Quang Dũng

• He is to be distinguished from the modern pop singer Quang Dũng.

Bùi Đình Diệm, penname Quang Dũng (1921–1988) was a Vietnamese poet. He was one of the poets associated with the Nhân Văn–Giai Phẩm movement. In his style, following Vladimir Mayakovsky, he experimented with longer poems.^[1] Quang Dũng is the author of several very famous poems such as Tây Tiến (Advancing Westward), Đôi mắt người Sơn Tây (The eyes of Sơn Tây people), Đôi bờ (The two banks)... Together with the works in literature and poetry, Quang Dũng was also an artist and musician.

Biography

Quang Dũng's real name was Bùi Đình Diệm. He was born in 1921 at village Phượng Trì, Đan Phượng District (now this place belongs to Hanoi). Quang Dũng finished his high school education at Thăng Long School, and after graduation he worked as a teacher in private School at Sơn Tây.

After the August Revolution of 1945, Quang Dũng joined Vietnam People's Army and became the journalist of "Chiến đấu" (Fighting) Newspaper.^[2] In 1947, he take a course at Sơn Tây's Vocational Continuation Military School. After graduated, he was appointed the commander position of 212th Battalion in Tây Tiến Regiment (Advance Westward Regiment). Later, Quang Dũng took part in the offensive campagains of the Tây Tiến regiment at northwestern Vietnam and at the border regions of Laos. During this time he was also the Deputy Chairman of Laos-Vietnam Propaganda Team.^[2] After finishing the Tây Tiến offensives, in the late of 1948 Quang Dũng became the Head of Propaganda and Instruction Department in Tây Tiến Regiment, and then the Head of Letters and Arts Delegation of 3rd Interregion. In August 1951, Quang Dũng returned from military service.^[2] After the Resistance war end in 1954, he was appointed to be the Editor of Văn Nghệ newspaper, then worked at Literature Publisher.

During all these times, Quang Dũng produces many literature works, including poems, short stories, drama screenplays. He also created many oil-painted pictures and wrote some musics, including the famous song Ba Vì. The famous poem Tây Tiến was written when Quang Dũng participated in the Military Congress of 3rd Interregion at village Phù Lưu Chanh (Hà Nam).

Quang Dũng took part in the Nhân Văn–Giai Phẩm movement and was severely punished by the government. Like other Nhân Văn – Giai Phẩm participators (such as Nguyễn Bính, Hồ Dzếnh,...), his works was heavily criticized in North Vietnam and his literature career was severely affected due to the Nhân Văn – Giai Phẩm affair. As a results, Quang Dũng spent the rest of his life in obscurity. However, some of his masterpices were very popular in South Vietnam and were widely propagated.^[3]

Quang Dũng died on 13 October 1988 at the age of 67 in Thanh Nhàn Hospital, Hanoi after a long illness.

Rehabilitation

Later, following the Đổi Mới reforms of 1986, the Vietnamese government and Communist Party began to reevaluate and rehabilitate the former mistreated writers and artists. As a results, Quang Dũng's honour was gradually restored. His famous poem Tây Tiến was introduce in the high school literature textbook and became poplularized again. In 2001, Quang Dũng was posthumously awarded the State Prize of Arts and Literature.

References

1. Black dog, black night: contemporary Vietnamese poetry Nguyen Do, Paul Hoover – 2008 Because of Mayakovsky s expansiveness, many poets experimented with longer poems. Examples can be seen in the work of Tran Mai Ninh, Hoang Trung Thong, Quang Dung, Chinh Huu, and especially the poets of the Nhan Van group,
2. Nhớ về Tây Tiến, Văn nghệ Quân đội, 30 November 2007
3. Những câu chuyện phía sau bài thơ “Tây tiến”, An ninh Thủ Đô