CARNIVAL HUMAN DISGUISING MASKS – A PATHWAY TO THE FANCIFUL REALISTIC WORLD IN “NHUNG DUA TRE CHET GIA” (“AGING CHILDREN”) BY NGUYEN BINH PHUONG

Abstract

If life is a stage, then each character on that stage will be a mask that disguises a human role-player. According to M. Bakhtin’s theory of carnival masks, “It is life itself that plays in a carnival and play turns temporarily into life” [1, p.152]. This “carnivalisation” perfectly matches the phenomenon “Nhung đua tre chet gia” (Aging Children) by Nguyen Binh Phuong, a novel full of comic sequences/performances in which each character automatically chooses to play a disguising role; even the author and readers are also drawn into an ego chase under a circumstance “full of carnivalising performance”, which demonstrates an ultimate passion for roles in life. After the perfomance and the lowering of velvet curtains, it is hard for players/spectators to count and recognize how many faces are hidden behind the disguising masks. Decrypting disguising masks and searching for hidden human figures are really guidelines for this “labyrinthine” world of arts.