COMPILATION

SURVEY OF AFRO-ASIAN LITERATURE

RONA R. DELA ROSA

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR II
TOPIC 1: AFRICAN LITERATURE
AFRICA – 2nd largest continent next to
Asia.

It covers more than ONE – FIFTH of all

the earth's surface.

It comprises 46 countries and

territories.

Islam- Dominant religion.

 •The most notable
literary selections are
those that capture the
life and struggle of
the African people.
The literary tradition of Africa became
richer than ever as it gained artistic and
sophisticated expression in different
languages. Traditional languages became
vehicles of cultural thoughts.
 LITERARY BACKGROUND

Universal
racial political
Experiences of civil wars
discrimination conflicts
man:

gender
feminism human rights
sensitivity
THE RISE OF AFRICA’S GREAT CIVILIZATION
NEGRITUDE
• The literary movement of
the 1930s-1950s that began
among French-speaking
African and Caribbean
writers living in Paris as a
protest against French
colonial rule and the policy
of assimilation.
•A sudden grasp of racial identity and of
cultural values and an awareness of the
wide discrepancies which existed
between the promise of the French
system of assimilation and the reality.
 Three Fathers of Negritude
1. Aime Cesaire
2.Leon Gontran Damas
3.Leopold Sedar Senghor
• The movement's founders looked to Africa to rediscover and
rehabilitate the African values that had been erased by French
French cultural superiority.
• Negritude writers wrote poetry in French in which they
presented African traditions and cultures as antithetical, but
equal, to European culture.
• Out of this philosophical/literary movement came the creation
of Presence Africaine by Alioune Diop in 1947. The journal,
according to its founder, was an endeavor to help define African
originality and to hasten its introduction into the modern world.
 •ORAL LITERATURE
•Oral literature, also called as “orature,”
have flourished in Africa for many
centuries and take a variety of forms
including folk tales, myths, epics, funeral
dirges, praise poems, and proverbs.
• Myths usually explain the
interrelationships of all things
that exist, and provide for the
group and its members a
necessary sense of their place
in relation to their
environment and the forces
that order events on earth.
•Epics are elaborate literary forms,
usually performed only by experts
on special occasions. They often
recount the heroic exploits of
ancestors.
•FUNERAL DIRGES
•Dirges, chanted during funeral
ceremonies, lament the departed,
praise his/her memory, and ask for
his/her protection.
•Praise poems are epithets called
out in reference to an object (a
person, a town, an animal, a
disease, and so on) in celebration
of its outstanding qualities and
achievements.
•Praise poems have a variety of applications and
functions. Professional groups often create poems
exclusive to them. Prominent chiefs might appoint a
professional performer to compile their praise
poems and perform them on special occasions.
•Professional performers of praise
poems might also travel from place
to place and perform for families or
individuals for alms or a small fee.
Proverbs are short, witty or ironic
statements, metaphorical in its
formulation which aim to
communicate a response to a
particular situation, to offer advice, or
to be persuasive.
 • WRITTEN LITERATURE
includes novels, plays, poems,
hymns, and tales.
• A discussion of written African literatures
raises a number of complicated and complex
problems and questions that only can be
briefly sketched out here.
• The first problem concerns the small
readership for African literatures in Africa.
Over 50% of Africa's population is illiterate,
and hence many Africans cannot access
written literatures.
• The scarcity of books available, the cost of those
books, and the scarcity of publishing houses in
Africa exacerbate this already critical situation.
• Despite this, publishing houses do exist in
Africa, and in countries such as Ghana and
Zimbabwe, African publishers have produced
and sold many impressive works by African
authors, many of which are written in African
languages.
 Scholars have identified three waves of
literacy in Africa
• The first occurred in Ethiopia where written works
have been discovered that appeared before the
earliest literatures in the Celtic and Germanic
languages of Western Europe.
• The second wave of literacy moved across Africa with
the spread of Islam. Soon after the emergence of
Islam in the seventh century, its believers established
themselves in North Africa through a series of jihads,
or holy wars.
• In the 11th and 12th centuries, Islam was carried into
the kingdom of Ghana. The religion continued to
move eastward through the 19th century.
• The encounter with Europe through trade
relationships, missionary activities, and
colonialism propelled the third wave of literacy
in Africa. In the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, literary activity in the British colonies
was conducted almost entirely in vernacular
languages.
• Missionaries found it more useful to translate the
Bible into local languages than to teach English to
large numbers of Africans.
• This resulted in the production of hymns, morality
tales, and other literatures in African languages
concerned with propagating Christian values and
morals. The first of these "Christian-inspired
African writings" emerged in South Africa
• The written literatures, novels, plays, and poems in
the 1950s and 60s have been described as
literatures of testimony.
• The African authors who produced literatures in
European languages have been described as
literatures of revolt.
• These texts move away from the project of
recuperating and reconstructing an African past
and focus on responding to, and revolting against,
colonialism and corruption. These literatures are
more concerned with the present realities of
African life, and often represent the past
negatively.
 •FAMOUS
LITERARY WORKS
POEMS
Paris in the Snow swings between assimilation of French,
European culture or negritude; intensified by the poet’s
catholic piety.
Totem by Leopold Senghor shows the eternal linkage of the
living with the dead.
Letters to Martha by Dennis Brutus is the poet’s most famous
collection that speaks of the humiliation, the despondency,
the indignity of prison life.
Train Journey by Dennis Brutus reflects the poet’s social
commitment as he reacts to poverty around him amidst
material progress especially and acutely felt by the victims,
the children.
Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka is the poet’s most
anthologized poem that reflects Negritude. The dialogue
reveals the landlady’s deep-rooted prejudice the colored
people as the caller plays up on it.
Africa by David Diop is a poem that achieves its impact by
a series of climactic sentences and rhetorical questions.
Song of Lawino by Okot P’Bitek is a sequence of poem about
the clash between African and Western values and regarded as
the first important poem in “English to from Eastern Africa.”
Lawino’s song is a pleas for the Ugandans to look back to
traditional village life and African values.
NOVELS
•The Houseboy by Ferdinand Oyono points out the
dillusionmentt of Toundi, a boy who leaves his parents
maltreatment to enlist his services as an acolyte to a
missionary. After the priest’s death, he becomes a helper
a white plantation owner, discovers the liaison of his
master’s wife, and gets murdered later in the woods as
catch up with him.
•Toundi symbolizes the and the coming of age, and utters
despondency of the Camerooninans over the corruption
and immortality of whites. The novel is developed in the
form of a recit, the French style of a diary-like
confessional work.
•Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe depicts a vivid picture of
Africa before the colonization by the British. The novel
laments over the disintegration of Nigerian represented in the
story by Ok-wonko, once a respected chieftain who loses his
leadership and falls from grace the coming of the whites.

•Cultural values are woven the plot to mark its authenticity:

