Customs and people of Central highlands in Vu Hanh’s short stories

Abstract

One of the well-known authors in Southern urban literature between 1954 and 1975 was Vu Hanh, who was a unique writer having a number of his publicly released works showing a strong sense of national pride during the fiercest war years. He wrote extensively on topics such as what makes a good writer, society's problems, national traditions, and particularly the Central Highlands' ethnic minorities' cultures. By incorporating elements of the Central Highlands culture into his writings, the writer has breathed new life into his short stories. The article will reflect, acknowledge, and evaluate the value of works presenting the Central Highlands’ cultural traits under Vu Hanh's pen from a cultural perspective, especially in terms of customs and people. By doing so, it affirms the importance of cultural factors, particularly the Central Highlands culture, which is infused with the identity between culture and literature. It can also demonstrate the close relationship and attachment between culture and literature during the period of the country's division, when South Vietnamese society was in a muddled and complex context.