huỳnh thị bảo hòa

Chapter 3 Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa (1896–1982): A Woman Who Wrote to Change Vietnamese Society Phuong Ngoc Nguyen 3.1 Introduction At the beginning of the twentieth century, a radical change took place in French colonial Vietnam: women went to school, wrote in the newspapers, gave lectures, published novels and books, led associations, and campaigned for the status of women. What happened in the lives of Vietnamese women? What happened such that women began to think and act for themselves? We propose to look at the life of an educated woman, Mrs. Huỳnh ThịBảo Hòa who was born in 1896 into a family of Confucian scholars. She is known for her activities in favor of women, as well as for her writings. Her novel, The Western Beauty (Tây phương mỹ nhơn), published in Saigon in 1927, tells the story of a young Vietnamese man who fought in France during the First World War and married a French woman; both of whom were highly critical of the colonial system. By using a biographical approach and analyzing her writings, we hope to gain a better understanding of the life of an educated woman who lived in Vietnam in the early twentieth century. To understand Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa’s life, I propose first to analyze her novel in which the main heroine can be considered a role model, as is expressed in the title. Then, within the limits of the available sources, I will try to tell her life story. Finally, based on her writings, I will analyze three aspects of her activities, as a feminist and modernist, as a writer, and as a researcher. P. N. Nguyen (B) Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRASIA, Marseille, France e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s) 2024 L. C. Kelley and G. Sasges (eds.), Vietnam Over the Long Twentieth Century, Global Vietnam: Across Time, Space and Community, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-3611-9_3 3738 P. N. Nguyen 3.2 Body of Work and Sources I first came across the name Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa during my dissertation research, because of her essay on the kingdom of Champa, and I read her novel at the French National Library in Paris around the year 2000. At that time nobody knew her name. In 2003, Mr. Trương Duy Hy wrote a short biography of Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa and re-edited some of her writings. In recent years I have become interested in the subject of Vietnamese migration to France during the First World War and last year I translated her novel The Western Beauty into French. To study Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa’s career more fully, we identified the corpus of her writings and now have access to the first editions of three of her publications: (1) The novel, Tây phương mỹ nhơn [The Western beauty] (Saigon: Nhà in Bảo Tồn, 1927), seventy-six pages; prefaces by Huỳnh Thúc Kháng, Tản Đà, Bùi Thế Mỹ. French translation: La Belle d’Occident (Fuveau: Decrescenzo Editeurs, 2021). (2) The reformed tuồng drama (tuồng cải lương), Huyền Trân công chúa [Princess Huyền Trân] (Hue: Imprimerie Tiếng Dân, 1934), thirty pages; forewords. (3) The scholarly synthesis work, Chiêm Thành lược khảo [Summary study of Champa] (Hanoi: Imprimerie Đông Tây, 1936), sixty-four pages; seven photos and one color drawing; preface by Phạm Quỳnh; forewords in Vietnamese; afterwords in French. We also have at our disposal: (1) A travel story, “Banà du ký: Mấy ngày đăng sơn lên thăm núi ‘Chúa’” [A story of the trip to Banà: A few days in the mountains visiting the Mount Lord], Nam phong [Southern breeze] 163 (June 1931): 552–559. (2) An article, “Nhân cách phụ nữ” [Women’s personality], Nam phong 191 (December 1933): 545–551. This is record of a speech given at a market in Tourane (now Đà Nẵng) on December 31, 1933, as part of a charity event. (3) An interview, “Vì sao tôi cúp tóc?” [Why did I cut my hair?] Phụ nữ tân văn [Women’s news] 244 (August 31, 1934): 17–18; two photos. This interview was conducted by the Women’s News team and is also published in Nam phong 197 (1934): 390–392, one photo. As for the other activities of Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa, we have some documents published during the colonial period, such as press articles and book reviews. For this study, articles in periodicals or books published before 1945 have been very helpful. We have the publications of the Women’s Work Learned Society (Nữ công học hội) in Hue of which Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa was a member, namely four volumes of General Knowledge of Women’s Work (Nữ công thường thức) published between 1928 and 1931. The association also published revolutionary Phan Bội Chau’s Things Female Citizens Should Know (Nữ quốc dân tu tri) in 1926 (second printing in 1927). After a long period in which nothing seems to have been written about Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa, Lại Nguyên Ân published an article about her in 2001 (Lại 2001),3 Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa (1896–1982): A Woman Who Wrote to Change … 39 followed by a book by Trương Duy Hy (2003, 2010). Trương Duy Hy carried out a field investigation in Đà Nẵng and with the family of Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa. Various articles subsequently published in the Vietnamese press are mainly based on his publications. Thanks to his work, Mrs. Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa is now known in Vietnam and in her hometown, Đà Nẵng, where a street now bears her name. As for archival records produced during the colonial period, the research I have conducted on Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa as well as on her family at the Archives nationales d’Outre-Mer in Aix-en-Provence has been fruitless. We can hope that the archives in Vietnam, the Center No. 4 in Đà Lạt in particular, in the series on the control of the press and associations, can reveal some information. To answer our initial questions, Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa’s writings, especially the prefaces to her three publications in which she takes care to explain her ideas and positions, are essential. However, it is her first fictional text that should be of particular interest to us. The first known publication, signed only by her name Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa as a woman of letters (unlike the two following publications which are signed by her married name, followed by her name), the novel, presents the ideal of a modern woman, embodied here by a Frenchwoman, who is a responsible citizen, while demonstrating feminine qualities in accordance with Confucian tradition. 3.3 A New Model of an Ideal Woman The Western Beauty tells the story of Tuấn Ngọc, a young man from Tam Kỳ,a village in central Vietnam, who goes to France as a colonial soldier. He is wounded during the great battle of Verdun and sent to a military hospital. There he meets a French nurse, Bạch Lan (her French name is transformed into Vietnamese). After many difficulties, they are allowed to marry, and they have a baby girl. In 1918, at the end of the war, Tuấn Ngọc asks the authorities to be allowed to stay in France with his family, but he is sent to Indochina and cannot return to France. When his wife receives his letter, she decides to go to Indochina with their little daughter. She discovers the racism in the colony: the French authorities do not want her to find her husband, because he is Vietnamese. She has to fight, with great courage, and in the end, they are allowed to meet, but are not allowed to live in Indochina. The reason is that, according to the authorities, a colonized man should not marry a French woman. Bạch Lan’s fidelity, uprightness, and courage are admired by the Vietnamese people. When she leaves Indochina with her family, many Vietnamese people come to the boat to say goodbye. The title of the novel, The Western Beauty, pays tribute to this woman whose beauty is complete: in her soul as well as in her physical appearance. What does the novel have to tell us about women in modern society and how they should be? In this novel, there are many female characters, both French and Vietnamese. Some may represent the traditional model of a woman devoted to her family, like the mother of Tuấn Ngọc and his brother Minh Châu, as well as Minh Châu’s wife. On the other hand, Tư Hiệp, a young and educated Vietnamese girl, does40 P. N. Nguyen not hesitate to help Bạch Lan, going so far as to try to get her out of her guarded hotel in secret. On the French side, the figure of Bạch Lan’s mother, a loving mother but not always understanding of her daughter, is opposed to Duy Liên, her older sister, who brings her moral and financial support to help her sister leave for Indochina. Sa Nhi, her servant, is very kind and ready to follow her mistress. Other female figures appear throughout the story, especially in the eyes of the main hero, bringing complementary touches and nuances. Unlike Bạch Lan who signs up as a volunteer nurse, Vietnamese women have no idea of their responsibility in society, but not all French women are like her, as other nurses at the hospital are quite racist toward the colonial soldiers who have nevertheless come to risk their lives for France. Among all these female characters, Bạch Lan, which means “White Orchid,” a very noble flower in the Vietnamese imagination, is the embodiment of moral values. The first time she appears in the novel, she appears in Tuấn Ngọc’s eyes like a wonderful apparition: One day, suddenly awakened from a bad dream, Tuấn Ngọc saw a young woman of great elegance beside his bed. She was holding a glass of milk. She smiled at him and said: “Are you feeling a little