polygamy since the is Muslim; tribal law is held supreme by
the gwugwu, respected elders in the community; a man’s
social status is determined by the people’s esteem and by
possession of fields of yams and physical prowess; community
life is in drinking sprees, funeral wakes, and sports festivals.
•No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe
is a sequel to Things Fall Apart. A
returning hero fails to cope disgrace
and social pressure. Okwonko’s son
has to up to the expectations of the
Umuofians, after a scholarship in
London, where he reads literature, law
as expected of him, he has to dress up,
he must have a car, he has to maintain
his social standing, he should not
marry an Ozu, an outcast. In the end,
tragic hero succumbs to temptation,
he, too bribes, and therefore is “no
longer at ease
•The Poor Christ of Bombay by
Mongot Beti begins en medias res
and exposes the inhumanity of
colonialism. The novel tells Fr.
Drumont’s disillusionment after
the discovery the degradation of
the native women, betrothed, but
to work like slaves in the sixa. The
government steps into picture as
syphilis spreads out in the priest’s
compound.
•The River Between by James Ngugi shows
the clash of traditional values and
contemporary ethics and mores. The Honia
River is symbolically taken as metaphor of
tribal and Christian unity – the Makuyu tribe
conducts Christian rites while the Kamenos
hold circumcision rituals. Muthoni, the
heroine, although a new-born Christian,
desires the pagan ritual. She dies in the end
but Waiyaki, the teacher, does teach
vengeance against Joshua, the leader of the
but unity with them. Ngugi poses co-
existence of religion people’s lifestyle at the
same time stressing the influence of
education to enlighten people about their
socio-political responsibilities.
Heirs to the Past by Driss Chraili is an allegorical, parable
like novel. After 16 years of absence, the anti-hero Driss
returnd to Morocco for his father’s funeral. The Signeur
his legacy via a tape recorder in which he tells the family
members his last will and testament.
Each chapter in the reveals his relationship with them,
and at the same time bare the psychology of these
people. His older brother, was ‘born once and had died
several times’ because of his childishness and
irresponsibility.
•A Few Days and Few Nights by
Mbella Sonne Dipoko deals with
racial prejudice. In the novel
originally written French, a
Cameroonian scholar studying in
France is torn between the love of
Swedish girl and a Parisian whose
father owns a business
establishment in Africa. The
father rules out the possibility of
marriage.
•The Interpreters by Wole
Soyinka is about a group of
young intellectuals who
function as artists in their
with one another as they try
to place themselves in
context of the world about
them.
MAJOR
WRITER
S
• Leopold Sedar Senghor
• A poet and statesman
who was cofounder of
the Negritude
movement in African art
and literature.
• Songs of Shadow, Black
Offerings, Major Elegies,
Poetical Work
 • Wole Soyinka
• 1st black African – Nobel Prize
for Literature in 1986.
• A Dance of the Forests, The
Interpreters, Mandela’s Earth
 • Okot P’ Bitek
• Interests: African and Western
Cultures
• Song of Lawino, Song of Ocol,
African Religions and Western
Scholarship, Religion pf the
Central Luo, Horn of My Love
 Chinua Achebe
• Emergent Africa at
its moment of crisis
• Things Fall Apart
• Arrow of God
• A Man of the
People
 • Nadine Gordimer
• Received Nobel
Prize for Literature
in 1991.
• The Soft Voice of
the Serpent,
• Burger ’s Daughter
• July’s People
 • Ousmane Sembene
• Intense commitment to
political and social
change.
• O My Country
• My Beautiful People
• God’s Bits of Wood
• The Storm
•
 • Bessie Head
• Suffered rejection and
alienation.
• When Rain Clouds
Gather
• A Question of Power
• The Collector of
Treasure4s
 • Barbara Kimenye
• 12 books on children’s stories
known as Moses series.
• Kalasandra Revisited
• The Smugglers
• The Money Game
Refer to our LEARNING
GUIDE for group
activities.
TOPIC 2:
EGYPTIAN
AND
ARABIAN
LITERATURE
•Ancient Egyptian literature was written in the
Egyptian language from Ancient Egypt's
pharaonic period until the end of Roman
domination.

•It represents the oldest corpus of Egyptian

literature, along with Sumerian literature, it is
considered the world's earliest literature, both
hieroglyphic and hieratic—first appeared in the
late 4th millennium BC during the late phase of
pre-dynasty in Egypt.
• By the Old Kingdom , literary
works included funerary text,
epistles and letters, hymns and
poems, and commemorative
autobiographical texts
recounting the careers of
prominent administrative
officials.
How early the Egyptians began to cut and press the stalks of the
papyrus plant in order to make a material for the use of the scribe, it is
impossible to say. But we know that material to have been already
employed for literary purposes in the time of the Third Dynasty, that
is to say, some three thousand eight hundred years before the
Christian era.

When we speak of the literature of a nation, we are not thinking of

inscriptions graven on obelisks and triumphal arches. We mean such
literature as may be stored in a library and possessed by individuals. In
a word, we mean books –books, whether in the form of clay cylinders,
of papyrus rolls, or any other portable material.
•The Egyptians were the
first people of the ancient
world who had a literature
of this kind: who wrote
books, and read books; who
possessed books, and loved
them. And their literature,
which grew, and flourished,
and decayed with the
language in which it was
written, was of the most
varied character, scientific,
secular, and religious.
Some of these writings are older than
the pyramids; some are as recent as the
time when Egypt had fallen from her
high estate and become a Roman
province. Between these two extremes
lie more than five thousand years.
The two most important subjects in the
literature of a nation are, undoubtedly,:
its history and its religion; and up to the
present time nothing in the shape of an
Egyptian history of Egypt has been
found.
Islamic Egyptian literature

By the eighth century Egypt had been conquered by the Muslim Arabs.
Literature, and especially libraries, thrived under the new Egypt brought
about by the Muslim conquerors.

Several important changes occurred during this time which affected

Egyptian writers.

Papyrus was replaced by cloth paper, and calligraphy was introduced as a

writing system. Also, the focus of writing shifted almost entirely to Islam.

The earliest novel written in Egypt was Ibn al Nafis' Theologus

Autodidactus, the earliest example of a science fiction and theological
novel.
Many tales of the One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) can be
traced to medieval Egyptian storytelling traditions.

These tales were probably in circulation before they were collected and
codified into a single collection.

Medieval Egyptian folklore was one of three distinct layers of storytelling

which were incorporated into the Nights by the 15th century, the other
two being ancient Indian and Persian folklore, and stories from Abbasid-era
Baghdad.
The Story of Sinuhe, written in Middle Egyptian, might be
the classic of Egyptian literature. Also written at this time
was the Westcar Papyrus, a set of stories told to Khufu
by his sons relating the marvels performed by priests.
Many stories written in demotic during the Graeco-
Roman period were set in previous historical eras, when
Egypt was an independent nation ruled by great
pharaohs such as Ramesses II.
Modern Egyptian literature
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Arab world
experienced al-Nahda, a Renaissance esque movement which touched
nearly all areas of life, including literature.

One of the most important figures from this time was Naguib Mahfouz,
the first Egyptian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

In 1914 Muhammad Husayn Haykal wrote Zaynab, considered the first

modern Egyptian as well as Islamic novel.
• Naguib Mahfouz(11 December 1911 – 30
August 2006)
• was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988
Nobel Prize for Literature.
• He is regarded as one of the first
contemporary writers of Arabic literature,
along with Tawfiq el-Hakim, to explore
themes of existentialism.
• He published 34 novels, over 350 short
stories, dozens of movie scripts, and five
plays over a 70-year career. Many of his
works have been made into Egyptian and
foreign films.
 ARABIAN
LITERATURE
•Saudi Arabia
The flag of Saudi Arabia has a green field with large white Arabic writing above a
white horizontal sword (the tip of the sword points to the hoist side of the flag).
The Arabic writing is the Islamic statement of faith
"There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet."
Green is the traditional color of Islam.
Saudi Arabia is a desert country encompassing most of the Arabian Peninsula, with
Red Sea and Persian (Arabian) Gulf coastlines.
Known as the birthplace of Islam.
It’s home to the religion’s 2 most sacred mosques: Masjid al-Haram, in Mecca,
destination of the annual Hajj pilgrimage, and Medina’s Masjid an-Nabawi, burial site
of the prophet Muhammad.
Riyadh, the capital, is a skyscraper-filled metropolis.
Currency: riyal
•• King
•• Language: Arabic
•History Pre-Islamic Arabia
•There is evidence that human habitation in the
Arabian Peninsula dates back to about 106,000 to
130,000 years ago. However, the harsh climate
historically prevented much settlement in pre-Islamic
Saudi Arabia, apart from a small number of urban
trading settlements, such as Mecca and Medina,
located in the Hejaz in the west of the peninsula.
•The Rise of Islam
• The seventh century saw the introduction of Islam to the Arabian
Peninsula.
• The Islamic prophet Muhammad, was born in Mecca in about 570
and first began preaching in the city in 610, but migrated to Medina
in 622.
• Muhammad began preaching Islam at Mecca before migrating to
•Medina, from where he united the tribes of Arabia into a singular
Arab Muslim religious polity.
• Muhammad's death in 632 AD, disagreement broke out over who
would succeed him as leader of the Muslim community.
• Abu Bakr became leader of the Muslims as the first Caliph.
The Middle Ages

In political terms Arabia soon became a peripheral region of the Islamic

world, in which the most important medieval Islamic states were based at
various times in such far away cities as Damascus, Baghdad, and Cairo.

