SOUTHERN ASIA

Afghanistan Literature

The spoken word began to acquire cultural pre-eminence in Afghanistan after the
coming of Islam (9th century), when pre-Islamic music, renowned for its decadence, was
increasingly singled out for proscription under Islamic law. Denied other forms of
creative expression, people turned to their language as the fount of all artistic creation.
Unlike the musician, the poet has always held a respected position in Islamic society.
Developing from the oral tradition, literature gradually evolved into a written art. During
the early medieval period literature was written in Dari and Pashtu, Turkic and Arabic.
One of the most important works of this period was the Dari epic poem Shah Nameh
(The Book of Kings), completed in 1010 by Persian poet Firdawsi and comprising 60,000
rhyming couplets.

Jalalaluddin Rumi Balkhi (1207-1273, also known as Rumi) is considered one of

the greatest Sufi poets writing in Persian and is also known as the founder of the
‘whirling dervishes’. His writings have been translated into English.
Seventeenth-century Afghan warrior-poet Khushal Khan Khatak (1613-1694) wrote in
Pashtu. Regarded today as the national poet of modern Afghanistan, he wrote a large
body of verse during a time of civil strife. His themes are not conventional but speak of
small everyday joys and sorrows, as well as national hopes and religious devotion. His
theme of the noble tribesman later became popular with other writers. Khushal Khan
Khatak’s grandson Afdal Khan authored an important history of the Pashtun.
By the late 19th century Pashtu sung poetry had been formalised at the royal court into
the classical genre known as ghazal, in recognition of the fact that music can be a
powerful way to deliver great poetry.

Since the Taliban left Kabul the focus in the capital has been on newspaper and
magazine production and poems about the experiences of the past 20 years proliferate.
New books in the style of the epic stories and in the great literary tradition of the past are
few. Today, people are more interested in reading the books about peace and the
reconstruction of Afghanistan, politics and the Taliban. As there was no way to express
freedom during this last regime, most of the writers who had something to publish are
now looking for funds to print their manuscripts. Authors not only have to pay for their
books to be printed but must also promote and sell their books. Today few writers in
Afghanistan have the time or funding for such an endeavour.
Two important books about Afghanistan’s writers and poets written in Dari are ‘From
Mahmud E Tarzi to Vasef Bakhtari’ and ‘From Yesterday to Today: Afghanistan’s
Refugee Poets’, written by Iranian author Jangez Pahlavan.
Bangladesh Literature

The history of Bangladesh's literature extends back many centuries, with the
oldest sample of Bengali literature dating back a thousand years. A notable difference is
seen in the literary works of pre- and post-independent Bangladesh. Literature from
Bangladesh is produced in many forms, from novels to poetry, and in several languages.

It was during medieval times that Bangladesh's literature reached new heights as
Muslim rulers became patrons of this art form. Well-known Bangladeshi poets of the era
are Alaol, Chandi Das and Daulat Kazi. Toward the end of the 19th century Bengali
literature entered a modern era, introducing literary geniuses such as Rahindranath Tagor,
Kazi Ahdul Wadud, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Kankim Chandra Chattopadhyai and Mir
Mosharraf Hossain.

Renowned Rabindranath Tagore's literary career encompassed more than 60 years

of his life. During this time he produced an abundance of exquisite works including
poems, songs, plays, novels, volumes of short stories. He also produced prose covering
topics such as politics, society, literature and religion. Over and above this he engaged in
many other activities such as painting, lecture tours through Europe, Asia and America,
translating into English, educational reforms, religion and politics. Tagore is certainly a
legend amongst the people of Bangladesh and throughout the world.

Shamsur Rahman is considered by many to be Bangladesh's greatest poet, having

published some 60 collections of poetry. He has been acclaimed for bringing about a new
dimension to Bengali poetry. Shamsur is in fact a journalist by profession and has won
several awards for his contributions to Bangladesh's literature, including the Swadhinata
Award, the Bangla Academy Award and the Ekushey Padak.

