“Quang Nam Province has a long history of patriotism and high cultural values. Literature expresses the value of life, the spirit, emotions and a nation’s history. Researching Quang Nam’s literature of the twentieth century may help us to understand those values and apply them to future social development”, said Dr. Phan Ngoc Thu, at the beginning of the conference, held on June 24.
Dr. Phan Ngoc Thu addresses the conference
Attendees included Professor Phong Le, Former Director of the Institute of Literature at the National Center of Social Sciences (The Vietnam Institute of Social Sciences), researcher Lai Nguyen An, professors, doctors from the Social Science Institutes of Hue University, Danang University, writers from Quang Nam Province and faculty members of the DTU Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.
More than 100 presentations were made at the conference. Popular discussion topics included how to integrate the study and research of regional literature, the achievements of Quang Nam’s literature in the 20th century, the specific characteristics of the literature and so on.
Prof. Phong Le addresses the conference
According to Prof. Phong Le, our country maintained its traditional values throughout long periods of aggression. So research on regional literature should be based on those Vietnamese characteristics, which are a combination of many different integral factors.
“We are here today to discover the special features of Quang Nam’s literature. However, in finding them we will recognize countrywide Vietnamese characteristics”, said Prof. Phong Le.
The steps and methods of conducting the research and the criteria for judging the best writers were also brought up at the conference. Most agreed that such criteria should be agreed on and approved to expedite the completion of the projects by the Board.
Dr. Phan Ngoc Thu thanked the attendees for their feedback and contributions to the conference. “We appreciate your ideas and we hope to have further discussions during the completion of this project”, said Dr. Thu.
The conference was organized as part of a campaign to do research at the provincial level, as assigned by the Quang Nam People’s Committee to DTU.
(Board of Website Editors)