However, from the 10th century (and, in fact, until the 20th century) the
Hashemite Sharifs of Mecca maintained a state in the most developed part of
the region, the Hejaz. Their domain originally comprised only the holy cities
of Mecca and Medina but in the 13th century it was extended to include the
rest of the Hejaz.
Although, the Sharifs exercised at most times independent authority in the
Hejaz, they were usually subject to the suzerainty of one of the major Islamic
empires of the time. In the Middle Ages, these included the Abbasids of
Baghdad, and the Fatimids, Ayyubids and Mamluks of Egypt.
•Modern history
•• The provincial Ottoman Army for Arabia
(Arabistan Ordusu) was headquartered in
Syria, which included Palestine, the
Transjordan region in addition to Lebanon
(Mount Lebanon was however a semi
autonomous mutasarrifate).
•• The Ottomans never had any control over
central Arabia, also known as the Najd region.
•• In the modern era, the term bilad al-Yaman
came to refer specifically to the southwestern
parts of the peninsula. Arab geographers
started to refer to the whole peninsula as
'jazirat al Arab', or the peninsula of the Arabs
•Late Ottoman rule and the Hejaz Railway
In the beginning of the 20th century, the Ottomans embarked on an
ambitious project: the construction of a railway connecting Istanbul, the
capital of the Ottoman Empire and the seat of the Islamic Caliphate, and
Hejaz with its holiest shrines of Islam which are the yearly pilgrimage
destination of the Hajj.
The goal was to improve the economic and political integration of the
distant Arabian provinces into the Ottoman state, and to facilitate the
transportation of military troops in case of need.
The railway was started in 1900 at the behest of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul
Hamid II and was built largely by the Turks, with German advice and
support
•Culture of Saudi Arabia
The cultural setting of Saudi Arabia is Arab and Islam, and society
itself is in general deeply religious, conservative, traditional, and
family oriented.
The Wahhabi Islamic movement, which arose in the 18th century
and is sometimes described as austerely puritanical, now
predominates in the country. Following the principle of "enjoining
good and forbidding wrong", there are many limitations on
behaviour and dress are strictly enforced both legally and socially,
often more so than in other Muslim countries. Alcoholic
beverages are prohibited, for example, and there is no theatre or
public exhibition of films. The religious holidays, Eid al-Fitr and
Eid al-Adha.
•The Qur'an
•The word Qur'an means 'recitation', and in early times the text was
transmitted orally. The Qur'an had a significant influence on the
Arab language. The language used in it is called classical Arabic, and
while modern Arabic is very similar, the classical has social prestige.
With its 114 suras (chapters) which contain 6,236 ayat (verses). It
contains injunctions, narratives, homilies, parables, direct
addresses from God, instructions and even comments on itself on
how it will be received and understood. It is also, paradoxically,
admired for its layers of metaphor as well as its clarity, a feature it
mentions itself in sura 16:103.
•The Qur'an
The Qur'an, widely regarded by people as the finest piece of
literature in the Arabic language, would have the greatest
lasting effect on Arabic culture and its literature. Arabic
literature flourished during the Islamic Golden Age, but has
remained vibrant to the present day, with poets and prose-
writers across the Arab world achieving increasing success.
•Two Categories' of Muslims
•1. Secularist - do not have knowledge of the
contents of the Quran and only know a verse or two
to justify enjoying their life such as: “Wealth and
children are the adornment of the life of this world”
(Surat Al-Kahf 18:46)
•2. Fundamentalist - who wants to apply the more
extreme verses of the Quran to the letter. These
verses came to Muhammad after he was a strong
military and after he realize that the Christian and
Jews were not becoming followers of his new
religion.
•Eight Fundamental Beliefs of Muslims
•1. The Prophet Muhammad urges Muslims to fight in
the cause of Allah.
•2. The Quran commands Muslims not to be friend
Jews and Christian.
•3. The Quran commands Muslims to fight Jews and
Christian.
•4. The Quran commands Muslim to fight non-Muslims
until they exterminate all other religions and Islam
would be the only religion in the world.
•5. The Quran command Muslim to terrorize and
torture and kill anyone who disobey Allah and the
prophet Muhammad.
•6. The Quran declares that Allah loves those who
fight in his cause.
•7. The Quran commands Muslims to convert non-
Muslims to Islam by force.
•8. The Quran declares that Muslims who fight and
die in the battle are promised forgiveness and a
sexual luxurious life in Paradise.
•Men and Women Dress
••Women- Saudi Arabia's human rights record, especially with regards to
protecting women, has often been called into question. Although
women's rights have been incrementally extended in recent years – they
were allowed to vote in municipal elections for the first time last year -
their actions are still severely restricted.
•• While all versions of Islam suggest a woman should dress modestly,
often covering her hair and body, Saudi Arabia is one of the only Muslim-
majority countries that legally imposes a dress code (Iran is another).
Women, foreign and local, must wear an abaya (a few get away with long
coats) in public places.
••Men - a thawb or thobe, or jalabiyyah in Libya, is an ankle-length Arab
garment, usually with long sleeves, similar to a robe. It is commonly worn
in the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq and neighbouring Arab countries.
•Arabic literature
••Arabic literature is the writing, both prose and
poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language.
The Arabic word used for literature is "Adab", which
is derived from a meaning of etiquette, and which
implies politeness, culture and enrichment.
••Arabic literature emerged in the 5th century with
only fragments of the written language appearing
before then.
• Maqama not only straddles the divide between prose and poetry, being
instead a form of rhymed prose, it is also part way between fiction and
nonfiction.
• Over a series of short narratives, which are fictionalized versions of real
life situations, different ideas are contemplated.
• Maqama also makes use of the doctrine of badi or deliberately adding
complexity to display the writer's dexterity with language. Al-Hamadhani
is regarded as the originator of the maqama and his work was taken up by
Abu
•Muhammad al-Qasim al-Hariri with one of al-Hariri's maqama a study of
al-Hamadhani own work.
• Maqama was an incredibly popular form of Arabic literature, being one
of the few forms which continued to be written during the decline of
Arabic in the 17th and 18th centuries
•Poetry
• A large proportion of Arabic literature before
the 20th century is in the form of poetry, and
even prose from this period is either filled
with snippets of poetry or is in the form of saj
or rhymed prose.
• The themes of the poetry range from high-
flown hymns of praise to bitter personal
attacks and from religious and mystical ideas
to poems on women and wine.
•The poetry and much of the prose was
written with the design that it would be
spoken aloud and great care was taken to
make all writing as mellifluous as possible.
•Modern Poetry
•• During the 19th century, a revival took place in Arabic literature, along
with much of Arabic culture, and is referred to in Arabic as "al-Nahda",
which means "the Renaissance". This resurgence of writing in Arabic was
confined mainly to Syria, Egypt and Lebanon until the 20th century when
it spread to other countries in the region.
•Throughout the 20th century, Arabic writers in both poetry and prose
have reflected the changing political and social climate of the Arab world
in their work. Anti-colonial themes were prominent early in the 20th
century, with writers continuing to explore the region's relationship with
the West until the present day.
•Modern Poetry
Poetry retains a very important status in the Arab
world. Mahmoud Darwish was regarded as the
Palestinian national poet, and his funeral was
attended by thousands of mourners. Syrian poet
Nizar Qabbani addressed less political themes, but
was regarded as a cultural icon, and his poems
provide the lyrics for many popular songs.
•Modern Novels
•Neo-classical movement - which sought to rediscover the
literary traditions of the past, and was influenced by traditional
literary genres—such as the maqama—and works like One
Thousand and One Nights.
•In contrast, a modernist movement began by translating
Western modernist works—primarily novels—into Arabic.
•Modern Arabic novel - the study of family life with obvious
resonances of the wider family of the Arabic world.[according to
whom?
•Many of the novels have been unable to avoid the politics and
conflicts of the region with war often acting as background to
intimate family dramas.
•The Arabian Knights
•• The Arabian Nights is a collection of tales from the Islamic Golden
Age, compiled by various authors over many hundreds of years.
•• Each collection features different stories.
•One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern and
South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the
Islamic Golden Age.
•• In "The Frame Story," he rules over the kingdom of India and
begins the practice of marrying wives and killing them the next
morning until Scheherazade begins to tell him stories every night.
•Shahzaman. Scheherazade. Dinarzad. Aladdin. the sultan. the
beautiful princess. the magician.
 • The Prophet
• • The Prophet is a book of 26 prose poetry
fables written in English by the Lebanese
• American artist, philosopher and writer
Kahlil Gibran.
• • It was originally published in 1923 by
Alfred A. Knopf.
• • It is Gibran's best known work.
• • The Prophet has been translated into over
40 different languages and has never been
out of print.
 Refer to our
LEARNING GUIDE for
group activities.
TOPIC 3: CHINESE
AND HINDU
LITERATURE
CHINESE LITERATURE
 • Chinese civilization –
one of the few ancient
civilization to have its
individual writing
concept.
• The Chinese language
has over 20,000
characters the average
Chinese only learns about
5,000 of these in his
lifetime.
 • Flag of China was originally
adopted in 1949
• The red of the Chinese flag
symbolizes the Communist
Revolution, and also the
tradition color of the people.
• The large gold star represent • The four smaller
Communism and Communism stars represent
means a way of organizing a the social classes
society in which a of the people.
government own.
• The Republic of China has an
area of 9, 597 million sq. km.
and the capital city of China is
Beijing.
 • The famous landmark in
China is the Great Wall of
China (also known as the
“Ten Thousand Li Wall”. One
Li is equals to 500 meters,
the walls is over 1,500 miles
• in length.
 The religions and
beliefs of Chinese
people are Islam
over 22 million,
Catholicism is 4
million and
Protestant over 10
million.
 • Confucianism - an
ethical teaching founded
by Confucius.

