A member of the Vietnamese Writers' Union, a professor at Hanoi University, a doctor of philological sciences, and a translator, Nguyen Van Chien, shared his impressions of the trip on the Vietnamese electronic news portal vanvn.vn about his participation in the international scientific conference on "Literature of Asian Peoples: Traditions and Modern Trends" held at ANAS.
We present to our readers the following article, translated from Vietnamese.
International conference on Asian literature and prospects for cooperation between Azerbaijan and Vietnam
At the invitation of the Nizami Ganjavi Institute of Literature of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) and with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Vietnam, a member of the Vietnamese Writers' Union, a doctor of philological sciences, and a translator, Nguyen Van Chien, participated in the International Scientific Conference on "Literature of Asian Peoples: Traditions and Modern Trends" in the capital Baku on December 16-18, 2024.
The following article is about the conference and the prospects for scientific and literary cooperation between Azerbaijan and Vietnam by Professor Nguyen Van Chien.
The plenary session was opened by the President of ANAS, Academician Isa Habibbeyli.
The conference was organized by the Institute of Literature named after Nizami Ganjavi of ANAS. The event, held at the Library of the Academy of Sciences, was attended by members of the Presidium of ANAS, well-known scientists, literary, cultural and scientific figures from Azerbaijan, Turkey, Pakistan, China, India, South Korea, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and other countries, as well as media representatives.
Before the conference, the participants viewed an exhibition of publications on the literature of Asian peoples at ANAS.
Finally, the President of ANAS emphasized the importance of the conference in introducing Azerbaijani literature, culture and the country to the peoples of Asia, as well as in establishing closer ties with researchers in these areas and forming joint projects in the future. Academician Isa Habibbeyli emphasized that today's conference, which plays the role of a platform for establishing new contacts and friendships, forming cooperation and deepening scientific ties, also has the potential to create a synthesis of Eurasia.
Later, representatives of many countries (including Vietnam) spoke at the event and emphasized that the conference would contribute to the expansion of scientific ties between Asian countries.
Three scientific reports were also heard at the plenary session.
After the plenary session, the International Conference continued its work with 4 sections: “Literature of Turkic Peoples”, “Comparative Literary Studies”, “East Asian Literature” and “South Asian Literature”.
In total, about 50 reports were heard at the section meetings, dedicated to the problems and periods of the literature of the peoples of Asia, their authors and works.
I was appointed the head of the IV section of the International Conference on Literary Problems of the Peoples of South Asia. As the only representative from Vietnam, I first presented an article on the problems of life through cognition through literary works, comparing Vietnamese and Italian literature. Scholars raised many questions and suggested further clarification of many issues about modern Vietnamese literature and typical works. This discussion lasted longer than the time allowed for my presentation.
Then there were nine reports on the literature of China, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan... In one of these reports, researcher Sevda Mammadova held a very good discussion about the stages of development of Vietnamese literature.
Then the international conference concluded its work. Speaking at the closing ceremony, Academician Teymur Karimli, Vice-President of the Scientific Council of the Humanities Department of ANAS, said that the participation of representatives of leading scientific and educational centers of many Asian countries in this event was highly appreciated, and it was noted that the reports at the department meetings covered a wide range of topics. He emphasized that for the first time in many years, such a prestigious event on the literature of Asian countries was held in Baku, which is an indicator of Azerbaijan's growing influence in the world, as well as the attitude of Asian countries towards Azerbaijan. Academician Teymur Karimli concluded the event by stating that this historic international conference would contribute to the development of literary and cultural relations between Asian countries in the coming years.
Despite the limited time, I tried to contact scholars and authors from Azerbaijan, China, India, Turkey, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Korea... to provide them with more information about Vietnamese literature, its achievements in prose and poetry, as well as the successful innovation process.
The Nizami Ganjavi Institute of Literature of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences is a very reputable scientific and research institution not only in Azerbaijan, but also in the scientific community of the Turkic states and worldwide, and our country also pays great attention to establishing literary relations with them.
Unfortunately, due to lack of time, I could not visit the Azerbaijan Writers' Union, as I and the Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Vietnam had wished.
However, the results of this working visit will undoubtedly create a basis for practical and fruitful development in the field of literature and humanities between Vietnam and Azerbaijan in the future.
Nguyen Van CHIEN
Member of the Vietnam Writers' Union, Professor of Hanoi University, Doctor of Philology