better already? Drink some of this milk to regain your strength.” Tuấn Ngọc, who was gradually healing from his wounds, grabbed the glass and thanked the young woman while looking at her more carefully. Oval face, eyebrows like willow leaves, skin white as snow, lips vermilion red, teeth shining like pearls, hair as light as silk thread, eyes like autumn water, a smile like a spring flower. (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 1, 13–14) The description is conventional, but a Vietnamese reader accustomed to the criteria of traditional female beauty will certainly appreciate it. This beautiful woman works as a volunteer nurse in a military hospital. Tuấn Ngọc admires her courage and her spirit of a citizen. He contrasts her to the Vietnamese women from rich families who know nothing beyond their comfortable daily life. This very elegant young woman must have been from a good family. Yet she is not afraid of hard work and volunteered for the Red Cross to help wounded soldiers. She really deserves to be praised (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 1, 14)! Knowing her better through their discussions, Tuấn Ngọc appreciates her respectful behavior, as well as her knowledge and open-mindedness: Sometimes, at quieter times, she would stay and talk with him for a while. He learned that her name was Bạch Lan and observed that she was the only one among the orderlies who treated all the soldiers from different countries fairly, while the others were contemptuous of the wounded, soldiers from overseas who had risked their lives to defend France. Bạch Lan also enjoyed discussions with Tuấn Ngọc about life and current events and often asked questions about the society and customs of the country of Annam, which he was happy to answer. Sometimes they talked about literature and history, commenting on the exploits of heroes, and they understood each other as long-time friends. (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 1, 15) The reader then sees Bạch Lan in the next chapter presented in her family environment. In fact, she is the daughter of a high-ranking French officer in “the city of Alsace”:3 Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa (1896–1982): A Woman Who Wrote to Change … 41 . . . the youngest, named Bạch Lan, was just twenty-nine years old. She was of remarkable beauty and virtuous character but did not abuse her freedom like so many other young women born in a civilized country. She held her parents in great respect, observed the rites, was very talented in needle and thread work. Beauty and talent, she had all these qualities, but she placed virtue above all and paid no attention to stories of butterflies flirting with flowers. So, she remained single while waiting for a soul mate, and shunned gold and honors. Her parents let her do as she pleased and allowed her to volunteer for the Red Cross. (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 1, 16). In the meantime, Tuấn Ngọc is assigned to the service of a French officer, as his personal secretary, who is none other than Bạch Lan’s father. Their reunion, warm and friendly, is followed by regular meetings where they play music and discuss everything. She even asked very direct questions: Why did he become a soldier? Why did he not avenge an injustice done to his parents? Why did he not enjoy a quiet life in the village instead of risking his life in the war in France? Having understood that he is not a coward, but a man who has a high opinion of his responsibility as a man (xả thân vì nghĩa), she falls in love with him (yêu vì hạnh, phục vì tài), but remains reserved (không điều gì trái lễ ) (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 1, 21). Tuấn Ngọc is also in love with this “admirable woman” (bực hiệp nữ), but remains discreet, being aware of his condition as a colonial soldier. Scenes are described where two lovers are courting Bạch Lan, one from an influential family in politics, the other with a large fortune. Jealous, they manage to make her father feel that he could not allow Tuấn Ngọc into his house. Then forced to be separated, they finally find each other thanks to a combination of circumstances that allows them to declare their mutual love. Bạch Lan has the courage to ask her parents for permission to marry Tuan Ngoc, arguing: “Since he saved my life, it is not necessary to consider wealth or poverty” (Chàng đã có công cứu tử, sự giàu nghèo có đáng kể chi) (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 1, 32). Their marriage takes place “in church” and the couple live in respect and harmony: Since this couple of a European woman and an Asian man lived under the same roof, united by the bonds of marriage, the understanding and harmony were perfect, a rare thing, even among spouses from the same country. However, they did not live in ease, for the monthly salary of a soldier was quite