• Confucius is a Chinese
Teacher, editor,
politician and
philosopher of the
spring and autumn
period of Chinese
history.
• Confucius born 28th of September
551 BC, KONG QUI the 1st name
and died 479 BC. - he is the founder
of Confucianism.
• Influences – 1 Ching, Book of Rites
his philosophy emphasized personal
and governmental morality,
correctness of social relationships,
justice and sincerity.
His followers completed successfully with
many other school during the hundred
school of
thoughts era only to be suppressed in
favor of the legalists during the Qin
dynasty.
He also recommend family as a basis for
local government.
He embraced the well known principle “
Do not do unto others what you don’t
want others
• to do unto you” – the Golden Rule.
 • The opposite of
Confucianism is Taoism
and the most important
religion that
encompasses a variety of
tradition and beliefs and
spiritual practices
largely based on teaching
attributed to the Buddha.
• Culture and traditions of
Chinese in wedding.
• Red is the color of
wedding in China because
they believe it signifies
love, joy, and prosperity
to seclusion.
• Seclusion means away
from other people.
• The wedding day is
carefully chosen to
astrological signs.
 • The most important
event in China is
the Chinese New Year
and they are
celebrating it on the
1st day of the year in
lunar calendar, usually
between late in
January or early
February.
 • They also have the
Lantern Festival and
they are celebrating it
on the 15th day of the
1st Lunar Calendar and
in the 5th of 5th Lunar
Month they are
celebrating the Dragon
Boat Festival.
• The education in China has always been a highly
valued and the great master Confucius thought
that it is a pleasure to learn something and try it
out at intervals.
• Similarly, numerous students have been
convinced that reading books excels all others
careers.
The Chinese has 7 dialects and these are:
•1.Mandarin
•2.Cantonese
•3.Hakka
•4.Wu
•5.Min
•6.Xiang
•7.Gan
•Chinese Literature is one of the most major literacy
with an interrupted history and more that 30,000
years, dating back at least to the 14th century.
•Four Classes of Literature
1.Classical Literature
2.Modern Literature
3.Contemporary Literature
4.Present Age Literature
Chinese Classical Literature
(1644-1911)
- refers to the earliest period and covers works
from 3,000 yeas ago to the late Qing dynasty
and is virtually unbroken strands enduring
dynastic changes. Written in ancient form of
language that is very different from present day
Chinese, it needs to be carefully studied to be
understand.
 Chinese Modern Literature
refers to the period from the Opium War in 1840 to the
may fourth movement in 1919.
Opium War- this is the war between two wars in the mid
19thncentury involving Anglo Chinese dispute over the
British.
- people observed the impact of Western thought as
foreigners poured China and established their colonies,
novels, poetry and other works begun to appear with
the theme o patriotism and revelation of social
literature.
 Contemporary Literature (1919-1949)
- spanned period from 1919 to the
foundation of modern in 1949 and took
on a new vigor despite the fact that
Chinese was in the checkered and
complicated times.
 Present Age Literature (1949-present)
evolved since the establishments
of the People’s Republic in 1949 during this time.
- there was a Logjam as a consequence of the
cultural resolution that lasted for near 10 years that
era is now long past and we now have a favorable
turn events and a great
number of responsible written works.
Dynasties in China
 Shang Dynasty
( 1700-1050 BC)
• Development of Chinese Writing
• 1st dynasty
• hieroglyphics writing on bronze
wares and oracle bones
• it evolved into ideographic and
partly phonetic Chinese characters.
Zhou Dynasty • Basic Philosophical
( 1045-225 BC) and religious
literature
• oldest dynasty
• major literary
achievements
originated in the late
Spring and Autumn
period and Warring
State period.
 • Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)
• Literary Disaster and Legalism
• Mohism – big philosophical and
religious school
• Li Si – Qin emperor who
introduced a writing system and
developed into Modern
• Chinese writing.
•Legalism – philosophical school.
 • Scientific and Historical Texts
Han Dynasty
• Era’s major contributions were
(206 – 220 BC)
historical texts and scientific works.
• Sima Qian – wrote Historical
Records
• Historical records – major history
concerning the overall history of
China from Shang Dynasty to Han
Dynasty.
• Cai Lun – 1st person in the world
to create writing paper.
 Tang Dynasty
(618-907)
Early Woodblock Printing
and Poetry
• Dufu and Li Bai – China’s
greatest poets.
•Li Bai – one of the greatest
Romantic poets
• Dufu – one of the greatest
Realists poets
 • Early Woodblock Printing.
Travel Literature, Poetry,
Scientific texts and the Neo-
Confucian Classics
• 5 Classics and 4 Books –
written in the classical
language.
• Shen Kuo and Su Song –both work scientific
treatises
• Shen – discovered the concepts of true north
and magnetic declination.
• Su Song – famous for his hydraulic-powered
Song Dynasty (960-1279) astronomical clock tower.
 Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368)
• Drama and Great Fictional novels
• Guan Hanquing – one of the best playwrights
of the times.
• Mid Summer Snow – one of the most popular
drama pieces.
• The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and
Water Margin – two of the four greatest novels
in Chinese Literature.
• The Romance of the Western Chamber by
Wang Shifu – one of the best romantic dramas
ever written in China.
 Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644)
• Novels - Journey to the
West by
• Wu Cheng’en – based on
the historical journey of a
Buddhist to India.
 Qing Dynasty
(1644- 1911)
Novels and Pre –modern
Literature
•Manchus – established the last
dynasty.
• The Dream of the Red
Chamber – last of China’s four
great classic novels.
 HINDU
LITERATURE
 • India
• World’s 7th largest country located in South
Asia
• Second most populous country.
• About 3,000 km(1,865 mi) wide, shoreline
about 7000 km (4,350 mi) along Bay of Bengal
• India and Bharat are both official names.
• Derives from Indus river used by Greek
• India civilization grew up in the Indus Valley
4000 to 2500 BC.
Divided into three Main -
• Himalayan Mountain
Topographic regions
system on the North
• Northern plain,
drained by the Indus,
Ganges and
Bramaputra rivers in
North Central India.
• Peninsular India in
the South
 • Over thousand years,
countless group have
People
migrated into the
subcontinent and many
of these groups have
maintained distinctive
cultures down through
years.
•The earliest Indians may
have migrated from
Australia and the Pacific
Islands.
 Language
• More than 200 languages are spoken in India
• Four (4) major Languages are represented
• Indo-Arab branch of the Indo European group
• (the major Linguistic family in Europe)
• Dravidian language group
• Hindi, the fourth most widely spoken language in the
world
• Indo – Aryan language
 Religion
Four major religious traditions have emerged from this area:
Hinduism – 83%
Jainism (and Islam)– 11%
Buddhism – less than 1%
Sikhism
Indian Caste system – major social system that groups
people according to birth
Brahmins: priests, the highest caste
Kshatriyas: warriors and kings
Vaishyas: merchants
Shudras: manual laborers
Caste system
Some people do not fall into any caste; these
are called dalits, or untouchables
Untouchables also known as Harijans
Dalits have traditionally been tasked with work such
as cleaning streets and working with human and
animal corpses and waste
Caste-based discrimination is now illegal in
India, and affirmative-action policies aim to
improve standards of living in lower castes, but
inequalities persist.
 Education
1950 and 1988 – India literacy was doubled
Literacy is higher on man than woman
 Free and open
 8 years in primary
 2 years in lower secondary
 2 years in upper secondary
 Compulsory in 6-14 years old.
 University are large w/ cluster of affiliated
colleges.
Government
Federal system with parliamentary form of
government
 Parliament consist of two houses
 The Raiya Sabha (Council of states)
 The Lok Sabha (House of the People)
Elected directly by eligible voters and sit 5 years
unless Parliament is dissolved
Indian National Congress- party most identified
remained control of the central government
 November 1989 election - Discontent
with India’s leadership caused Congress
to lose its parliamentary
 1991 election- P.V Narasimha Rao
succeeded Ravid Gadhi as party leader
became prime minister in June 1991
 History
 The history of India as a sovereign state under its own
constitutional government began on August 15, 1947, when the
subcontinent was partitioned into the two states of India and
Pakistan. Pakistan become an Islamic state while India opted to
become a secular state.
 Mahatma Gandhi the father of modern India was
assassinated on January 20, 1948 by the militant Hindu who
believed him to be too kind to Muslim. During Gandhi's first
decade in office agriculture production increased. India
exploded 1974 it's first nuclear weapon and Sikkim
became state of India.
• Gandhi was born in Pobandan India
on October 2, 1869, his father was a
chief minister for the maharaja of
Porbandan, and the family came
from traditional caste of grocers and
moneylenders.
• His mother was a devout adherent
Jainism, a religions in which ideas of
nonviolence and vegetarianism.
• Gandhi stated that he was most
influence by his mother.
 He married by arrangement at 13.
He went to London to study law when his
was 18. He works for an Indian firm in
South Africa. He experiences of overt racial
discrimination. He assumed leadership of
protest campaign and gradually developed
his techniques of nonviolent resistance
known as Satyagraha. Gandhi also fought
to improve the status of the lowest classes
of society, the castles untouchables, whom
he called Harijans.
 He believed in manual labor and simple living.
Non-violence or non-injury is a percept common
to three faiths, HINDUISM,JAINISM, and BUDDHISM.
HINDUISM- adherent to the proscription against violence
toward living things can escape from the cycle of rebirth and
the doctrine also form a basis for vegetarian.
BUDDHISM-non-violence is manifest in the Buddha's
emphasis on compassion and is also part of the faith's moral
codes.
JAINISM- non-violence is a core religious duty and followed so
strictly that the most Orthodox devotes cover their faces with
mask to prevent accidentally harming insect.
Literature
Sanskrit Literature – Oral Tradition produced the Vedic
holy text.
Mahabharata and Ramayana – two great books, sources
for countless literary.
400 B.C. –PANINI produced his Sanskrit grammar
Second Century AD – Prakrits being used in literature
Middle Ages Sanskrit – used in religious context by priesthood
Ghazal – stylized form of lyrical folk song and notable
exponents of the form
MACAULAY – established English-langauge schooling ofr
Indians
Michael MADHUSUDAN DUTT and JAYASHANKAR
PRASAD (1889 – 1937) introduced black verse in sonnet
into Indian poetry
 ARUNACALA KAVI – developed a utilitarian
prose style
 MADHUSUDAN DUTT – wrote the first plays
modeled on Western Drama
 SIR RABINDRANATH TAGORE – introduced
the short story to vernacular writing in India
 LAKSMINATH BEZBARUA and MUHAMMAD
IQBAL – major poets of the period
 History of Indian literature falls into 2 periods;
1. The Vedic Period
2. Sanskrit Period
Religious works
 Poetry
 The Rig Veda: a book of sacred hymns
 The Yajur Veda: a book of knowledge and
melodies for the hymns
 The Sama Veda: descriptions of the materials for sacrifice
 The Atharva Veda: contains magic spells and other folk
knowledge
 The Brahmanas
 The Upanishads
 Maya
 The Sutras
•The Mahabharata Secular works - Epics
•Bhagavad gita
•Nala and Damayanti
•The Ramayana
•Dramas
•The toy clay cart
•Sakuntala or the fatal ring
•The Jatakas
•The Panchatantra
• Romanorum
•The Hitopdesa
•The Sukasaptati
Shiva Brahma

