Abstract

Existentialism is a philosophical phenomenon that emerged and developed in Western in the 20th century. With a deeply human value, existentialism spread out of various regions and had a strong impact on the socio-cultural life of urban South Vietnam during the period 1954-1975, which was under the shadow of war and the instability in human material life and spiritual life. In literature, existentialism was adopted by many writers and brought into works to awaken and discuss the contemporary reality. Many authors have found in existentialist philosophy a limitless source of inspiration for ideas such as life as a series of absurd and chaotic events, the loneliness and nihilism of human existence, the desire for freedom to shape personal identity, and other issues of human nature and being. This article is an attempt to apply some basic categories of existentialism in reading the novel Tinh yeu như bang son by Le Hang. With the background of a tragic love story, this novel has generalized into more complex issues, placing the characters in each knotty problem, to inquire about the human existence in absurd life and different choices. Based on this, we aim to propose a different interpretive lens for the novel, providing new readings of how the author re-envisions and contemplates human existence in relation to others and to the secular world.