COURSE SYLLABUS
VIETNAMESE MODERN LITERATURE 2 (FROM 1945 TO PRESENT)
- Course details
- Course Title: Vietnamese modern literature 2 (from 1945 to present)
- Course Code: VAN062
- Number of Units: 5
- Level: third-year students
- Prerequisite: Students have completed or are taking the three courses “Vietnamese classic literature 1”, “Vietnamese classic literature 2”, and “Vietnamese modern literature 1”.
- Course description: The course provides students with knowledge about the process, incidents, works and authors of Vietnamese literature from 1945 to present. Students will be equipped with skills of analyzing and evaluating literary issues related to this period. For the duration from 1945 to 1975, the course strongly focuses on North Vietnamese literature and discusses a few topics about South Vietnamese literature.
- Course staff:
Course coordinator: Vo Van Nhon, PhD.
Teachers: - Vo Van Nhon, PhD.
- Nguyen Thi Phuong Thuy, MA.
2. Course aims
The course aims to:
- introduce incidents, works and authors of Vietnamese literature after 1945
- provide information of social and cultural contexts of Vietnamese literature through different periods after 1945
- provide skills of analyzing and evaluating Vietnamese modern literature
- enable students to apply the knowledge from the course into evaluating the practice of contemporary literature.
3. Learning objectives
After successfully completing this course, students should be able to:
- Remember important incidents, works and authors of Vietnamese literature after 1945.
- Understand the social and cultural contexts of Vietnamese literature of different periods from 1945
- Read, critically analyze and evaluate a range of literary texts in Vietnamese published after 1945 without formal guidance.
- Apply the knowledge of Vietnamese literature after 1945 to explain the practice of contemporary literature.
Learning objectives of the course contribute to the program expected learning outcome as followed:
| No. | Course learning objectives | Program expected learning outcomes |
| 1 | Remember important incidents, works and authors of Vietnamese literature after 1945 |
- basic knowledge of Vietnamese folklore, Vietnamese classic and modern literature (PLO3) - to memorize, to understand and to present (PLO6) |
| 2 | Understand the social and cultural contexts of Vietnamese literature of different periods from 1945 |
- basic knowledge of Vietnamese folklore, Vietnamese classic and modern literature (PLO3) - to apply and to analyze (PLO7) - faithful to the country, proud of the people (ELO14) - active, confident, responsible, serious, purposeful in working and well-cooperative in working (ELO15) |
| 3 | Read, critically analyze and evaluate a range of literary texts in Vietnamese published after 1945 without formal guidance |
- basic knowledge of Vietnamese folklore, Vietnamese classic and modern literature (PLO3) - deep knowledge of methods for literary and art studies, theories and criticism (PLO5) - to apply and to analyze (PLO7) - skills of researching and teaching Vietnamese literature (PLO9) - skills of reviewing and criticizing literature and arts (ELO10) - faithful to the country, proud of the people (ELO14) - active, confident, responsible, serious, purposeful in working and well-cooperative in working (ELO15) |
| 4 | Apply the knowledge of Vietnamese literature after 1945 to explain the practice of contemporary literature |
- basic knowledge of Vietnamese folklore, Vietnamese classic and modern literature (PLO3) - deep knowledge of methods for literary and art studies, theories and criticism (ELO5) - to evaluate and generalize (PLO8) - skills of reviewing and criticizing literature and arts (PLO10) - skills of synthesizing and presenting one’s own ideas (consisting of individual- and team-working skills, problem-solving skills, communicating skills) (PLO13) - faithful to the country, proud of the people (ELO14) - active, confident, responsible, serious, purposeful in working and well-cooperative in working (ELO15) |
4. Learning activities
| Week | Content | Activities | Learning resources |
| 1 | Vietnamese literature from 1945 to 1975: Introduction |
- Teacher introduces course syllabus. - Students take short quiz about their knowledge of Vietnamese modern literature that they have read or studied in high school - Teacher gives lecture. |
- Phan Cu De (chief composer) (2004), Vietnamese literature in the 20th century, Hanoi: Literature Publisher - Ma Giang Lan (2003), Vietnamese literature 1945 -1954, Hanoi: Education Publisher. - Powerpoint provided on the Moodle page of the course (thinguyen.mdl.com). Student accesses via student account. |
| 2 | Vietnamese literature from 1945 to 1954: poetry |
- Poetry quiz: students prepare in advance quiz about poems and authors of this period to ask their classmates. - Students recall information and present their thinking about the poems and authors of the period that they learned in high school. - Teacher gives more information and systematic knowledge covering the topic. |
- Phan Cu De (chief composer) (2004), Vietnamese literature in the 20th century, Hanoi: Literature Publisher - Ma Giang Lan (2003), Vietnamese literature 1945 -1954, Hanoi: Education Publisher. - Vu Tuan Anh (1997), Half century of Vietnamese poetry 1945 -1995, Hanoi: Social Sciences Publisher. |
| 3 | Vietnamese literature from 1945 to 1954: fiction |
- Students take turn to summarize short fictions assigned to them for reading before class. - Students discuss in group the characteristics in content and style of those fictions, based on reading-guide questions from teacher. |
- “The redded head enemy” by Son Nam, “The village” by Kim Lan, “Coal-mining area” by Vo Huy Tam, “A Rebellion” by Nguyen Dinh Thi - The reading materials above are printed in Bui Viet Thang (composer) (2002), The collection of Vietnamese literature from 1945 to 1954, Hanoi: Vietnam National University Press, and are provided on Moodle. |