Vishnu Ganesh
 Karma and Reincarnation
Reincarnation is the belief that the soul
repeatedly goes through a cycle of being
born into a body, dying, and being reborn
again in a new body.
Karma, a force that determines the quality
of each life, depending on how well one
behaved in a past life.
Hinduism says we create karma by our
actions on earth. If you live a good life,
you create good karma. If you live a
bad life, you create bad karma.
 Moksha
Each time a Hindu soul is born into a better life,
it has the opportunity to improve itself further,
and get closer to ultimate liberation.
 This liberation is called Moksha.
 One attains Moksha when one has "overcome
ignorance", and no longer desires anything at all.
 The ones who reach this state no longer
struggle with the cycle of life and death.
 The way to get to Moksha is to not
create any karma.
 Sacred Writings
 The Vedas collections of Sanskrit
hymns (written down 1200-900BCE,
but based on older oral versions).
 The Upanishads which means the
inner or mystic teaching that were
passed down from guru (teacher) to
disciple (student).
 • Mahabharata, Sanskrit for
Great Story, is one of the great
epic poems of ancient India.
• It was written between 300 BC
and AD 300.
• The story is about the battle of
one family over a kingdom in
northern India.
• The Bhagavad Gita (Song of
God) is contained in the
Mahabharata. It is dialogue
between Krishna and the hero
Arjuna on the meaning of life.
• Ramayana was written in 3rd
century BC, and tells story of
Rama, and his wife, Sita.
• Rama and Sita are generally
seen as ideal examples of great
manly heroism and wifely
devotion.
• Reciting the Ramayana is
considered a religious act, and
scenes from the epic are
portrayed throughout India and
Southeast Asia.
 Hindu Life Goals
Hinduism is about the sort of
life one should lead in order to
be born into a better life next
time and ultimately achieve
liberation. There are 4
legitimate goals in life:
• dharma (appropriate living)
• artha (the pursuit of material
gain by lawful means)
• kama (delight of the senses)
• moksha (release from rebirth).
 • Hindu Duties
• Each Hindu has 4
daily duties:
• Revere the
deities
• Respect
ancestors
• Respect all beings
• Honor all
humankind
 Refer to our
LEARNING GUIDE for
group activities.
 TOPIC 4:
HEBREW
LITERATURE
 • These texts
include
instructions,
stories, poetry,
and prophecies,
among other is a collection of religious texts or
genres. scriptures sacred in Christianity,
Judaism, Samaritanism, and
many other religions.
Composed of 39
BOOKS :
•History Books
•Prophetic Books
•Lyric Poetry
•Drama
•Wisdom Literature
•Tales
•Genesis
•Exodus
•Leviticus
History Books
•Numbers
•Deuteronomy
•Joshua
•Judges
•I Samuel
•II Samuel
•I kings
•II Kings
•Nehemiah
•Amos
•Hosea
•Micah
•Isaiah Prophetic Books
•Habakkuk
•Jeremiah
•Lamentations
•Ezekiel
•The Unknown
•Prophets
 Lyric Poetry The Psalms

