ASIAN LITERATURE

21st Century Literature

 Asian Literature
It is the literature produced in Asia
Divisions of Asian Literature

East Asian Literature

South Asian Literature
West Asian Literature
Southeast Asian Literature
 East Asian Literature

• Chinese Literature
• Japanese Literature
• Korean Literature
 Chinese Literature: Classical Story
Title:Journey to the West
Author: Wu Cheng'en
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
It tells the story of one of Buddha
Sakyamuni’s disciples who was banished
from the heavenly paradise for the crime
of slighting the Buddha Law. He was
sent to the human world and forced to
spend ten lifetimes practicing religious
self-cultivation in order to atone for his
sins.
 Chinese Literature: Contemporary Story

Title: Rainbow
Author: Mao Dun
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rainbow chronicles the political and social disruptions
in China during the early years of the twentieth century.
Mei, embarks on a journey that takes her from the
limitations of the traditional family to a discovery of
the new, "modern" values of individualism, sexual
equality, and political responsibility. The novel moves
with Mei from the conservative world of China's
interior provinces down the Yangtze River to Shanghai,
where she discovers the turbulent political environment
of China's most modern city.
 Japanese Literature: Classical Story

Title:The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

Author: Unknown
Genre: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
It tells the story of Princess Kaguya (Kaguya-
hime). The princess was first discovered by a
bamboo cutter, who split open a stalk one day to
find her asleep inside. 
 Japanese Literature: Contemporary
Story
Title: The Convenience Store
(Konbini Ningen )Woman
Author: Sayaka Murata
Genre: Literary Fiction
Keiko Furukura had always been considered a
strange child, and her parents always worried
how she would get on in the real world, so
when she takes on a job in a convenience store
while at university, they are delighted for her. 
 Korean Literature: Classical Story

Title: Geumo Sinhwa (Tales of Mount

Geumo)
Author: Kim Si-seup
First known novel written by a Korean author.

The subject material of these stories include

love affairs between mortals and ghosts and
dream journeys to the Underworld or to the
Dragon Palace.
 Korean Literature: Contemporary Story

Title: The Dog Thief: Short Stories

Author: Lim Chul-woo Genre:
Fiction; Mystery
Chul-Woo Lim witnessed the Kwangju
Uprising during which hundreds of pro-
democracy protesters were massacred by the
South Korean government of Chun Doo Hwan.
Lim's desire to bear witness to this tragic event
became one of the motivating forces behind his
writing. One year after the massacre, Lim
published his first short story, "The Dog Thief."
 West Asian Literature

• Persian Literature
• Arabic Literature
• Jewish Literature
• Turkish Literature
 Persian Literature: Classical Story

Title:The Rubaiyat Author:

Omar Khayyam
Genre: Poetry
 A traditional Persian verse form
consisting of a collection of quatrains,
typically rhyming aaba.
 Persian Literature: Contemporary Story

Title: The Blind Owl

Author: Sadegh Hedayat
Genre: Experimental Novel

A haunting tale of loss and spiritual

degradation. 
 Arabic Literature: Classical Story
Title:The Arabian Nights
Genre: Fairytale; Fiction
The Arabian Nights is a story straight out
of a romance novel. It's an epic collection
of Arabic folk tales written during the
Islamic Golden Age. Scorned by
an unfaithful wife, Shahryar is the king of
a great empire, but is brokenhearted.
Shahryar chose to marry a new woman
every day only to kill her the next
morning.
 Arabic Literature: Contemporary Story

Title: Cities of Salt

Author: Abdelrahman Munif
Genre: Fiction
Narrates the story of the discovery of oil in
the Arabian Peninsula and the radical
impact of that discovery on the physical
and human landscape.
 Jewish Literature: Classical Story
Title: Fox Fables
Author: Berechiah ben natronai ha-
nakdan
Genre: Fiction
This is a set of over a hundred fables. Some of
his own invention and some reworked
from Aesop's Fables, the Talmud, and Oriental
sources. Berechiah's work adds a layer of
Biblical quotations and allusions to Aesop's
tales, adapting them as a way to teach Jewish
ethics
 Jewish Literature: Contemporary Story

Title: Black Box

Author: Amos Oz
Genre: Fiction
This deals with the tensions resulting from
a destroyed marriage. The behaviors of a
wild and rebellious son, spiraling out of
control, serve as an excuse for a rejected
wife to write to her ex-husband and
conjure up their past demons.
 Turkish Literature: Classical Story

Title: Book of Dede

Korkuts
Genre: Epic Poetry
The stories carry morals and values
significant to the social lifestyle of the
nomadic Turkic peoples and their pre-
Islamic beliefs.
 Turkish Literature: Contemporary Story

Title: Memed, My Hawk

Author: Yasar Kemal
Genre: Fiction
Memed, a young boy from a village in
Anatolia, is abused and beaten by the
villainous local landowner, Abdi Agha.
Having endured great cruelty towards
himself and his mother, Memed finally
escapes with his beloved, a girl named
Hatche.
 South Asian Literature