| 4 | Vietnamese literature from 1954 to 1975: poetry |
Students: - read aloud some poems of their preparation - with help from teacher, discuss and point out characteristics of those poems Teacher gives lecture about those poems and the socialist realism. |
- Phan Cu De (chief composer) (2004), Vietnamese literature in the 20th century, Hanoi: Literature Publisher. |
| 5 | Vietnamese literature from 1954 to 1975: fiction |
Students: - watch video clip on war literature - name Vietnamese fictions from 1954 to 1975 they have heard of, read, or learned in high school and discuss if they all belong to war literature. - take turn to summarize some fictions Teacher gives lecture. |
- Phan Cu De (chief composer) (2004), Vietnamese literature in the 20th century, Hanoi: Literature Publisher. |
| 6 | Individual reading |
No class. Students study on their own in library. Report of reading must be submitted on Moodle at the end of the day. |
- Reading list of novels are assigned on Moodle. |
| 7 | Literature in South Vietnam from 1945 to 1975 | - Teacher gives lecture. | - Hand-outs given in class. |
| 8 | Vietnamese literature from 1975 to present: Introduction |
- Mid-term test: 60 minutes - Teacher gives lecture. |
- Phan Cu De (chief composer) (2004), Vietnamese literature in the 20th century, Hanoi: Literature Publisher. - Nguyen Van Long (2002), Vietnamese literature in the new era, Hanoi: Education Publisher. - Powerpoint on Moodle. |
| 9 | Vietnamese literature from 1975 to present: Fiction |
Students: - take turn to summarize novels they have read as assigned in week 6. - discuss in group to compare the characters, the theme and the style of these novels to those in novels of the period 1945-1975. Based on the discussion, teacher gives lecture. |
- Phan Cu De (chief composer) (2004), Vietnamese literature in the 20th century, Hanoi: Literature Publisher. - Nguyen Van Long (2002), Vietnamese literature in the new era, Hanoi: Education Publisher. - Tran Huu Ta (2000), Looking back to a phase of literature, Ho Chi Minh City: HCM Publisher. - |
| 10 | Vietnamese literature from 1975 to present: Poetry |
- Two teachers (or a teacher and a guest, who is a writer) talk about topics on Vietnamese poetry after 1975. - Students who have written poetry and published poem collections share their thoughts on Vietnamese contemporary poetry. |
- Phan Cu De (chief composer) (2004), Vietnamese literature in the 20th century, Hanoi: Literature Publisher. - Vu Tuan Anh (1997), Half century of Vietnamese poetry 1945 -1995, Hanoi: Social Sciences Publisher. - Nguyen Van Long (2002), Vietnamese literature in the new era, Hanoi: Education Publisher. |
| 11 | Vietnamese literature from 1975 to present: theory and criticism |
- Students read the two articles by Nguyen Minh Chau and Hoang Ngoc Hien, comparing them in terms of opinion, reason, and style. - Teacher gives lecture. |
- Nguyen Minh Chau (1987), “Let us read a funeral oration for a period of illustrative literature and arts”, Literature and Arts, (49-50), pp. 15-23. - Hoang Ngoc Hien (1979), “About a trait of our literature in the recent period”, Literature and Arts, (23), pp. 8-15. - Nguyen Van Long (2002), Vietnamese literature in the new era, Hanoi: Education Publisher. |
| 12 | Vietnamese literature from 1975 to present: oversea literature | - Teacher gives lecture. | |
| 13 | Individual reading | - No class. Students study on their own in library. Report of reading must be submitted on Moodle at the end of the day. | - Reading list of novels are assigned on Moodle. |
| 14 | Book review presentation | - Students present about the novel of their choice in front of class and involve their classmate into discussion about said book. | |
| 15 | Summary | - Students present their version of course summary, and teacher comments. |
5. Assessment
| Assessment task | Task description | Weighting | Leaning objectives |
| Participation | - Students are expected to be presented and actively involeved in every activities of each class, containing discussing given topics, posing questions to teacher, preparing before class as required, and reporting their reading activities. | 10 % | 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| Mid-term test |
- A closed-book written test will be taken in class for 60 minutes. - The test contains short questions about Vietnamese literature from 1945 to 1954. |
20 % | 1, 2 |
| Book review and presentation |
- Students are required to write an essay from 800 to 1000 words to explicate and evaluate a Vietnamese novel published after 1945. - The essay will be submitted online on thinguyen.mdl.2 via student account. - Students present about the book of their choice in front of class. |
20% | 2, 3 |
| Final exam | - An open-book written exam will be taken for 90 minutes, scheduled during the exam period. Student will be required to write a short essay about a given topic related to Vietnamese literature from 1975 to present. | 50% | 2, 3, 4 |
Course grading:
Grade 0: No assessable work received.
Grade 1-2, Fail: Fails to demonstrate most or all of the basic requirements of the course.
Grade 3-4, Fail: Demonstrates partial understanding and applying of fundamental terms and concepts; communicates information or ideas in ways that are frequently incomplete or confusing.
Grade 5, Pass: Demonstrate adequate understanding and application of the concepts; be capapble of expressing basic explication and evaluation of literary texts orally and writtenly.
Grade 6-7, Credit: Demonstrate substantial understanding and application of the terms and concepts in the variety of contexts; develops or adapts convincing arguments and provides coherent justification; communicates information and ideas clearly and fluently.
Grade 8-9, Distinction: As for 6-7, with evidence of self-confidence and critical thinking.
Grade 10, Outstanding: As for 8-9, with frequent evidence of critical thinking and originality in translating, explicating and evaluating literary texts.