Drama Book of Job

Songs of Solomon
Wisdom Literature Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Ruth
Tales Jonah
Daniel
Esther
The Gospel :
•Matthew
•Mark
•Luke
•John
 The Acts of the
II Corinthians
Apostles
Romans
Church Epistles
Hebrew
History : I & II James
Thesalonians
I John
Galatians
I Corinthians
Facts about the Bible
• The Bible’s content was written over the course of at least 500
years.

•The Bible was written in three languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and

Greek)

• The Bible was written on three continents.

•(Most was written in what is modern-day Israel (Asia). But some
passages of Jeremiah were written in Egypt (Africa) and several
New Testament epistles were written from cities in Europe.)
 • The Bible was written by more than 40
traditional contributors.

• Most of the people who wrote the Bible were of

Hebrew ethnicity.

• All Christian Bible canons contain the same 66

“core” books.
•Chapters and verses were added in the 1200s CE.

•The Bible is a mix of proactive and reactive texts.

•We don’t have the original documents.

•The Bible is about 611,000 words long (in its original languages).

•The Bible is non-linear, and the books aren’t in chronological order.

•Each book of the Bible is a standalone work.

•The longest book of the Bible is Jeremiah

•The shortest book of the Bible is 3 John

•The books of the Old Testament are arranged differently in Judaism

•There are at least 185 songs in the Bible

•The authorship of Hebrews has remained anonymous for centuries

•The word “Trinity” is never mentioned in the Bible.

•There are 21 dreams recorded in the Bible

•The book of James is the bossiest book of the Bible

 Refer to our
LEARNING GUIDE for
group activities.
TOPIC 5: JAPANESE AND
KOREAN LITERATURE
•Nippon: Land of the Rising
Sun
•Japan known now as a
developed country, which is
famous because of its
inventions, companies and
arts.
 • Japan as a country has a past
with its styles in its own
tradition, in clothing, building and
foods.
• -Clothing: Japanese people used
their traditional clothing in the
past, now they wear it just in
special occasions.
 •Yukata “for
men”,
•Kimono “for
women”,
•Zori “sandals”
 • Buildings & Gardens:
• In Japan there are
many different buildings
and gardens, that are a
big part of its culture.
They do not actually
come from Japan, their
ideas come from China.
•Japanese Literature
is one of the major
literatures of the
world comparable to
English literature in
age and variety.
 • Japanese Literature is one of the major
bodies of Oriental Literature. It is less
voluminous than Chinese Literature but
comparable to Arabic, Persian and Indian
Literature. It covers the period from the fifth
century A.D to the present.
 • Poems and odes to the Gods were Japanese
Language before the art of writing was known in
Japan. Only fragments of this Literature have
survived, but these are thought to have been
extensive.
• During the first centuries of writing in Japan, the
spoken language and written language were
identical.
•The Tale of Genji
Written by Japanese writer Murasaki
Shikibu in the 11th century, is generally
regarded as the earliest novel in any
culture and as the greatest
masterpiece of Japanese literature.

In this scene from the novel, Prince

Genji is visiting with his favorite wife,
Murasaki, while watching his
housemaids, whom he has sent outside
to build a snowman. The novel is
remarkable for its detailed depiction of
the refined culture of Heian-period
Japan.
• Man’yoshu (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves) (ca.
700-750)
•The Man’yoshu, the oldest collection of
Japanese poetry, was compiled in the 8th
century and consists of more than 4,000
poems, some of which date from as early as
the 5th century. While consisting mainly of 31
syllable poems (tanka, also called waka), it
also contains many examples of long poems
(choka). The subject matter of the poems
varies from travel descriptions to elegies and
poems of love and loss. There are also poems
reflecting Chinese and
•Buddhist influences. The Man’yoshu poems
are direct and accessible to any audience
unfamiliar with Japanese culture and the
conventions of Japanese poetry.
• Child’s Play (1895-96) by Higuchi Ichiyo (1872-1896)
•Set in the pleasure quarters of the late Meiji
era, this short story focuses on neighborhood
adolescents who experience the beginning of
adulthood. A gang of boys and one girl, once
close-knit playmates, drift apart as they face
the inevitabilities of growing up. Two
characters in the story, Nobu, a boy following
the path to priesthood, and Midori, a girl who
will eventually become a prostitute in the
licensed brothel quarters, hold mutual
affection for one another but sadly realize that
their paths will never cross as they are about
to shoulder life’s responsibilities.
•The Tale of the Heike (ca. 1250)
The Tale of the Heike is a warrior epic
of the historic battles between the
Genji (Minamoto clan) and the Heike
(Taira clan) between 1169 and 1185.
The Tale follows the rise of the Heike,
their arrogance and abuse of power,
and their destruction at the hands of
the Genji. Students who are
interested in the transition to and
the rise of the warrior class in
Japanese history will find this a
content-rich work
•In written form from at least century AD
to the present.
• One of the oldest and richest national
literatures. Since the late 1800s, Japanese
writings have become increasingly
familiar abroad.
• Genres such as haiku verse, nō drama,
and the Japanese novel have had a
substantial impact on literature in many
•parts of the world.
 With the introduction of kanji ( 漢字 , lit. "Chinese
characters") from the Asian mainland, writing became
possible, as there
was no native writing system.
Consequently, the only literary language was classical
Chinese to begin with; later, the characters were
adapted to write
Japanese, creating what is known as the man'yōgana,
the earliest form of kana, or syllabic writing.
•Nara Period include Kojiki (712: a partly
mythological, partly accurate history of
Japan)
•Nihonshoki (720: a chronicle with a
slightly more solid foundation in
historical records than the Kojiki), and
Man'yōshū (759: a poetry anthology).
• The language used in the works of this
period differs significantly from later
periods in both its grammar and
phonology. Even in this early era,
significant dialectal differences within
Japanese are apparent.
•Natsume Soseki
•Japanese author, first gained public
attention with his Wagahai wa neko de
aru (1906; I Am a Cat, 1961)
•A generally light-hearted series
of observations that a cat makes about
humans. Soseki later published more
serious psychological novels.
 • Tanizaki Jun’ichirō
• • Many of the works of
Japanese author focus on
male-female relationships.
• • He is best known for Tade
kuu mushi (1929; Some
Prefer Nettles, 1955), about
a failing marriage.
Japanese Writings
•The Kanji includes about 2000 "characters"
derived from Chinese starting more than
1500 years ago, with more than 5,000
possible pronounciations [a single character
may have from one to more than six or
seven] and covering at least 5000 possible
"meanings" or
•"semantic fields" which form the heart of
the writing system. Most of these would be
recognized by most educated Japanese
readers.
•Several thousand more Kanji were also
adopted for use by the Japanese (and have
"standardized" Japanese pronunciations)
•KANA
•Some time after adopting Chinese
characters, the Japanese developed two
syllabaries (KANA), partially derived from
Kanji. Syllabaries are writing systems in
which whole syllables, rather than discrete
sounds (phonemes), are represented by
signs which cannot be broken down into
their constituent sound elements.
•2a. Hiragana
•In this syllabary verb endings and other grammatical elements--not present in the
Chinese character system--and other features of the Japanese language are reflected in
writing. Hiragana appears to be more cursive ("rounder") than katakana.