modest. Fortunately, Bạch Lan knew how to be thrifty and often took on sewing and embroidery work with her golden fingers so as not to waste her time and to bring some income into the home, which she did with grace and devotion, not wanting to be a burden to her husband. A woman of high moral qualities, she did not abuse the word “equality” like so many others, despite being born in a civilized country. Since her marriage to Tuấn Ngọc, she dressed simply and took care of everything in the house, showing love and respect to her husband, like how in the old days the lady Mạnh Quang served her husband at every meal.1 With this newlywed couple, it was only agreement and harmony. She excelled in the household arts, he showed his talent in poetry and music. The spectacle of this happy family life was a joy to witness. (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 1, 35–36) Unfortunately, with the end of the war Tuan Ngoc is sent back to Indochina, officially because his contract has ended. Having no way to return to France, even 1 Mạnh Quang, Meng Guang in Chinese, is the name of a woman who lived during the Eastern Han period (206–220 CE). She did not marry until the age of thirty as she was determined to marry an upright, but poor, scholar by the name of Liang Hong. She would have dinner ready for him when he returned after a day’s work. 42 P. N. Nguyen clandestinely on a ship, he decides to write to his wife to give her back her freedom. Dated June 12, 1919, the letter arrives in France in the fall. The news is like a thunderclap for Bạch Lan who refuses the idea of remarriage suggested by her mother. On the contrary, she decides to defend their love: We hoped, she said to herself, that we would soon meet again, without suspecting that by saying goodbye, we were separating forever! She silently blamed this arbitrary and perverse power that had separated a couple who lived in harmony, wondering why her letters written to her husband had never arrived. There were still many revolting things in Vietnamese society! If I marry again, she thought, it is against the moral code; if I stay here alone, life will be too hard. The right decision would be to find my husband. Should I cross the ocean to join him, following my role as a wife? I am not afraid of rough seas, high mountains or the dangers of the long road, I will not spare myself the pains to fulfill my duties. I will honor my duty of love. But if I leave, who will take care of the parents? (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 2, 49) Encouraged by her elder sister who assured her that she would take care of their parents, she decides “to find her husband to fulfill her moral obligations” (đi tìm chồng cho trọn đạo) (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 2, 50). After a long journey, she arrives in a colonial city and has to confront the reality of a racial hierarchy. Faced with an administrator who advises her to take a return ship to France, she replies in a dignified manner: In this world of five continents and six races, all individuals are equal as human beings, no one can be looked down upon. In any society, morality dictates our duties, and mine is to follow my husband. Should I abandon him because he is poor? A French citizen who acts according to the law and fulfills her duties is rather a subject of pride for the people of France. (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 2, 55) The struggle to find her husband begins in this way, with still worse obstacles to overcome, eventually leading to the desperate act of a suicide attempt. In front of the same stubborn French administrator, she says: Sir, the people of Annam are of another race, it is true, but they are a people with a culture and rituals, and moreover they have helped us in a difficult time. I hold them in respect, and that is correct. How can you say that it is shameful? My daughter and I came from far away and spent a lot of money, hoping to see my husband, her father, without knowing that here we would be oppressed and that you would use force to make us leave. I would rather die than live to suffer like this! (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 2, 67) As she speaks these words, Bạch Lan pulls out a pistol, determined to end her life to free herself from this arbitrary power. The administrator is seized with panic, but nevertheless manages to take the gun from her. Advised by a Vietnamese employee who “praised her uprightness and fidelity” and who assured him that “the people of Annam would... be very admiring of the fidelity of a woman of noble France” (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 2, 67), the administrator finally summons Tuấn Ngọc to come to his office to find his wife. Bạch Lan finds her husband and requests to go to the village to meet his family. Her wish, however simple, is forbidden “so as not to make France lose