Young writers like uploading their works on the Internet

VietNamNet talked with some young writers who are well-known on the Internet about online and printing publications.

Doan Dung: Whenever I write stories or prose, I often upload them online immediately. It is very interesting if your articles are welcomed and praised by the online community. It’s like dope that inspires me to write. Without that dope, I would not write because writing is time consuming, while I’m very busy.

Online readers are not simple readers, but sub-editors or publishing houses and they order me to write for them.

I’m self-confident when I write but I’m impatient. When I was a boy, I submitted my stories to some newspapers but I didn’t receive any reply. I hate that feel of waiting.

I now like both ways of publishing. I will immediately get feedback from online publications for instant gratification. Print publications are… more imposing.

The things I write online are things that I like. Luckily, some readers also like them. I would have been a screwball if I wrote about things that I like but nobody likes reading.

I don’t think that what I write is literature or art at all. I also don’t think that I’m a writer because the concept of writer is very vague. So I nod my head whenever someone calls me an author or a young writer or something.

Keng: Previously I wrote to express myself. I’ve never sent my stories to newspapers or publishing houses, I post everything on the Internet. Initially, I didn’t make public anything about myself. I only post my stories and lines of feeling.

Then many people made supportive comments and some contacted me to say that my stories could be printed in a book with other authors. I started wanting my stories printed in books.

I don’t have illusions about my literature. Stories that I post on my blog come from reality. I also don’t like that if they are printed in books, there will be many readers. But when the Literature and Art Publishing House bought the copyright of my works, I, like other authors, wanted readers to welcome the book.

I only post complete works on my blog. I’m not interested in sending them to newspapers and waiting to see whether they are published or not.

DiLi: I and other Vietnamese writers have our works uploaded to websites and get no royalties. I think I have to adjust myself to the environment where I live.

Many people complain that American and Chinese writers earn a lot of money from the Internet. This is not the US or China so we should not dream quixotically.

Moreover, our reading culture hasn’t reached the level that attractive works can make the pageviews of websites rocket to millions. If pageviews soar, web owners would pay high royalties to writers.

However, I hope that if my works are uploaded to any website, I will receive a symbolic copyright fee or at least be asked for my permission.

These things show respect for the author. Many websites post literature works without asking for the authors’ permission. But I think this fact will change to adapt to the world.

Le Anh Hoai: I posted part of my novel named “Chuyen tinh mua tap ky” on vanchuongviet.org site. I sent the draft of this novel to two publishing houses but they wouldn’t print it. When the Da Nang Publishing House agreed to print it, they asked to me to stop putting that work online to not affect the sales of the book.

It is quicker to receive the reader’s attention from the Internet than from printed books. It is more open to write online.

For example, my original novel had a sentence like this “The dream makes trousers wet”. In the printed book, the publisher deleted it because it is “sensitive”. There are many similar examples so I think the gap between publishing articles online and printing is very large.

Publishing online will have readers’ comments and it makes writers happy. But I see many comments are flighty. I think no matter publishing online or printing, writers have to take responsibility for readers and themselves anyway.

Nguyen Quynh Trang: Many of my works are posted online. A large number of readers know about my works through the Internet. I set a principle for myself: the printed version first, the online version after.

Sometimes I post several chapters in my novels to my blog to inform my readers that I’m really working and these are the results. Sach.com website asked to post my works without paying royalties.

I and other writers have our works posted on the Internet without our permission. In literature, money is not the most important thing. It is good when literature works can get to readers.

The matter here is the attitude of respect for the labour of writers, which website masters don’t have. It is not difficult to ask for permission or put in a line about the source of the work.