•2b. Katakana
•This syllabary, which covers exactly the same syllable sound-system, is used primarily for
writing out the sounds of borrowed words (especially of non-Asian origins) and for
emphasis. Katakana is written in a more angular, linear form than is hiragana.

•2c. Furigana
•These are smaller than usual syllable signs (usually hiragana) that are written alongside
or above
•a Kanji primarily to indicate its correct pronunciation (remember that any Kanjimay have
several pronunciations or readings which may or may not alter its meaning)
 JAPANESE CEREMONIES

The Wedding
Ceremony

The Tea Ceremony

•Many festivals and celebrations had
its own customs:
•Many involved contests that tested
athletic, poetic, or artistic skill.
•For example, in the Festival of the
Snake, cups of wine were floated in a
stream. Guests took a cup and drank
from it. Then they had to think up
and recite a poem.
 KOREAN
LITERATURE
 Located in EAST ASIA
Called the “Land of the morning calm”
Modern spelling of “COREA” a name
attested in English as early as 1614,
“KOREA” 19th century
Amnok River – The river that separates Korea from China and
to the north east
Duman River – The river that separates Korea from China and
Russia
Peninsula - surrounded by the Yellow Sea to the west, the East
China Sea and Korea Strait to the south, and the Sea of Japan
Mount Paektu (2,744 m) - The highest mountain in Korea
through which runs the border with China Dadohae-jin -
Southern and south western coastlines of Korea form a well
developed Ria coastline
 Confucian tradition has dominated Korean though, along with
contributions by Buddhism, Taoism, and Korean Shamanism
Has competed with Buddhism in South Korea, while religious practice
has been suppressed in North Korea
The influence of traditional beliefs of Korean Shamanism, Mahayana
Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism have remained an underlying
religion of the Korean people as well as a vital aspect of their culture; all
these traditions have coexisted peacefully for hundreds of years up to
today despite strong Westernization from Christian missionary
conversions in the South Korea
Korean is the official language of both North and South
Korea
Worldwide, there are up to 80 million speakers of the
Korean language
Korean has borrowed much vocabulary from the
Chinese or created vocabulary on Chinese models.
Korean is written almost exclusively in the script of the
Korean alphabet (known as Hangul in South Korea and
Chosungul in China and North Korea)
GORYEO or KORYO DYNASTY  Founded in
918 founded by Emperor Taejo  It replaced Silla
as the ruling Dynasty of Korea  Goryeo land was
at first what is now South Korea and about 1/3 of
North Korea  Goryeo is a short form of
“Goguryeo” and first used during the time of
“King Jangsu
 Yi-seong-gye founded the “Choson
Dynasty” and moved the capital from
“kaesong to Hanseong” formerly
HANYANG, Modern day SEOUL and
built “Gyeongbokgung Palace”

It was founded aftermath of the

overthrew of the Goryeo Dynasty

Most notable among them was “Sejong

the Great” who promote (Hangul) –
Korean Alphabet
 KOREAN WAR
In 1945, with the surrender of Japan, the United
Nations developed plans for a trusteeship
administration, the Soviet Union administering the
peninsula north of the 38th parallel and the United
States administering the south

Politics of the Cold War resulted in the 1948

establishment of two separate governments North
Korea and South Korea
 During the Korean War (1950–53)
more than one million people died and the
three years of fighting throughout the
nation effectively destroyed most cities.
The war ended in an Armistice Agreement
at approximately the Military Demarcation
Line
 The Korean War led to the development of
literature centred on the wounds and chaos of
war. Much of the post-war literature in South
Korea deals with the daily lives of ordinary
people, and their struggles with national pain.
The collapse of the traditional Korean value
system is another common theme of the time.
 Korean literature written before the end of the
Joseon Dynasty is called "Classical" or
"Traditional"  Literature written in Chinese
characters (hanja), was established at the same time
as the Chinese script arrived on the peninsula 
Korean scholars were writing poetry in the classical
Korean style as early as the 2nd century BC ,
reflecting Korean thoughts and experiences of that
time
 Classical Korean literature has its roots in
traditional folk beliefs and folk tales of the
peninsula, strongly influenced by
Confucianism Buddhism and Shamanism
 Begin as an oral tradition
Good was rewarded and evil
was punished. Values like
loyalty to the king, respect
for elders, true friendship
and chastity were
emphasized
Korean poems were called
Hyangga
A new form of poem
developed after the Goryeo
dynasty and was called shijo
a three- line poem written in
Hangul and gained wide
acceptance
 The first period of the modern Korean
literature is often called “Enlightenment”
Introduced the Western-style schools and
newspaper emerged
Many biographical works were published,
the main character was often depicted as a
hero
 Jayusi is the formation of modern free verse poetry
The first printed work of fiction in Korea was John
Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress or Cheonno-yeokjeong 1893
The first complete edition of Bible in Korean was
published in 1910
Often linked in the development of Hangul which helped
increase working class literacy rate
Sinsoseol was a novel that was written in hangul
During the Colonial Korea 1910 – 1945 free speech and
press were restricted, thus influencing the literature
Literature focused on self discovery and increasingly on
concrete reality
Many novelist experimented with new literacy style and
techniques
In 1919, Kim Tong-in and Kim Hyok founded a literary
magazine “Changjo”
The literary magazine appeared during 1920’s and 1930’s were
the basis for the future development of Modern Korean
Literature
Almost all the magazine were ordered to discontinue
publication in the 1940s as the Japanese tightened the grip
with the spread of their aggressive war to the Pacific
Many novels of the 1920s centered around themes of the
suffering of intellectuals
The Korean literature was directly affected by the Japanese
government strengthening ideological coercion during 1930s
 Refer to our
LEARNING GUIDE for
group activities.
 TOPIC 6:
VIETNAM AND
INDONESIAN LITERATURE
Vietnamese literature, body of literature
produced by Vietnamese-speaking
people, primarily in Vietnam.
Like the river basins that have nourished
Vietnam’s agricultural civilization for
thousands of years, Vietnamese literature
has been fed by two great tributaries: the
indigenous oral literature and the written
literature of Chinese influence.
The oral poetry tradition is purely native. Older even than the
linguistic separation of the Muong and Vietnamese languages 1,000
years ago, the oral poetry tradition probably has its origins in the
agrarian prayers common to the prehistory of the
Mon-Khmer language family. The oral poetry, still sung today in the
countryside, remains a strong influence in contemporary poetry and
fiction writing.

