ABSTRACT
The novel is a constantly changing and evolving genre when it shows the width and
depth in the reflection of reality, opening up endless dialogues about the value of
human existence in its flexible structural framework. The article exploits, points out
and evaluates theoretical achievements of the twentieth century novels. From this
evaluation, the text identify the theoretical development trend of this genre in the
twenty-first century, placed in the movement correlation, movement of contemporary
Vietnamese literature seen from creative writing and receptive innovation.
Keywords: novel theory, reception in literature,Vietnamese novel

1.Introduction
Novel is a genre of last disappearance but quickly becomes a pioneer genre when
reflecting on life because of its ability to express all aspects, thanks to its ability to
synthesize all kinds in it, from there. making it an unchanging characteristic: The novel
is an ever-changing genre when it shows the breadth and depth in the reflection of
reality, opening up contradictions. Endless conversation about the value of human
survival in its flexible structural framework.
In the research of Theory of fiction in Vietnam in the 20th century, Nguyen Van Tung
(2007) has divided into three periods of development’s novel theory in Vietnam. We
would like to inherit above conception, accordingly, to explain more clearly about
theoretical characteristics of the novel genre. On the basis of using research methodology
such as: following the course of time, genre structure together with approach to
narratology theory, combined with modern reception, exploiting articles, pointing out and
evaluating theoretical achievements novel genre of twentieth century. Thereby identifying
the theoretical development trend of this genre in the twenty-first century, put in the
correlation of movement and development of contemporary Vietnamese literature from
the perspective of creativity in writing and reception.
2.Conception
The period from the early of 20th century to 1945
This period can be devided into two stages: Firsly, Early of 20th century to 1930, beginning
to appear the first novel achievements. Secondly, From 1930 to 1945 with many brilliant
achievements promoting the novel’s modernization. During the period, the novel was the
concept used to refer to the short story (now called the Short story) and to the Long story
(now called the novel). We look at novel theory based on the second aspect.
In the book Ban ve tieu thuyet (Discuss about novel) by Pham Quynh (1921), he pointed
out the characteristics of the novel, in which he introduced the concept of the novel with
the very interesting observation that “the novel was an interesting but fabricated story”.
According to Pham Quynh, the structure is the key, which focuses on the knots. Human
description should be based on human nature to describe. Describing the person who
needs to describe his appearance, personality, and character before and after unitedly.
This is what shows that the character building in the novels of this period is not didactic
(the structure is divided into two parts: the character structure and the plot structure). In
the process of literary modernization, the novel has a key role in this process and Pham
Quynh’s book on the novel is an important contribution to the formation and
development of the theory of fiction in Vietnam.
If the function of the novel according to Pham Quynh is instructive, Thach Lam (Theo
giong) believes that the novel is not only entertainment but also helps people to live, to
be happy and to love. Unlike Pham Quynh’s book, the character’s personality is onedimensional, according to Thach Lam, the character must show many dimensions of
human personality and is influenced by circumstances. In addition, the human concept
is always changing, so the character always has an inner vitality and has a destiny of its
own. Thach Lam’s thesis has an encounter with M. Bakhtin, the person in the novel
“must be described not as finished and fixed, but as a changing personality” (Pham Vinh
Cu, 1992). A discussion of novel theory is the Khao ve tieu thuyet (Review of novels)
(Vu Bang). First, the novel character is a living character with relative independence.
Second, the language of the novel is the language of truth in every class of people;
Third, the novel does not need, should not follow a rigid standard, so that the novel can
operate continuously. Vu Bang’s trend is to direct the novel to follow the spirit of
realism, upholding the true character (rendering the truth). This is the focus that
Vietnamese novels in the spirit of critical realism follow (the case of Vu Trong Phung’s
novel). On the other hand, Vu Bang’s remarkable progress is similar to M. Bakhtin’s
assertion that the novel is a constant movement and innovation. It is a freedom. This
freedom is the only evident in the third and fourth stages, after the doi moi period. In
Nha van hien dai (Modern writter), Vu Ngoc Phan affirmed the dominant position of
modern novels, clearly marked by the classification of novels: customary novels, thesis
novels, reportage novels, and animated novels. statistics, social novels, emotional
novels, spiritual novels. This classification of his shows the development of modern
Vietnamese fiction in a particular line of genre style at this period.
Thus, in the first phase, novel is often considered and focused on the role and function
of itselt, the tendency to reflect more towards reality (describe the truth), especially the
character element that needs to be built like that. When placed in the social context,
Vietnamese novel has received the most attention from many works and theoretical
researchers, besides aiming to perfect the language in it.
The period from 1945 to 1985
This was the period of the whole country’s resistance against the French colonialists and
the American imperialists. The great victory in the spring of 1975 was the proof of a
fierce but glorious historical period of our nation’s national defense war; at the same
time affirming the spirit of the national community, the people’s faithful patriotism; The
Communist Party’s leadership on all fronts, including culture and art, follows the ideal
of socialist realism.
