ASIAN’S

LITERATURE
GENRES
CLASSICAL INDIAN
LITERATURE
■Refers to the literature produced
on the Indian subcontinent until
1947 and up in the Republic of
Indian thereafter.
■The first work of Indian
Literature was orally transmitted.
■Classial Sanskrit literature
developed rapidly during the
first few centuries of the first
millenium (BCE) .
Rabindranath Tagore
-Bengali poet and
became the India’s
first Nobel laurate in
literature.
EAST ASIAN
LITERATURE
CHINESE LITERATURE
■ Extends thousand of years , from the earliest
recorded dynastic court arhives to the mature
vernacular fiction level that arose during the
Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate
China.
■ The introduction of widespread woodblock
printing during the Tang Dynasty ( 618- 907)
■ Movable type printing invented by Bi Sheng .
■ During the Song Dynasty rapidly spread written
knowledge throughout China.
Lu Xun
A author that is
considered as a
founder of
baihua literature
in China
JAPANESE LITERATURE
Was heavily The influence of Chinese
influenced by Literature and Classical
Chinese lit and Chinese, which was the
Indian Lit ; Japanese Literature
through separation developed by separate
of Buddhism in style.
Japan.
Japan reopened it’s ports to Western trading
and diplomacy in 19th century, Western and
Eastern literature have strongly affected each
other
KOREAN LITERATURE
■ Is the body of literature produced by Koreans,
mostly in the Korean language and sometimes in
Classical Chinese. It was written in Hanja in
almost 1,500 years of Korean lit.
■ Divided into classical and modern periods,
although this distinction is sometimes unclear.
■ Korea is home to the world’s first metal and
copper type, the world’s earliest known printed
and the world’s first featural script.
SOUTH ASIAN
LITERATURE
PAKISTAN LITERATURE
■Defined after Pakistan gained
nationhood status in 1947 .
■The shared tradition of Urdu
literature and English literature of
British India was inherited by new
state.
BANGLADESHI FOLK LITERATURE
■ Constitutes a considerable portion of
Bengali literature .
■ Created by illiterate communities and
passed down orally from one generation to
another which tends to flourish Bengali
literature .
■ Individual folk literature became a
collective product and assumes the
traditions, emotions, thoughts and values of
the community.
SRI LANKAN LITERATURE
■ Largest part of Sri Lankan literature was written
in Sinhala language but there is a considerable
number of works in other languages used in over
the millenia .
■ Up to the present , short stories are very
important part of Sri Lankan literature, the oitput
of Sinhalese short story writers is greater than
that of the Tamil and English writers combined
and has elicited a greater measure of critical
analysis.
MALAYSIAN LITERATURE
■ Typically written in any of the country’s four
languanges : Malay, English , Tamil and Chinese.
■ Portrays various aspects of Malaysian lofe and
comprises an important part of the culture of Malaysia.
■ Malaysian literature was orally transmitted on their
earliest works .
■ Oral traditions thrived among the Malays but continues
to survive among the indigenous people of Malaysia ,
including the Orang Asli and numerours ethnic groups
in Sarawak and Sabah .
INDONESIAN LITERATURE
■ Covering literature written in an earlier
form of the language ( the Malay
language written in the Dutch East
Indies Oral literature, through a central
part of the Indonesian literary tradition).
THE LITERATURE OF BURMA
(MYANMAR)
■ Influenced by Indian and Thai cultures, as seen in
many works such as the Ramayana.
■ Adopted words primarily from Páli rather than from
sanskrit.
■ Burmese literature tends to reflect local folklore and
culture.
■ Burmese literature has historically been a very
important aspect of Burmese life stepped in the Pali
Canon of Buddhism.
■ Known as Anglo – Vernacular.
Burmese children were educated by monks
and monasteries in towns and villages
VIETNAMESE LITERATURE

■Is the literature both

oral and written
Century Event
Before the 11 century, Imperial Annam was
11th dominated by China and as a result much of the
written work during this period was Hanese.

10
Chū Nūm created around 10th century, allowede
th writers to compose in Vietnamese using modified
Chinese characters

18
Flourished in this century when many notable
th Vietnamese writers and poets composed their works
in Chū Nūm and when it briefly became the official
script.

While the quóc ngū was created in the 17th century ,

it did not become popular outside of missionary
groups until the early 20th century

20
Virtually al Vietnamese works of literature were
th composed of quóc ngū.
 WEST ASIAN
LITERATURE
 PERSIAN LITERATURE
■ Comprises oral composituons and oral
written texta in the Persian language and it is
one of the world’s oldest literatures.
■ Rumi, one of best loved Persian poets born in
Balkh ( in the modern day Afghanistan)
■ Not all Persian literature is written in
Persian, as some consider works written by
Ethnic Persian or Iranians in other language,
such as Greek and Arabic, to be included.
ARABIC LITERATURE
■ In terms of writing, both prose and poetry
used Arabic language
■ Emerged in 5th century with only fragments
of the written language appearing before
then.
■ Qur’ an as the finest piece of Arabic
language and served as the greatest lasting
effect on Arabic culture and it’s literature.
Jewish literature

■Ancient Jewish literature includes Biblical

literature and rabbinic literature.
■Medieval Jewish literature includes not only
rabbinic literature but also ethical literature,
philosophical literature, mystical literature,
various other forms of prose including history
and religion, various forms of poetry and both
regular and secular varieties.
TURKISH LITERATURE
■ Highly influenced by Persian and
Arabic literature, and used the Ottoman
Turkish alphabet.
■ In 7th century, there arose among the
nomadic Turkic people of Central Asia
a tradition of oral epics.
ASIAN’S TRADITION
AND CULTURE
■ The culture of Asia encompasses the
collective and diverse customs and
traditions of art, architecture, music ,
literature, lifestyle, philosphy, politics and
religion that have been practiced and
maintained.
■ Considering Asia is home to several of the
world’s oldest civilizations, that produced
the majority of the great religious system,
the oldest known recorded myths and
codices on ethics and morality.