Kazi Nazrul Islam, also known as Rebel Poet (asbidrohi kobi), hit Bangladesh's
literary scene with a bang when his poem entitled “bidrohi” was published. This poem
touched the hearts of people and so affected the population deeply. Nazrul's literary
works speak out against religious and social bigotry, oppression and other contributors to
national discord. Nazrul is also popular for his song writing abilities, having produced
some 3000 songs. His main works include Chayanat, Sanchita, Agnivina and Dolan
Champa.

Bangladesh's literature and literary figures have not only had an immense
influence within in the country, but have extended beyond borders, bringing to light
many issues plaguing the nation as well as inspiring mankind.
Bhutan Literature

The Bhutanese concept of literature refers rather to the general collection of texts
like Rigney and Zhung. From this point, Bhutanese literature is those texts that yields
knowledge and has positive outcome. As such, Bhutanese literature divides learning into
five headings: grammar, dialectics, healing, the outer sciences and inner sciences that
cover Buddhist doctrines and practices. These are not purely Bhutanese but are greatly
influenced by the growth of Buddhism and have largely been influenced by other cultures
too. The corpus of Bhutanese literature can be broadly classified as follows:

All of this literature deal mostly with the religious works but also convey information
on the social set up, the form of government and the economic life of the Bhutanese in
general.

1. Chhoejung (dharma histories and religious literature that includes Kangyur and
Tengyur)

2. Namthar (Religious biographies)

3. Gyalrab(Historical chronicles of dynasties or other)

4. Logyu (Records or history of chronicles)

5. Terma (Treasure texts)

6. Srung (Epics like that of Gesar of Ling)

7. Glu (Folk songs)

8. Nyam Gyur (religious poetry)

9. Nyan Ngag (Ornate poetry)

10. Karchag (Catalogues)

 11. Tshig Dzod (dictionary)

Brunei Literature

The Language and Literature Bureau is the country’s main ministry in charge of
the promotion and development of literature and folklore. This office produces a series of
textbooks in both English and Malay for use by students. The most popular form of
traditional writing is a form of poetry called sajak. Although a handful of local authors
have become well known in the literary world, Brunei is not very prolific. The nation’s
most famous piece of traditional literature is the epic poem Sya’ir Awang Simawn, which
tells the story of a cultural hero.

Brunei has, however, been the setting for a few modern novels by Western
authors. Dan Brown’s novel Armageddon takes place mainly in Brunei and details a
fictional attack on the nation by the group of Islamic fundamentalists. Another famous
story featuring Brunei is Devil of a State by Anthony Burgess. In this novel, the building
of the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin’s mosque in the capital Bandar Seri Begawan is a major
theme.

Cambodian Literature

The center of Cambodian literature consists of myths and legends passed down
orally from generation to generation. Most of these are based on stories about Buddha's
previous lives (Jataka tales), and epics of India (Mahabharata and Ramayana).

Stone slabs that give the genealogy of Khmer kings and their contributions to the
temples are the earliest written documents (in Khmer and Sanskrit) in Cambodia.

In 1938, the first novel was published after printing techniques were introduced to
Cambodia by the French. The Khmer Rouge's influence on Cambodian literature was to
limit it to poems on agriculture, peasants and revolutionary songs.

Cambodian refugees living abroad, particularly those in France and Thailand,

published most of the Cambodian literary works during the 20th century.
Indian Literature

The Indian literary tradition is primarily one of verse and is also essentially oral.
The earliest works were composed to be sung or recited and were so transmitted for many
generations before being written down. As a result, the earliest records of a text may be
later by several centuries than the conjectured date of its composition. Furthermore,
perhaps because so much Indian literature is either religious or a reworking of familiar
stories from the Sanskrit epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and the
mythological writings known as Puranas, the authors often remain anonymous.
Biographical details of the lives of most of the earlier Indian writers exist only in much
later stories and legends.

