national renovation campaigns in Vietnam.Besides,the development of novels has been accompanied by a very complicated ethical environment after the Vietnam War(1954-1975),which includes the early stage of peace,the implementation of the subsidy system,market economy,international exchanges,and globalisation.After the war,the ethical environment created favorable conditions for novel innovation and brought many challenges to writers.Based on this context,by adopting the war,pastoral,urban,and historical novels,Vietnamese authors expanded the reality reflected in their works,changed their concept of the role of literature and writers,continuously innovated the artistic expression of novels,and expressed a profound ethical connotation.Hence,the new period of Vietnamese literature has witnessed the arrival of a series of new novels remarkably different in form and content from their literary predecessors(1945-1975).The achievements of Vietnamese novels after 1986 are primarily manifested in the circle of writers,the content,and the artistic quality of their writings.Vietnamese novels have attracted domestic readers and gradually integrated with contemporary world literature,and become a popular research object in academic communities domestically and internationally.Existing studies focus on summarising the process of Vietnam’s post-war novels,analysing political,social,cultural,economic influence and other factors on novels during the reform period in Vietnam,or discovering specific novelistic reality and artistic techniques in novels.To our best knowledge,it is worth pointing out the ethial issue in the novels since the "D(?)i mói" has not been sufficienly addressed in previous research and there have been no outstanding achievements in applying Ethical Literary Criticism theory to examine the novels.This study starts with Ethical Literary Criticism to demonstrate the ethical choices made by characters in the novels and novelists in literary creation.These choices are closely related to other ethical aspects and shall be explained in detail in chapters.The Introduction focuses on the origin of topic selection,the review of national and international research related to Vietnamese novels from the reform and opening up,describes the research objectives,methods,significance,and innovations;interprets some specific terms used in the study,and introduces the creative context of Vietnamese novels since "D(?)i mói" execution.The First Chapter focuses on the war novels after 1986 to analyse the characters’ ethical choices under the influence of the ethical environment of the Vietnam War(1954-1975)and post-war.The ethical context of wartime causes ethical chaos that leading characters often faced various ethical dilemmas.Whether they are farmers,intellectuals,or students,most people realize that they still bring their own identity of a citizen of a war-torn country Therefore,the characters’ actions in the novels will depend on this ethical consciousness.In other words,these ethical choices of willingness to participate in the war and"sacrifice for the motherland and nation" originate from their clear awareness of their ethical responsibilities,thus creating a contemporary and collective ethical choice.In addition,these choices also show the soldier characters’ sophisticated duality.The cruel reality of the battlefield makes soldiers deeply aware of a series of matters,such as the relationship between "we and enemies," good and evil,human factors and animal factors or soldiers’ ethical identity,the ideals of the warriors and meaning of war.Because of this,their ethical choices have a complex interweaving of heroic strengths and weaknesses,nobility and inferiority,good and evil.Furthermore,the ethical environment in peacetime also puts veterans in an ethical dilemma,so their ethical choices are severely affected by the ghosts of the war,physical and mental trauma,the negative aspects of market economy,and the collapse of moral values.Among them,many protagonists successfully retain the virtue of real soldiers;in contrast,many violate ethical standards.The Second Chapter focuses on the pastoral novels to demonstrate the ethical choices made by farmers in the ethical environment of land reform in North Vietnam,the contradiction of rural clans,and traditional countryside culture.The land reform in North Vietnam in the 1950s and 1960s was a so-called"shaking heaven and earth" movement.In this context people’s ethical identities are often suddenly changed,and many factors,including violence,sex,libido,power,feud and others,urge novel characters to destroy ethical taboos and cause the collapse of ethical orders.On the contrary,many people are committed to maintaining ethical orders and becoming excellent moral models.Moreover,Vietnamese pastoral novels also portray the contradictions among the rural clans about reputation,power,and interests,which cause their members to face some ethical tragedies.Some tragedies are also led by the local patriarchal culture and feudal culture.Faced with these tragic situations,some peasants can successfully escape and reach their happiness,but many people cannot solve their plight and even commit suicide to end their ethical tragedies.The Third Chapter focuses on the urban novels and analyses the ethical choices of citizens in the contemporary city life of Vietnam.The ethical choices of such characters are greatly affected by the adverse effects of the subsidy system,market economy,urbanisation,and globalisation.Economic development makes citizens lay more and more stress on the value of money,creating a so-called "money society" in which the moral values are too often governed by money.In this case,human instincts are released,prompting them to make a series of unethical choices.City dwellers often join in extramarital affairs,leading to the fragmentation of family ethics and seriously affecting the health of social morals and ethics.Faced with an ethical crisis and a degeneration of life values,many citizens are forced to embark on a trip to search for their true ethical identity.Because this journey is arduous and full of challenges,not everyone can succeed.The Fourth Chapter examines the historical novels to interpret the ethical choices made by historical figures in the works in different environments of Vietnam’s feudal dynastic history and customary cultural history.Relying on the description and introspection of history,Vietnamese historical novels after 1986 reproduce the fierce struggle of royal power and palace fighting,thus highlighting the characters’ evil.Besides,the writer portrays some loyal ministers and kind figures who are willing to maintain their own ethical standard in their lives.In addition,the ethical choices of the protagonists in the historical novels are also depicted in many complicated ethical relationships,mainly influenced by the Confucian moral norms at that time.Accordingly,by harmoniously handling the relationship between historical facts and artistic fiction in the novel,the personages’ ethical choices become the writer’s dependable reinterpretation and self-examination of Vietnamese history.The ethical choices of historical figures in the novel also reflect the hues of Vietnamese nationalism and heroism.Additionally,the historical novels have fully described the ethical conflicts between the local culture and other cultural entities since the start of reform and opening up policy.The last chapter emphasizes the analysis of the ethical choices of contemporary Vietnamese writers in their literary creation The novelists’ ethical choices are embodied in managing their brain text and expressing them into literary works.Vietnamese writers’ ethical choices are primarily presented in two aspects:the content of a novel and the art of a novel.In terms of the content,the novelists’ ethical choices are mainly manifested in the following four prominent levels:(ⅰ)expressing a new humanitarian meaning to war and soldiers,(ⅱ)daring to reinterpret the so-called "forbidden theme" of land reform,(ⅲ)describing many contemporary ethical issues that are closely related to city life and city dwellers,(ⅳ)and re-thinking on Vietnamese history.In terms of artistic techniques,the most typical connotation of characters’ ethical choice lies in two points:(ⅰ)the novelists change the artistic concepts of novel genres;(ⅱ)the significant innovation of expression techniques and novel structures.Most importantly,the writers’ ethical choices are inseparable from the edificatory function of their brain texts and writings.The authors provide readers with precious history lessons through the treatment of novel genres,themes,content,and artistic techniques.It also proves the corporate social responsibility contributions of Vietnamese writers to the improvement of human morality.The Conclusion summarises the study,pointing out the characteristics of the Vietnamese ethical environment after the Vietnam War,generalising the ethical choices of the characters in the local novels from "D(?)i mói" movement,and the writers’ ethical choices in literary creation.Last but not least,this part also affirms the edificatory function of contemporary Vietnamese novels.