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In this activity sheet students will examine the role of writers in effecting or commenting on community change, the dilemmas they face and consequences that can arise.

1 Literature, Politics and Cultural Values

Do you think it is important to have literature that supports current political policies and cultural values? How does this assist societies to adapt and improve? After reading the sources listed below, write a speech explaining your opinions.

What To Do

1. Read Ya Lu's 'Letter from Beijing, June 1989' in Chapter 3 of Dimensions and Lu Xun's 'The Revolutionary Literature of the Chinese Proletariat and the Blood of the Pioneers' in Chapter 5 of Dimensions. Draw on this and on material presented at the websites listed below.

2. Websites to visit:

   • Toer in 'Novel Cause' talks about his development and jailing during difficult times: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1998/int/980420/the_arts.books.profile.n24.html

   • An article about his development as a writer and what he considers to be the self-defeating censorship activities of the current government, called 'Literature, Censorship and the State: To What Extent is a Novel Dangerous?' This is also useful for examining the relationship between the writer and his environment, and a community's development:
     http://www.radix.net/~bardsley/censor.html

   • You may also like to consider the points made by a critic from the United States about Vietnamese dissident writers at:
     http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Texts/Scholarly/
     Duffy_lit_dissent.html

3. Discuss your findings with other members of your group and assist each other in developing drafts of your speeches, so that sustainable arguments are developed in each speech.

2 Freedom of the Press?

Consider whether dissident writers should be published. What is their role, if any, in a post-revolutionary society?

What To Do

1. Share the readings for this activity among members of your group, and discuss your findings as you work through the readings.

2. Read Ya Lu's 'Letter from Beijing, June 1989' in Chapter 3 of Dimensions and Lu Xun's 'The Revolutionary Literature of the Chinese Proletariat and the Blood of the Pioneers' in Chapter 5 of Dimensions. Draw on these readings and on your choice of material from the websites listed below.

3. Websites to visit (Note: for each of the Vietnamese stories, you will need to scroll down the page to where the narrative begins):

• Read the story with three conclusions by Nguyen Huy Thiep, a Vietnamese dissident writer:
  http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Texts/Narrative/
  Thiep_Fired_Gold.html, and the literary discussion of it, which gives a precise analysis of Nguyen Huy Thiep's story in the final paragraph at:
  http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Texts/Scholarly/
  Zinoman_Thiep.html

• Read the short story of another Vietnamese dissident writer, Pham Thi Hoai, at: http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Texts/Narrative/
  Pham_Thi_Hoai_9_Men.html

• There is a discussion of Vietnamese dissident writers, including Pham Thi Hoai, to help you with this at:
  http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Texts/Scholarly/
  Duffy_lit_dissent.html
  Consider what these writers are saying, and why the Vietnamese government has censored them.

• A lucid argument deploring the effect of censorship of dissident writers on society's development is to be found in 'Literature, Censorship and the State: To What Extent is a Novel Dangerous?' by Pramoedya Ananta Toer.
  http://www.radix.net/~bardsley/censor.html

4. Prepare a magazine article that supports either censorship or freedom of the literary press.

5. When preparing the article, discuss and revise your drafts with your group, so that each member prepares a defensible position on the place, if any, of dissident writers in the community.