• Indian Literature
• Pakistani Literature
• Bangladeshi Folk
Literature
• Sri Lankan Literature
 Indian Literature: Classical Story

Title: Mahabharata
Genre: Epic Poetry
The Mahabharata is an ancient Indian epic
where the main story revolves around two
branches of a family - the Pandavas and
Kauravas - who, in the KurukshetraWar, battle
for the throne of Hastinapura. Interwoven into
this narrative are several smaller stories about
people dead or living,
and philosophicaldiscourses.
 Indian Literature: Contemporary Story

Title: Gitanjali
Author: Rabindranath Tagore
Genre: Poetry

A collection of poems
Profound spiritual poems
of Rabindranath Tagore written after a
period of great turmoil, during which he
lost much of his family.
 Pakistani Literature: Contemporary Story

Title: Wandering Falcon

Author: Jamil Ahmed
Genre: Novel or collection of short
stories
Their son, Tor Baz, descended from both
chiefs and outlaws, becomes "The
Wandering Falcon," a character
who travels among the tribes, over the
mountains and the plains, into the towns
and the tents that constitute the homes of
the tribal people.
 Bangladeshi Literature: Classical Story

Title: Devdas
Author: Sarat Chandra
Chattopadhyay
Genre: Novel
Saratchandra Chattopadhyay's tragic tale of
Devdas has become synonymous with
a passionate, intense love that does not find
consummation. It is the story of Devdas and
Paro, childhood sweethearts who are torn apart
when Devdas is sent away to Calcutta by his
father.
 Bangladesh Literature: Contemporary Story

Title: Gora
Author: Rabindranath Tagore
Genre: Novel
Gora raises controversial questions about
the Indian identity.
 Sri Lankan Literature: Classical Story

Title: Tripitaka
The earliest collection of Buddhist
teachings and the only text recognized
as canonical by Theravada Buddhists.
 Sri Lankan Literature: Contemporary Story

Title: Funny Boy

Author: Shyam Selvadurai Genre:
Historical Fiction
A story about a seven year old boy Arjun who
goes on to experience not only the ups and
downs that accompany the discovery of one’s
sexuality but also the harsh reality of the real
world. 
 Southeast Asian Literature

• Myanmar
• Indonesia
• Thailand
• Malaysia
• Cambodia
 Burmese Literature: Classical Literature

Title: Myazedi Inscription

The earliest extant specimen of
Burmese literature. It narrates the
dedication of the Golden Buddha
by a prince and the gift of slave-
villages to the image, ending with a
prayer for the donor and his
friends.
 Burmese Literature: Contemporary Story

Title: Freedom from Fear

Author: Aung San Suu Kyi
Genre: Biography
An essay by Aung San Suu Kyi, and a
book of the same name comprising a
collection of her essays.
 Indonesian Literature: Classical Story

Title: The Story of Arjuna Wiwaha

Author: Empu Kanwa
Genre: Epic
 Indonesian Literature: Contemporary Story

Title: Saman
Author: Ayu Utami
Genre: Novel
It is Utami's first novel. It is a playful
exploration of female sexuality and a
story about love in all its guises, while
touching o­n all of Indonesia’s taboos:
extramarital sex, political repression and
the relationship between Christians and
Muslims.
 Thai Literature: Classical Story

Title:  Ramakien
Genre: Epic

This is the Thai version of the Indian

Ramayana, an allegory of the triumph of
good versus evil.  The hero, Rama is a
paragon of virtue – the ideal king.  The
villain, or demon king Tosakan. 
 Thai Literature: Contemporary Story

Title:  Pa Concrete (Concrete

Forest)
Author: Rong Wongsawan
Genre: Satire
It is about the Thai people living in the
United States during the golden age of
hippies. The novel looks at their
behaviour, both “beautiful” and
abominable. 
 Malaysian Literature: Classical Story

Title:  Kisah Dongeng

Kisah dongeng are a loose collection of

bedtime stories, fables and myths that
involves human or non-human
characters, often with superhuman
powers along with talking animals, and
an unearthly setting.
 Malaysian Literature: Contemporary Story

Title: The Gift of Rain

Author: Tan Twang Eng
Genre: Novel
This book presents a story of
betrayal, barbaric cruelty,
steadfast courage and enduring
love.
 Cambodian Literature: Classical Story

Title: Vorvong and Saurivong

Genre: Legend
A long tale of the Khmer oral
tradition about two khmer princes
that fell into disgrace and only after
a series of ordeals, regain their
status.
 Cambodian Literature: Conteporary Story

Title: Vorvong and Saurivong

Genre: Legend
A long tale of the Khmer oral
tradition about two khmer princes
that fell into disgrace and only after
a series of ordeals, regain their
status.