face” (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 2, 74). In order not to cause more trouble to her family-in-law and the village, she has to comply with this order. The solution is to invite her sister-in-law, her brother-in-law,3 Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa (1896–1982): A Woman Who Wrote to Change … 43 and two other relatives to come to the town: “When they arrived, Bạch Lan welcomed them warmly and respectfully, although they were country folk. The visitors were delighted and, on their way home, spoke highly of her qualities” (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 2, 74). The novelist Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa describes Bạch Lan as endowed with the essential qualities in a woman according to the Confucian tradition, namely work, appearance, words, and actions (công, dung, ngôn, hạnh). We see her as a perfect housewife, thrifty and hard-working, even able to earn money to support the household. She is beautiful as is described from her first appearance, then by the conventional expression of “face like a flower, skin like jade” (mặt hoa da ngọc) (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 1, 28). As for her other qualities, we see her respectfulness toward her husband to whom she demonstrates, even at the cost of her life, exemplary fidelity. We understand the admiration of the Vietnamese who sympathized with her situation. Once she is reunited with her husband, they go to Cochinchine (Nam Kỳ) where people welcome them with great kindness: When they arrived, a great number of people came to meet them, for everyone had heard good things about this foreign woman who was so faithful to her Vietnamese husband. . . many people brought them food and sweets. (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 2, 75) In addition to these qualities exalted in the Confucian tradition, the character of Bạch Lan is also exemplary for her courage. In the colonial context, a heroine who dares to stand up to the authorities is not common, if not unique in Vietnamese literature. She has a strong sense of her place in society, participating according to her abilities in the defense of her homeland in times of war, but also respecting and defending the rights of human beings. We see this through her kind attitude toward all soldiers, without distinction between French and colonials, and her firmness toward the administrator, and against the racial hierarchy in the colony. Her open-mindedness and curiosity about the Other, different from herself but equally worthy of attention, are in deep contradiction with the attitudes and ideas of the colonial regime. The following passage describing a trip through the countryside shows her wonder at the landscape and her attention to the women she saw: Along the road, nature was waking up with the return of spring. . . Bạch Lan was attentive to the people they passed along the way. At the sight of the women who, carrying heavy loads of goods, remained smiling, she remembered the stories told by Tuấn Ngọc when he was still in France. “Here is an example of the qualities of the women of the Eastern countries,” she said. She felt compassion for these frail bodies who had to perform hard labor to feed their families, thus taking on the duties that fell to them. She compared them to women in France who led an easy life with many freedoms, were respected in society, but who invoked the law to ask for a divorce at the slightest problem in their relationship. (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 2, 73) This passage, a kind of summary of women’s issues, must be read in relation to the answer that the character Tuan Ngoc offers regarding the colonial context. He answers her as follows: Before, women respected the rules of the three obediences and the four virtues. France has brought the seed of civilization, but it has not made the tree of modernization grow high44 P. N. Nguyen enough among those who have learned things without really understanding them. Men no longer respect the law, women break morals. Fortunately, there are a few people living in the countryside who are not yet contaminated by bad morals. (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 2, 73) This exchange between the two main characters toward the end of the novel can be used to refine Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa’s idea of the ideal modern woman for Vietnamese society. First, she must have qualities to ensure her responsibilities within the family. Like the character, through her actions and words, she must also consider herself a citizen and share with the man her responsibilities in society. But freedom and rights do not mean being above everything and without regard for anyone. The character, Bạch Lan, while arguing to have her vows accepted, remains respectful and obedient to her parents: when her father forbids her to see her lover, “she was sad, but did not dare to contradict her parents” (không dám trái ý) (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 1, 24). Once married, she “took care of everything in the house, showing love and respect to her husband” (Huỳnh 1927: Vol. 1, 36). Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa, by creating this character, shows that a modern woman must have irreproachable moral qualities and must participate in social actions, and fight for human rights, even in a colonial society, and women’s rights. What is completely new is that it affirms, through the character’s determination, that a woman must choose her life partner and must have the courage to defend her love. Compared to the three Confucian obediences, it is really a female revolution that is described in the novel The Western Beauty. This is the heroine of the novel. Is she in any way like Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa in her life? Did the author have the same qualities as the “Western beauty” she highlighted in her novel? 3.4 Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa (1896–1982): A Woman Who Lived Under Colonization We have some information about Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa’s life from Trương Duy Hy’s field investigation. He writes about her birth and origin as follows: Mrs. Huỳnh Thị Thái whose pseudonym is Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa or Huỳnh Bảo Hòa, was born in 1896 in Đa Phước Homeland, Hòa Minh Commune, Hòa Vang District, Quảng Nam Province - Đà Nẵng (now part of Đà Nẵng). Her father was called Huỳnh Phúc Lợi, her mother Bùi Thị Trang. Mr. Lợi was a military mandarin serving the Nguyễn dynasty and participated in the Cần Vương movement in Quảng Nam Province. (Trương 2003) The year 1896 is given without reference to any document. Let us keep this date, however, because what is important is that she was probably born around 1900. Her childhood took place at a time when French colonial control was already established, but still shaken by anti-French events. We can see here a change in name. Huỳnh Thị Thái, a young girl, at one point took on a pen name, which we can see as a statement of intent. Bảo Hòa, a name which seems to mean “to preserve harmony,” can probably be related to the Đà Nẵng region which has several names of localities with the word “hoà” such as Hoà Vang,3 Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa (1896–1982): A Woman Who Wrote to Change … 45 Hoà Ninh, Hoà Khánh, etc. However, we do not know exactly her native village. Đa Phước, perhaps the district with a well-known communal hall, or đình, in Đà Nẵng city, is mentioned as “quê,” a term indicating the place of origin of the paternal family but does not mean that the person was born or lived there. Moreover, a complementary field survey will be necessary to complete, or even rectify, this information. Trương Duy Hy wrote that Huỳnh ThịBảo Hòa was born into a “mandarin family.” She herself said, reports Huỳnh Thúc Kháng in the preface to the novel, “I come from a family that loves learning, my father is a retired mandarin. Since my early childhood, I loved to learn” (Huỳnh Thúc Kháng 1927: 1). But we have no further details. According to Trương Duy Hy, her father “was a military mandarin and participated in the anti-French Cần Vương movement” in the years 1885–1895. We cannot say for sure, but it is possible that this element would play a role later in the involvement of her children in the struggle for Vietnamese independence. The most important thing to note is that the father was literate and could teach his daughter Chinese characters and Confucian classics. Girls at that time were excluded from the traditional education system and the only way for them to learn was to have a teacher at home, or to dress as a boy to go to school. If she was an only child, this was even more plausible. The fact is that we have no other information on her family, nor on her possible brothers and sisters. We do not know exactly when and how she began to learn the Vietnamese quốc ngữ script, and also French, but she wrote both well, as can be seen from her publications in Vietnamese, as well as from the afterword in French of the book about Champa. According to Trương Duy Hy, Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa lived in the countryside until her marriage and then came to the city as a young bride: This young country girl who had to leave all her habits to become a lady in a modern city, a French concession that was completely foreign to her, was not frightened, but on the contrary, quickly became accustomed to the urban way of life and in particular became imbued with the modernist (duy tân) spirit promoted by the various patriotic movements. (2003: 10). Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa married in 1914 (we have a picture) with Vương Khả Lãm. He had been granted the title “Hàn lâm viện đại học sĩ” which can be translated as “academician,” but seems to be more of an honorific title (on the mandarin hierarchy see Poisson 2004). Another photo shows him in a traditional tunic and turban. In Đà Nẵng, he seems to have been a personality who could enjoy friendship with mandarins and scholars, such as ministers (thượng thư) Hồ Đắc Trung and Lê Bá Trinh, and exam graduates (phó bảng) Dương Hiển Tiến and Lê Văn Chiểu (Phạm and Lê 2001, cited by Trương 2003: 10). No other information is available, however, we can formulate a hypothesis that he worked rather in relation with Western circles: on the one hand, their residence in the center of Đà Nẵng, a French concession, excluded the membership of the mandarinate; on the other hand, his wife wrote in the account of their stay in the climatic resort of Bà Nà reserved for Westerners, that he had to return to Đà Nẵng at the “end of his vacation leave”(hết phép nghỉ) (Huỳnh 1931: 555). At present, it is through his wife that he is known: in the list of members of the Women’s Work Learned Society published in 1929, Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa is mentioned under the name of her husband, as in general were the other members of46 P. N. Nguyen the association in the 1929 list, as Mrs. Vương Khả Lãm (Anonymous 1929: Vol. 2, 30). She is the sixty-ninth member listed and is part of the Tourane, or what is now called Đà Nẵng, section which had seven members. Her publications in 1934 and 1936 are also signed under her husband’s name, followed by the clarification, “that is” (tức là), “Mrs. Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa.” Let us consider that Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa got married in 1914. She was then 18 years old, not a very early age for those times. Five children were born in the 1920s, including two sons and three daughters. Their eldest son, Vương Khả Hàn, born in 1922, would go on to earn a bachelor’s degree in 1945. Their daughter, Vương Thị Nguyệt Thu, born in 1924, would join the anti-French resistance as early as 1945 and died in 1951 in the maquis. The younger son Vương Khả Thụy (whom Trương Duy Hy met around 2002), born in 1928, would join North Vietnam in 1955 along with his older brother. Two daughters were born in 1930 and 1932, Vương Thúy Lan and Vương Thiên Hương. They would live with their youngest daughter until their deaths in the family house in Đà Nẵng. These dates, which are known thanks to Trương Duy Hy’s fieldwork, call for a remark. The exceptionally long time between the marriage (1914) and the birth of the first child (1922), i.e., 8 years, is not normal. Except for an exceptional case of a health problem, we could formulate the hypothesis that Mr. Vương Khả Lãm, shortly after their marriage, had to leave his wife for a few years. The Great War (1914–1918) could be this cause, but research should be carried out in a thorough way in to try to find information about an individual from among the 90,000 Vietnamese enlisted men who went to France during this period. This could be one of the explanations for the genesis of the novel. In any case, we can assume that the couple lived happily with their five children, as much as was possible in those troubled years in Vietnam’s history. Two portraits seem to have been taken at the same time, with the same oval frame, showing them in traditional clothes, with serene and complicit expressions. In her account of her trip to Bà Nà, published in 1931, Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa mentions her husband with the affectionate term “nhà tôi” (my husband) in recounting this two-week family stay at the hill resort. Mr. Vương Khả Lãm passed away in 1968, if a photo of Huỳnh ThịBảo Hòa in mourning dated 1968 is to be believed. Given Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa’s activities, especially very active in the years 1926–1936, when their children were still very young, we can imagine that this was not possible without a perfect understanding between spouses and real support from her husband. Further, Huỳnh Thị Bảo Hòa was a personality in her city and far beyond. In 1926, she participated, with other “important” people, in the organization of the funeral of the modernist leader Phan Châu Trinh. Bùi Thế Mỹ, in the French-language newspaper Annamese Echo (Echo annamite), presented her in 1928 as a “feminist,” an active supporter of female education (Bùi 1928: 1–2). In 1934, a delegation from the emblematic feminist magazine Women’s News (Phụ nữ tân văn), visited her and interviewed her about her decision to cut her hair short. In the 1940s, she was well known from north to south. A note in the first issue of Renewed Knowledge (Tạp chí tri tân), published by a group of eminent intellectuals in Hanoi, shows the consideration she enjoyed in the intellectual milieu at that time, stating, “To