Economic recession slowing down: expert

Dr Le Xuan Nghia, Deputy Chairman of the National Finance Supervision Committee, said that the Government’s demand stimulus packages have brought the desired effects with economic recession slowing down. Nghia said that “The Government has been implementing the measures to curb economic downturn in two sectors, the monetary policies which focuses on interest rate slashing, and the fiscal policy which focuses on public investment increase, tax payment delay and tax reduction. To date, the interest rate subsidy program has been going smoothly. It is estimated that over VND 100 trillion has been disbursed under the program, plus the credit in February increased by 1.5% in comparison with the beginning of the year. These are the important signs showing that the economic recession has been slowing down. Meanwhile, public investment packages have also been going well, especially the investment in rural infrastructure, schools, hospitals and low cost houses.” Businesses still complain that they cannot access bank loans under the interest rate subsidy program. Do you think that the state management agencies need to adjust the loaning mechanism, expanding the subjects to the preferential loans in order to make more businesses accessible to the loans? The Government and the State Bank of Vietnam have been gradually settling the problems. The regulations on disbursement for the loans under the interest rate subsidy program have been amended, which allows finance companies to provide interest rate-subsidized loans as well. Mining companies have also been listed as the subject to the loans. I think that we need to add more enterprises in the construction industry into the list of subjects to the preferential loans. Currently, only executing companies can access the loans, while investors cannot. This will hinder the development of enterprises in the sector, which is believed to be capable to create a higher GDP. Experts said that in the current context, it would be a great success for other industries to survive the difficulties, while the construction sector not only can survive, but also can develop and help recover the national economy. I know some experts have warned that with the interest rate subsidy program, some businesses may get new loans with subsidized interest rates to pay old debts with higher interest rates (to date, this move has been prohibited as experts believe the behaviour can hide ‘problematic loans’ – reporter). However, I think that it is necessary to consider setting up a mechanism allowing businesses do this legally. This will help businesses get capital to maintain production and jobs for thousands of labourers. When do you think Vietnam’s economy’s recession will bottom out? Will Vietnam be able to recover the national economy by relying on the domestic market, if the world’s economy remains in difficulties? I think that the economic growth rate will be between 5-5.5% this year. It is possible that the economic recession will be curbed in Q3 which paves the way for the economy to bounce back earlier the next year. When the world’s economy recovers, Vietnam’s economy will be able to recover more rapidly as we have advantages in domestic demand, and Vietnam’s export products are cheap. As people in the world have seen their income go down, governments in the world have encouraged importing cheap products, including ones from Vietnam. This really serves as the opportunity for Vietnam to push up exports in the time to come. If the world’s economy still does not recover, Vietnam’s economy will recover more slowly. What do you think Vietnamese businesses need to do now to prepare for the recovery of the national economy? The measures to fight economic recession have had positive impacts on the economy, which shows that Vietnam’s economy is likely to recover sooner than previously forecast. Opportunities can be found in every crisis. It is now the right time for Vietnamese businesses to renovate technologies as the technologies have become very cheaper. The Government, I think, should also consider expanding the subjects eligible to get preferential loans. Businesses can get preferential loans not only for working capital, but also for fixed capital which allows businesses to renovate technologies. Foreign enterprises now have big chances to renovate technologies with low loan interest rates. The medium and long term interest rates are between 4-4.5% per annum in the US, while the rate is 5% in Singapore. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, businesses bear the rate of 10% per annum. Some experts have warned that demand stimulus packages would make the high inflation period return. What do you think about that? In medium term, the demand stimulus measures will bring side effects, like the budget deficit increase, higher current account deficit on GDP, thus pressurizing the inflation of the next few years. Experts have warned about the three risks, budget deficit, trade gap, and high inflation. I think that the budget deficit can be settled within a short period when the national economy recovers. Trade deficit proves to be not a big problem. However, inflation would be really a risk. Loosened monetary and fiscal policies may bring inflation However, the 5-7%, or even 10% inflation would be acceptable, and we need to accept risks in return for rescuing the national economy. I think the high inflation will not occur in 2009. It could be the risk for 2010. However, the Government has been aware of the risk and it has enough time to control the inflation in the medium term.