At this stage, novel theory solves problems serving the need to promote the creation and
reception of novels according to the goal of the national liberation revolution. This
period is impossible not to mention the novel in the South of Vietnam, especially from
1954 to 1975. Novels of this period also attracted the attention of many critical theorists
with a number of typical works such as Nhan vat trong tieu thuyet (Characters in fiction
(Authors, Creation Publishing No. 1/160); Viet va doc tieu thuyet (Writing and reading
novels (Nhat Linh, Today’s Publishing, 1961); Hien huu cua tieu thuyet (Existence of
the novel (Le Tuyen, University No. April 1961); Tieu thuyet Viet Nam the he 1932 –
1945 (Vietnamese novels of the generation 1932 -1945 (Thanh Lang, University No. 2,
April 1961); Tieu thuyet hien dai Modern novels (Trang Thien, New Times Publishing,
1963); Xay dung tac pham tieu thuyet (Developing novels (Nguyen Van Trung, Nam
Son Publishing, 1965); Su hinh thanh cua tieu thuyet moi (The formation of new novels)
in Viet Nam van hoc su gian uoc tan bien (Vietnam’s literary history (Pham The Ngu,
Quoc hoc Tung thu Publishing, 1965); Chuyen phiem ve tieu thuyet (Gossip about
novels (Trieu Son, Van magazine No. 34, published on May 15, 1965); Van hoc va tieu
thuyet (Literature and novels (Doan Quoc Sy, Creation Publishing, 1973)… In these
works, many theoretical issues about novels are posed with a multi-faceted, multi-
dimensional view such as: conception of novel, characters and methods of building
novel characters, plots in novels… Nguyen Luong Ngoc in Nguyen ly van hoc (Literary
Principles (1959) pointed out that the novel is not only/not the only genre of the
bourgeoisie but also a popular genre. Therefore, the novel’s characters are not only
kings and queens but also all classes of people to reflect reality in the richest way.
Because the novel has a large volume, it unifies many genres into itself: lyrical content,
dramatic, lyrical externality. The way of narration in a novel can be in the first or third
person, or both. Going to the work of the novelist of Nguyen Dinh Thi, he gave the
concept of this genre as follows: the novel is an ever-changing genre that directly
reflects the spiritual life of society; it can absorb new achievements from the sciences
and arts. In terms of characters, according to him, in addition to building a writer’s
appearance, language… the most important and difficult thing is to build the inner
world, inner happenings, and inner psychology of the character. According to Nguyen
Dinh Thi, for novels to build and write about a new life, new people need to follow the
principle of expression of the realist method of composition. This important
contribution of his has served as the basis for illuminating the novels of this period, in
terms of reflecting the wider society, in harmony with ideal romanticism and realism;
relationship between character’s life and plot… For example, a few novels such as:
Giong to (Vu Trong Phung’s name of novel) paved the way for a novel with a
monumental structure after 1960. The modern art of Vietnamese fiction has reached its
peak with So do (the Red number novel). The art of footwork in the literature is also
successfully demonstrated in a number of works by Ngo Tat To, Nguyen Hong, Nguyen
Cong Hoan, To Hoai, Manh Phu Tu, Nguyen Dinh Lap, Lan Khai… Phan Cu De said,
“These are the first novels in Vietnam that fulfill Engles’ request for realistic works: to
build typical personalities in typical circumstances”. In the work of Tieu thuyet Viet Nam
hien dai (Modern Vietnamese Fiction), Phan Cu De mentioned this genre characteristic.
Based on Bakhtin’s assessment of self-parody, about the ongoing reality reflected in the
novel, Phan Cu De affirmed that the novel is a literary genre that is closest to life even
though it is a young and growing genre. The novel character is a kind of life experience
for himself, as in real life, built on the character principle of socialist realism.
Specifically, the relationship between personality and circumstances is always shown in
the direction of upward development, the character has ideals, acts and improves,
overcomes the situation. Accordingly, the plot of the novel moves according to the
development of the character’s personality. If in the work of the novelist, Nguyen Dinh
Thi mentioned the importance of the character’s inner world, in this work, Phan Cu De
said that the novel should pay attention to the development of character psychology, such
as the “dialectical of the soul” in the novel, emotional, character psychology in War and
Peace by master novelist L. Tolstoi. Accordingly, the researcher emphasizes the
dialectical relationship, internal logic between psychology and actions of characters,
between typical personality and typical situation according to socialist tendency. The
novelty of this work is the more elaborate mention of the novel’s structure. The overall
structure of a novel needs to be consistent between the elements of content and form,
from the novel’s theme, characters, plot to language, rhythm, and narration. It can be said
that this is a theoretical work of fiction that has made a very important contribution in
Vietnam when it comes to identifying issues of the artistic nature of novels in general
and socialist realist novels in particular. The author’s thorough research has at the same
time led to a comprehensive assessment of the achievements of Vietnamese fiction
writing since the beginning of the twentieth century.
