INFORMATION ON MASTER’S THESIS

1. Full name : Vương Thị Phương Thảo 2. Sex: Female 3. Date of birth: July 27th 1984 . Place of birth: Khanh Hoa 5. Admission decision number: 1355/2008/QĐ-XHNV-KH&SĐH Dated 24/10/2008 of the Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi National University in October 24, 2008. 6. Changes in academic process: None 7. Official thesis title: Vietnamese literature from 18th century to the early 19th century about the death issue . 8. Major: Medieval literature 9. Code: 60. 22. 34. 10. Supervisors: Associate Professor, Doctor Tran Nho Thin, Teacher of Literature Department, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ha Noi National University. 11. Summary of the findings of the thesis: The thesis, Vietnamese literature from 18th century to the early 19th century about the death issue, consists of three main parts: introduction, body and conclusion. The introduction states the reason for choosing topic. Looking back on the long history of Vietnamese Medieval literature, we recognize that literature in 18th century and early 19th century wrote about death a lot. The attitude toward the death issues presented in the literature of this period shows diversified and profound tone of feeling. It was something that did not appear in the literature from 10th century to 17th century. The changing conception about death issue in literature from 18th century to early 19th century is an important matter of Vietnamese literary history. However, there has not been any comprehensive research on the issue of death in Vietnamese literature from 18th century to the early 19th century so far. The body consists of three chapters. Chapter 1: The conception of death in the Oriental cultural and ideological history - The issue of death in the Oriental cultural and ideological history. + Confucianism: Die for the Greater Good - Dying is sacrificing human life to preserve the great righteousness. + Buddhism: Living is temporary, dying is coming home – The human body is only a temporary existence, you will truly be home after you die. + Taoism: Death - the disappearance of the human life itself is natural, not something mournful. Chapter 2: Attitude toward death in Vietnamese Literature from 10th century to 17th century. The authors of the mainstream literature in this period were The Zen masters and The Confucians. Being imbued with ideology and conception about the death of Buddhism and Confucianism, the Confucians and Zen masters expressed through their written works that they accepted the death without fear. The Zen masters realized the impermanence of life and death. Death is the inevitable law of human life, so there is nothing to fear. The deliberate, calm and imperturbable attitude towards the coming death and smiling at the rebirth is characteristic of poetry and literature written by Zen masters in this period. The Confucians gave prominence to the dignity and the noble justification for living of the gentleman. Dying for the greater good was a meaningful and praised death. The genuine Confucians were always willing to sacrifice their human lives to protect the beliefs of Confucianism. They also severely criticized the men who «wished to live - afraid of death» and betrayed the nobleness-appreciated ideology of the Confucianism. Chapter 3: The changing attitude toward the death in Vietnamese Literature from 18th century to early 19th century. This period marked a major turning point in the attitude of The Confucians who were the main literary authors of this period. This is the period when literature often wrote about human beings rather than about gentlemen or saints. There was never a period in the Medieval literature that wrote about death as much as this one. We also recognize that the moral opinion about the death was different and split. There was the conservative opinion of Confucians in which people praised the life sacrifice for the king, for the husband. There was other humane opinion that stood up for the life of the characters. Because it appreciated the human body and life, the literature in this period contained a lot of cries for the death. The Conclution: In summary, the changing attitude toward the death issue reflects the change in the ideology and conception of the authors that belong to the humane flow of literature in the 18th and 19 century. The attitude toward the death issues presented in the literature of this period shows diversified and profound tone of feeling. It is like a strong affirmation and praise for the right to live, the right to be happy of men in their current lives. We can say that the changing conception about death in the 18th-19th century literature is a very important matter of Vietnamese literary history. 12. Practical applicability, if any: None 13. Further research directions, if any: None 14. Thesis-related publications: None