Poet loves Vietnamese poems

VietNamNet Bridge - John Balaban has been known among American poets as one whose many works are best-sellers. These books are not about America, but of his English translations of wellknown Vietnamese poems, including a collection of poems in Nom scripts by famous poetess Ho Xuan Huong (in the 18th century) and “The Tale of Kieu” by the great poet Nguyen Du (in the 18th century).

Sitting on a bench near Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi , John Balaban told me why he chose poems by Ho Xuan Huong and Nguyen Du to translate into English. “I am a professor of English, and an American poet to be present in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. That might be the reason why I am encouraged to translate Vietnamese poems,” he said.

Balaban said 20,000 copies of his translation of Ho Xuan Huong’s poems published in 2000 were sold. It was such a “phenomenon” that the American press spent much time and effort studying it. President Bill Clinton, during his visit to Hanoi in 2000, also mentioned John’s translation as a cultural phenomenon of great concern in the United States at that time.

Actually, Balaban’s translation of Ho Xuan Huong´s poems helped many American readers understand the fate and strong response full of femininity of the Vietnamese women of the past. They were known for not only having virtues due to close ties to family education and principles, but also having strong characters.

They dared to spell out the taboos of society such as sex and an intimate sexual life, etc., through poems which are pure, sensitive and graphic. Their response surprised many American readers because deep in their mind the American audience thought that those sensitive matters could only be spoken by them.

Balaban said he also wanted to bring American readers another story about life of the Vietnamese women in the feudal period. It was the poetic work "The Tale of Kieu” by great Vietnamese poet Nguyen Du (1766-1820), telling about the talented, but unhappy fate of a young woman - Kieu.

According to Balaban, “The Tale of Kieu” is not only a literary masterpiece of the Vietnamese people, but it also concealed a lot of strange details.

The strangest one is about the word “fate” defined by Buddhists, which seems to go along with, and was closely attached to Kieu’s talented, but misfortune life. For those reasons, Balaban decided to translate this poetic work into English with the whole-hearted feeling of an American poet full of passion and aspiration. (At the time John and I were talking, his translation of this work is being processed).

Saying farewell, Balaban asked me to reserve one copy of Vietnam Pictorial with the article about him and send it to him as a souvenir. I agreed. In addition I promised that when his English translation of “The Tale of Kieu” is made public, I will invite him to sit by Hoan Kiem Lake again, and I’ll listen to his story about the “fate” that tied him to the story of her life.

Professor John Balaban was born in 1943 in Philadelphia (USA). He is the Poet in Residence and Professor of English at North Carolina University in Raleigh, North Carolina ( USA ). He has many works about Vietnam, including “Ca Dao Vietnam: A Bilingual Anthology of Vietnamese Folk Poetry”, “ Vietnam – The Land We Never Knew” and “ Vietnam – A Traveler’s Literary Companion”. Of particular popularity is his translation of Ho Xuan Huong’s poems entitled “Spring Essence – The Poetry of Ho Xuan Huong”. John Balaban is now President of the Vietnamese Nom Preservation Foundation – an American non-governmental organization.

Bernanke says recession could end in 2009

U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said on Sunday that the U.S. recession could come to an end "probably this year."

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies before the Senate Budget Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington March 3, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters File Photo)

In a rare interview televised by CBS, Bernanke said that concerted efforts by the U.S. government likely averted a depression similar to the 1930s.

"I think we've averted that risk," said the U.S. central bank chief. "I think we've gotten past that and now the problem is to get the thing working properly again."

"We'll see the recession coming to an end probably this year," predicted Bernanke, noting the recovery might begin next year, "and it will pick up steam over time."

Meanwhile, he warned the nation's 8.1 percent unemployment will continue to rise.

He also expressed concern the U.S. might lack the political will to take further measures to stabilize the financial system, reiterating the call for an overhaul of the U.S. financial regulations.

"The biggest risk is that we don't have the political will," said Bernanke, the first sitting Federal Reserve chief to conduct a television interview in 20 years.

There's a danger that "we don't have the commitment to solve this problem, and that we let it just continue. In which case, we can't count on recovery," warned Bernanke.