Starting from the purpose of describing different conceptions of the novel, Building a
novel by Nguyen Van Trung aims at the technique of building a novel by developing an
approach from human conception to creative method. Accordingly, the concept of
“belief in people”, Nguyen Van Trung considers in individualist romantic group novels
(typically Tu Luc Van Doan) and the social description group (typically critical
realism), “the novel is the scene” – the role of the reader and the writer is to stand
outside to see. Possibly an assimilated look (the writer impersonates the character,
usually the main character); look from a distance (the novelist is just a person who
narrates the story and lets the character speak for itself). With this writing approach, the
novel’s character is the vehicle and the happened things that are completely decided by
the writer. In the concept of “skepticism about people”, Nguyen Van Trung considers
“the novel is a consciousness”. Therefore, the novel is a dialogue between one character
and the other about the meaning of life, especially the fate of being human, the writer is
not describing the scene but the dialogue, especially the inner monologue; There is no
longer a distance between author and reader when the time of events is not in any order
instead of familiar space, inner space and opposites are evoked more to express thoughts
and feelings about human existence. Viewed objectively, this concept of Nguyen Van
Trung as a theoretical tool bar on the novel to examine the social existential novels in
the southern urban areas in the years 1954-1975 more clearly. With the third concept
“the absence of people”, the novelist uses the technique of “the novel is an anti-fiction”.
This is, in fact, a view the researcher took on influence from A. Grillet, a modern
novelist who pioneered the new novel movement in the West.
If one looks at Vietnamese novels in the period 1945-1985, even until the end of the
twentieth century in terms of composition, it is difficult to find works that tend to use
this construction technique, but in the early of the twenty-first century, many
Vietnamese novelists boldly tried to organize their novels in a structured way. It is a
novel that re-createed the “lost” characters, not necessarily going into psychological and
emotional analysis and not too many details to tell; The chronological sequence is
reversed, the object space sometimes appears thicker, showing a more focused look/way
of looking at the character (human). This third concept is not necessarily suitable for
Vietnamese literature in the period 1945 – 1985, because after all, all concepts are based
on social and cultural circumstances. Therefore, if we refer to contemporary Vietnamese
literature, Nguyen Van Trung’s contribution from the novelist’s perspective and
approach to novels is really meaningful and valuable. In the same year 1972, Doan
Quoc Sy released Literature and Novels, which is a work of collecting and rearranging
the conceptions of novels of previous authors along with the writer’s comments to better
understand the views of concept. Such as a novel is an imaginary story but always
describes closely to reality, the close relationship between the characters and the plot as
well as the way of classifying the novel’s characters and classifying the style of novel.
Thus, in the second period, novels are often viewed from a critical perspective through
elements included in the novel such as characters, plots, and time, in addition to being
associated with the themes and themes of the literature of this period, on the basic that
some researchers have the opportunity to introduce and receive foreign literary theories,
especially Russian literature, thereby contributing to clarifying the superior position of
the novel at this period through the genre theory research.
The period from 1986 to in the end of 20th century
The renewal has created a democratized spirit for literature has opened up opportunities
for artists and intellectuals to receive the quintessence of human culture in many
countries. Accordingly, the literary theory system in general and genre theory in
particular have been introduced and updated with the achievements of modern Western
literary theory, in which the mention of genre characteristic in the novel is an important
basis for theoretical issues of Vietnamese novels (both in terms of creation and
reception) to consider, re-evaluate and come to a synthesis of achievements for a novel
thinking innovation.
For example, there are research works on novels that have been translated and introduced
in Vietnam such as Ly luan va thi phap tieu thuyet (Theory of Novels (by M. Bakhtin
selected and introduced by Pham Vinh Cu); Nhung van de thi phap Dostoievxki (Poetic
issues of Dostoievxki (Tran Dinh Su, Lai Nguyen An, Vuong Tri Nhan translated); Tieu
luan (Essay by Milan Kundera (Translated by Nguyen Ngoc). Since then, it has led to the
appearance of a lot of research works on understanding the art of creating novels, not only
Western novels of the 20th century such as Doi moi nghe thuat tieu thuyet phuong Tay
hien dai (Renovating the art of modern Western novels (Dang Anh Dao), Tieu thuyet
Phap hien dai – nhung tim toi doi moi (Fiction Modern French – Innovative discoveries
(Phung Van Tuu), Tieu thuyet Phap the ky XX truyen thong va cach tan (20th century
French novels – Tradition and innovation (Loc Phuong Thuy) but also Vietnamese novels
viewed from genre theory as works Ly luan van hoc (Literature Theory (many authors)
have outlined five basic features of the novel. These are: i) novels that present people
from the perspective of private life; ii) the novel’s character is a experienced human being;