Indian language has a rich tradition of literature. Tales from the Puranas, the
Jatakas and the Panchatantra folk tales, fairy tales and ghost stories have made India a
vast storehouse of literature. Non-Literary work on a variety of themes like law, health,
astronomy, grammar, administration also forms a part of the Indian literary
heritage. India has given birth to it's own distinct set of littérateurs and literature.The
literary tradition in India is primarily oral literature in vernacular languages. This is
passed on from generation to generation without manuscript generally sung or recited. It
was in the16th century that an extensive written literature appeared. The reasons for this
change were the literary predominance of Sanskrit and the emergence of Hindu pietistic
movements that sought to reach the people in their spoken languages. The earlier form of
Indian literature was religious. They include the Vedas, the Brahmanas, the Aryankas, the
Upanishads, the Sanskrit Epics- Ramayana and Mahabharatha, the Brahmashastras, the
mythological writings known as Puranas. The literatures of this period are in Sanskrit
Pali Prakrit.
Indonesian Literature

Early Indonesian literature originates in Malay literature, and the influence of

these roots was felt until well into the twentieth century. The literature produced by the
Pujangga lama (literally "the old poets") was mainly written before the 20th century, but
after the coming of Islam. Before that time, however, there must have existed a lively oral
tradition.

Genres

In written poetry and prose, a number of traditional forms dominate, mainly:—

• syair (traditional narrative poetry)

• pantun (quatrains made up of two seemingly disconnected couplets)
• gurindam (brief aphorisms)
• hikayat (stories, fairy-tales, animal fables, chronicles)
• babad (histories or chronicles).

Works

Some of these works are:

• syair
Syair Bidasari, Syair Ken Tambuhan, Syair Raja Mambang Jauhari, Syair Raja
Siak
• pantun
scattered items found all over the Indonesian Archipelago, and also incorporated
in other works (e.g., Sejarah Melayu)
• hikayat
Hikayat Abdullah, Hikayat Andaken Penurat, Hikayat Bayan Budiman, Hikayat
Djahidin, Hikayat Hang Tuah, Hikayat Kadirun, Hikayat Kalila dan Damina,
Hikayat Masydulhak, Hikayat Pelanduk Jinaka, Hikayat Pandja Tanderan,
Hikayat Putri Djohar Manikam, Hikayat Tjendera Hasan, Tsahibul Hikayat.
• historiography
Sejarah Melayu.
Lao Literature

As in neighbouring countries, the earliest literature to emerge in what is now the

Lao PDR served to perpetuate the various proverbs, myths, legends and cosmology
associated with particular ethnic groups. Today several of Laos’ ethnic minority groups
still preserve a rich tradition of epic stories, performed by village elders who are charged
with keeping the ancient art alive.

Late in the first millennium BCE, Buddhist monks began to appropriate the
ancient storytelling techniques for the purpose of spreading their faith, giving rise to the
development of the jataka, tales of the Bodhisattva (previous incarnations of the Buddha)
which were later added to the tripitaka canonical texts of Theravada Buddhism.

Compiled at various dates in several countries and totalling 547 stories in the
oldest and most complete collection, the jataka were intended to teach the virtues of self-
sacrifice, honesty and morality to the common person. The last and longest, known as the
Vessantara (in which the future Buddha in the form of Prince Vessantara perfects
renunciation), was later to become Phra Vet, the most popular of all the jataka stories in
Laos.

From the 8th century onwards, Buddhist practices introduced into the region by
early Mon rulers were slowly adopted by the incoming Tai and syncretised with animist
practices. By the start of the Lane Xang era (14th century) Buddhist wats had begun to
emerge as important centres of learning in which sacred texts in Pali were copied onto
palm leaves for study and recitation.
Malaysian Literature

The literature of Malaysia refers to a collection of literary works produced in the

Malay peninsula until 1963 and in Malaysia thereafter. Malaysian literature is typically
written in any of the country's three main languages: Malay, English and Chinese. It
portrays various aspects of Malaysian life and comprises an important part of the culture
of Malaysia.

