THE DESACRALIZATION OF THE HUMAN BEING IN THE NOVELS HU THUC AND HO DO BY PHUNG VAN KHAI

Abstract

This article explores the demythologization of the human being in Hu thuc and Ho do, two novels by Phung Van Khai. These novels vividly depict the condition of human life, crises of belief, and profound existential questions within contemporary Vietnamese literature. Applying a synthesis of Bakhtin’s theory of the grotesque, ecocriticism, and postmodernist criticism, the article reveals how the author dismantles conventional character models shaped by idealism or traditional moral frameworks. In their place, he constructs alienated figures, stripped of personhood, and deformed in their being-representations of the fragmentation of absolutes. Through the analysis of different types of characters, this study contributes to a critical reassessment of Phung Van Khai’s novels in its effort to reframe the question of the human being amidst a turbulent world fraught with ecological and existential dilemmas.