Its word stock, prosodic patterns, and themes show few foreign
influences. And, while its main contemporary feature is the lyrical,
first-person, sung poetry of ca dao (“folk ballads”), the oral tradition
also contains third-person narratives, as in the ca tru (“ceremonial
songs”) tradition in the north and the vong co (“echoes of the past”)
tradition in the south, as well as in the tuc-ngu proverbs (“customary
words”), related to ca dao.
Chinese influence on the written literature of Vietnam is
nearly as old as its conquest of the country in the 2nd
century BC. For nearly 2,000 years after that, most
Vietnamese writing was in Chinese ideograms. In other
words, to express themselves in writing, the Vietnamese
had to use a writing system that represented their ideas
but not their speech.
However, with national independence and the establishment of a Vietnamese state
in the 10th century AD, scholars began to develop an ideographic writing system
that represented Vietnamese speech. This demotic writing system, called
Chu Nom, or “the southern script,” existed beside Chinese writing into the early
20th century when both Chinese and Chu Nom were supplanted by a Roman
alphabetical script, first proposed in 1651 by the Jesuit priest
Alexandre de Rhodes. The alphabetical system of writing, called Quoc-ngu, or
“the national script,” was much simpler to learn than either Chinese or Chu Nom.
Its general adoption, particularly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, spread
literacy throughout Vietnam and sped the introduction of Western ideas and
literary forms, including the appearance of the Western-style novel and
short story.
novels such as Duong Thu Huong’s Tieu thuyet vo de (1991; Novel Without a Name), Bao
Ninh’s Than phan cua tinh yeu (1991; The Sorrow of War), and Nguyen Huy Thiep’s
remarkable collection Tuong ve huu (1988; The General Retires and Other Stories).
 Nguyen Qui Duc (Where the Ashes Are, 1994);
Andrew Lam, co-editor of Once upon a Dream: The
Vietnamese-American Experience (1995); Monique
Truong, The Book of Salt (2003); and Le Thi Diem
Thuy, The Gangster We Are All Looking for (2003).
•There remained in Vietnamese literature,
wherever one found it, traces of French
Symbolism and of a renovated Socialist Realism.
In poetry frequent use of free verse occurred.
Postmodernism and even magic realism had
become available literary strategies. All these
blended into the ancient streams of Vietnamese
literary habit, which had by no means
disappeared.
INDONESIAN
LITERATURE
Location: Southeast Asian Archipelago
between the Indian Ocean and
the Pacific Ocean
• Indonesia has an estimated
17, 508 islands but only
6,000 islands are inhabited.
• It comprises 5 main islands:
Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi,
Jawa and Papua.
Capital: Jakarta
• Indonesians are a mixed of Chinese, European, Indian and
Malay.
• Diversity is a central feature of the Indonesian Culture.
Historical Overview
Early
History

China 15th-17th
Century
18th-19th
Indonesia Century
India Muslim

Europe Dutch

Middle
East
Periods of Indonesian Literature

1. Pujangga Lama: the "Literates of Olden Times"

2. Sastra Melayu Lama: "Older Malay Literature"

3. Angkatan Balai Pustaka: the "Generation of the

[Colonial] Office for Popular Literature" (from 1908)

4. Angkatan Pujangga Baru: the "New Literates" (1933)

5. Angkatan 1945: the "Generation of 1945"

Periods of Indonesian Literature
6. Angkatan 1950 - 1960-an: the "Generation of the
1950s"
7. Angkatan 1966 - 1970-an: the "Generation of
1966 into the 1970s"

8. Angkatan 1980-an: the "Decade of the 1980s"

9. Angkatan Reformasi: the post Suharto

"Reformation Period"
10. Angkatan 2000-an: the "Generation of 2000s"
1. Pujangga Lama : the
"Literates of Olden Times"
• Pujangga lama or "the old poets" was
written before the 20th century
• A lively oral tradition using traditional
Malay-language literature
Genres

Traditional forms dominate in written poetry and prose:

• syair (traditional narrative poetry)
Examples: Syair Bidasari
Syair Raja Siak
Syair Ken Tambuhan
Syair Raja Mambang Jauhari
• pantun (quatrains made up of two seemingly
disconnected couplets)
Example: Sejarah Melayu
Genres

• gurindam (brief aphorisms)

• hikayat (stories, fairy-tales, animal fables, chronicles)
Examples: Hikayat andaken Penurat
Hikayat Bayan Budiman
Hikayat Kadirun
• babad (histories or chronicles)
Example: Sejarah Melayu
2. Sastra • The works from this period were predominantly

Melayu popular among the people in Sumatra,the Chinese

and the Indo-Europeans (1870-1942)

Lama: • The first works were dominated by syair, hikayat

and translations of western novels

"Older Examples: Robinson Crusoe (translation)

Around the World in Eighty Days
Malay (Mengelilingi Bumi dalam 80 hari) (translation)

Literature"
3. Angkatan Balai Pustaka: the
"Generation of the [Colonial] Office for
Popular Literature" (1908)

• National consciousness emerged among educated Indonesians

• Balai Pustaka is a Dutch government-supervised publisher
• Themes: forced marriages, adat (traditional law), modernization and
adventure
• Azab dan Sengsara (Torment and Misery) - First Indonesian Novel
written by Merari Siregar
• Sitti Nurbaya - most popular of all Balai Pustaka' s novels written
by Marah Rusly

• In 1928, "Bahasa Indonesia" ("Indonesian language") is

proclaimed a National Language
• "one people, one nation, one language".
 4. Angkatan Pujangga Baru:
the "New Literates" (1933)
• National consciousness among young Indonesian intellectuals was well-developed.
• Angkatan Pujangga Baru - first national literary magazine was created
• Greatest Poets were:
Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana
Amir Hamzah
Armijn Pane
Sanusi Pane
• Characteristic:
- first literary periodical in the national
language
- occasionally included prose in English, and
more regularly and perhaps understandably,
prose and poetry in Dutch
- Beb Vuyk, an Indo-European author of Dutch
nationality but with strong nationalist sympathies
is one of the editors
• dominated by essays and poetry in the modern vein
• Romanticism is evident in poems which emphasizes
individual emotions, nature & mysticism.
Examples: Mengeluh ("Complaint")
Kematian Anak ("The Death of a Child")
Sawah ("Rice Fields")
Bintang ("Stars")
Do'a ("Prayer")
5. Angkatan 1945:
the "Generation of 1945"

• dominated by the thoughts of independence and

political manner
• inspiration and leaders are:
Chairil Anwar – the great poet
Pramoedya Ananta Toer – most
prominent writer
6. Angkatan
1950 - 1960- • characterized by the Kisah
magazine, established by H. B.
an: the Jassin
• dominated by collections of short
"Generation stories and poetry

of the
1950s"
7. Angkatan 1966 - 1970-an: the
"Generation of 1966 into the 1970s"

• rising the Horison magazine led by Mochtar

Lubis
• Dozens of writers previously associated with
Lekra or leftist groups went into exile overseas
• Telegram ( 1973 )
• Author: Putu Wijaya
• This fiction tells the story of a
Balinese journalist who live in Jakarta and
thinks that a telegram is a bad omen.
8. Angkatan 1980-an:
the "Decade of the 1980s"
• dominated by romance novel
• poets explored ideas such as femininity
• Lupus – a popular story written by Hilman
Hariwijaya
 • And The War Is Over ( 1977 )
9. Angkatan • Author: Ismail Marahimin
Reformasi: the • Set in Indonesia following the
post Suharto Japanese invasion, this book was
"Reformation awarded the Pegasus Prize for
Period" Literature in 1984. Originally
titled Dan Perang Pun Usai,
 • Dewi Lestari (Dee Lestari) is one of the front
runners in the modern Indonesian book
scene
10. • As an author, she has published nine books,
Angkatan including the highly anticipated Supernova
2000-an: series.
• Supernova 1: Ksatria, Puteri dan Bintang
the Jatuh (2001)
"Generation • Supernova 2: Akar (2002)
of 2000s" • Supernova 3: Petir (2004)
• Supernova 4: Partikel (2012)
• Supernova 5: Gelombang (2014)
• Eka Kurniawan
•-first Indonesian writer nominated for the Man
Booker international prize for his novel Man Tiger,
translated by Labodalih Sembiring.
• - Man Tiger, with its main character possessed by
the spirit of a white tiger, has elements that UK
readers will most readily recognise from Latin
American magical realism
• Ayu Utami
•-Wrote the most talk about book Saman
•- dealt with subjects that until that time had
been taboo: political, repression, prejudice
towards the Chinese, and premarital sex.
• Sastra Wangi: Indonesia's Sexy Feminist Literary
Movement
•- Fragrant Literature
• First new trend in Indonesian literature
• Other writers are: Dewi Lestari, Fira Basuki and Djenar
Maesa Ayu
 • Raisa Affandi,
- just 11 years old
when she wrote
her 1st Novel
“Mimmi Bo and
the Missing
Diary”
 • Cyber
Literature
• "Sastra Tong
Sampah“
• ("dustbin
literature")
 • Literature is a
Subversive Act.
• It is a medium for
change.
• It promotes social
responsibility and social
consciousness.
 Refer to our
LEARNING GUIDE for
group activities.