The earliest works of Malaysian literature were transmitted orally, in the absence
of writing scripts. Oral literature encompasses a variety of genres of Malay folklore, such
as myths, legends, folk tales, romances, epics, poetry, proverbs, origin stories and oral
histories. Oral tradition thrived among the Malays, but continues to survive among the
indigenous people of Malaysia, including the Orang Asli and numerous ethnic groups in
Sarawak and Sabah.

Early Malay literature was influenced by Indian epics, such as the Mahabharata
and the Ramayana, which later included other traditions that now form the Malay literary
heritage, such as the Hikayat Mara Karma, Hikayat Pancatenderan and Hikayat Gul
Bakawali. Malay romantic tales were also sourced from the Panji cycle of Hindu Java.
There were also several forms of Malay poetry, which still remain popular until today.
For the Orang Asli, literature was and still is constituted by accounts of actual events.
Different ethnic groups have different versions of the same story, although there are
several recurring themes and elements in every tale.

The cultural practices of the indigenous people in Sarawak are shaped in part by
oral traditions. Themes like the relationship of the people to their past, particularly their
ancestry, and the spirit world, including its influence on the production of food and health
are the primary themes of the oral literature of various ethnic groups in Sarawak. The
recitation of oral literature is often accompanied by rituals. The oral traditions of Sabah
encompass folk tales and legends, such as creation myths, that have been preserved by
the ethnic groups in the state. This oral literature is recited during ceremonies conducted
by priestesses, who serve as ritual specialists, faith healers and spirit mediums.

By the 19th century, oral literature on the Malay peninsula was superseded by
written literature. This was attributed largely in part to the introduction of Islam to the
Peninsula by the 15th century and the adoption of the Jawi script. This tradition was
influenced both by earlier oral traditions and Islamic literature from the Middle East.
Works during this time ranged from theological literature and legal digests, to romances,
moral anecdotes, popular tales of Islamic prophets and even animal tales, which were
written in a number of styles ranging from religious to the Hikayat form.
 The literary traditions of the Malay sultanates were distinct in that scribes were
hired to record the significant events of the time. One important work of this period was
Sejarah Melayu (The Malay Annals), which was written during the era of the Malacca
Sultanate, rewritten in 1536 and revised in 1612.

Myanmar Literature

The literature of Burma (or Myanmar) spans over a millennium. Burmese

literature was historically influenced by Indian and Thai cultures, as seen in many works,
such as the Ramayana. The Burmese language, unlike other Southeast Asian languages
(e.g. Thai, Khmer), adopted words primarily from Pāli rather than from Sanskrit. In
addition, Burmese literature has the tendency to reflect local folklore and culture.

Burmese literature has historically been a very important aspect of Burmese life
steeped in the Pali Canon of Buddhism. Traditionally, Burmese children were educated
by monks in monasteries in towns and villages. During British colonial rule, instruction
was formalised and unified, and often bilingual, in both English and Burmese known as
Anglo-Vernacular. Furthermore, Burmese literature played a key role in disseminating
nationalism among the Burmese during the colonial era, with writers such as Thakin
Kodaw Hmaing, an outspoken critic of British colonialism in Burma.

The earliest forms of Burmese literature were on stone engravings called kyauksa
for memorials or for special occasions such as the building of a temple or a monastery.
Later, palm leaves called peisa were used as paper, which resulted in the rounded forms
of the Burmese alphabet. During the Bagan Dynasty, King Anawrahta adopted Theravada
Buddhism as the state religion, and brought many Pali texts from Ceylon. These texts
were translated, but Pali remained the literary medium of the Burmese kingdom.
Furthermore, Pali influenced Burmese language in structure, because of literal
translations of Pali text called nissaya.

