Phạm Duy Tốn Explained

Phạm Duy Tốn (1881 – 25 February 1924) was a Vietnamese writer. He was father of the songwriter Phạm Duy and French language writer and ambassador Phạm Duy Khiêm.^{[1] [2]}

Tốn graduated from the French School of Interpreters, and became part of the modernist movement of writers including also Confucian trained scholars.^[3] He published alongside Confucian writers like Nguyen Ba Hoc in Nam Phong magazine, showing more ability to give straightforward prose unconstrained by classical structures.^[4] In 1907 he was appointed one of three teachers at the Association for Mutual Education (Hội Trí Tri, Société d’Enseignement Mutuel du Tonkin) in Hanoi.^[5]

His writing touched on social themes, as in the story Sống chết mặc bay (Who Cares if you Survive or Die, 1918) but open criticism of the French had to be veiled in social narrative.^[6]

Works

• Phạm Duy Tốn, Tác phẩm chọn lọc (complete works) ed. Cừ Nguyẽ̂n - 2002

Notes and References

1. http://phamduy.com/PDFamily/pdton/pdton.html Phạm Duy Tốn
2. Tỵ Tạ Phạm Duy, còn đó nỗi buồn 1971 Page 21 "Nhà vãn Phạm Duy Tốn Sinh hạ tắt cả 10 người con nhưng bỏ măt 5. Còn lại 3 traiể hài gái. Người anh cå là Thạc Sĩ Phạm Duy Khiêm, học và Sống lâu năm bện Pháp."
3. Van Thao Trinh Les compagnons de route de Hô Chi Minh: Histoire d'un engagement 2004 Page 291-292 "le mouvement moderniste ... et les « demi-lettrés » sortis de l'école des interprètes (Nguyen Van Vinh, Pham Duy Ton...)
4. David G. Marr Vietnamese Tradition on Trial, 1920-1945 1984 Page 160 "Rather more successful at avoiding classical parallel sentence structure and developing straightforward ... [Footnote] Nguyen Ba Hoc was a literatus, whereas Pham Duy Ton had graduated from the French School of Interpreters."
5. Nguyễn Đình Hoà From the City Inside the Red River: A Cultural Memoir 1999 Page 76 "the Association for Mutual Education (Hội Trí-tri) at 59 Fan Street. ... August 22, 1907, of the same paper further revealed, on page 348, that the three elementary grades were taught ... Tran Van Hiing, Vii Van Tru and Phạm Duy Tốn, the latter a scholar-publicist and father of Professor Phạm Duy-Khiem and musician Phạm Duy-Ca'n, a.k.a. Phạm Duy. On November 16, 1943, Governor-General Decoux, resident-sup ...
6. Philip Taylor Social Inequality in Vietnam and the Challenges to Reform 2004 Page 329 "The major writers in the early twentieth century, such as Pham Duy Ton and Ho Bieu Chanh, attempted to portray the miseries of ... For example, Pham Duy Ton, in the short story Song Chet Mac Bay (Who Cares If You Survive or Die) [1918], describes how peasants are miserable due to a broken dyke, while the mandarin is spending his time gambling and ignoring all the sufferings being endured by villagers..."