The earliest works of Burmese literature date from the Bagan dynasty. They
include proses recording monarchical merit acts and poetic works, the earliest of which
was Yakhaing minthami eigyin (Cradle Song of the Princess of Arakan), dated to 1455. [1]
During the Bagan and Innwa dynasties, two primary types of literature flourished,
mawgun and eigyin, and pyo, religious works generally derived from the Jataka tales.

As literature grew more liberal and secular, poetry became the most popular form
of literature in Burma. The flexibility of the Burmese language, because of its
monosyllabic and tonal nature, and its lack of many consonantal finals allowed poetry to
utilise various rhyming schemes. By the 15th century, four primary genres of poetry had
emerged, namely pyo (poems based on the Jataka Tales, linka metaphysical and religious
poems), mawgoun (historical verses written as a hybrid of epic and ode), and eigyin
(lullabies of the royal family). Courtiers also perfected the myittaza ,a long prose letter.
Nepal Literature

Nepal is known for its great diversity of people, from the many languages spoken
to the variety of ethnic groups. This great array of backgrounds has contributed much to
the development of literature in Nepal. From poetry to short stories, from essays to
novels, Nepal has produced an abundance of literary figures and works worthy of note.
Nepal's literature has been written in a variety of local languages, the most popular being
Nepali literature, followed by Nepal Bhasa literature. Let us have a closer look at the
history of literature in Nepal.

Before Bhanu Bhakta Era

The majority of literature in this era was written in poetry form. Shuwananda Das,
a Newar, played a major role in Nepal's literature during the era, composing mostly
poetry. His poetry was unique in that he made use of lyrical folk songs. His poetry often
related to the king and various victorious events. Prithivi Narayan Shah, the author of
'Divya Upedesh', never wrote works in his own hand but his thoughts and advice was
penned for him. His works are said to provide excellent instruction even appropriate for
today. Shakti Ballav Arjjyal was a writer and scholar of this period also serving as a royal
priest.

Bhanu Bhakta Era

Bhanu Bhakta Aacharya, after whom this era is named, is considered a legend of
Nepali literature having exerted a great influence on the writings of Nepal. Born in
Ramgha, Bhanu Bhakta was taken to Kasi by his grandfather where he could study
further. Many writers of this particular age based their works on mythology, largely
giving up on politics. Yadu Nath Pokhrel was the exception. Being a great Nepalese
patriot much of his work revolved around the army. He is likely the first poet in Nepal to
make use of English words.

From this era onward a variety of styles and mediums for literature in Nepal were
introduced. Today, Nepalese authors continue to produce outstanding literary works,
some translated into other languages and read by people around the world.
Pakistan Literature

The literature of Pakistan, as a distinct literature that gradually came to be defined

after Pakistan gained nationhood status in 1947, emerging out of the Indian English
Literature tradition. The shared tradition of Urdu literature and English literature of India
was inherited by the new state. Over a period of time a body of literature unique to
Pakistan has emerged in nearly all major Pakistani languages, including Urdu, English,
Punjabi, Balochi, Pushto and Sindhi.

The nature of Pakistani literature soon after independence aroused controversy

among writers due to its being centered heavily on the negative events related to the
India-Pakistan partition. According to Gilani Kamran (GC University), Pakistani
literature was expected to take a new direction along with the new state of Pakistan at this
point, but did not immediately meet this expectation.

Saadat Hassan Manto (1912–1955), a prominent writer of short stories of the

South Asia, produced great literature out of the events relating to the India-Pakistan
independence. His literature is considered to be progressive in its tone and spirit.
According to several critics it had not only evolved its own identity, but also had played a
significant role in documenting the hardships and hopes of Pakistan in the latter part of
the 20th century.

Today, Pakistani literature has taken a shape of its own by depicting the complex
class system and common man. Contemporary authors such as. It also has evolved in
merging Urdu literary forms and English literature leading to experimentation. Many
writers of fiction borrow from English and vice versa.

Pakistani literature's main platform is the Pakistan Academy of Letters, chaired by

Iftikhar Arif.
Papua New Guinea Literature

The emergence of written literature (as distinct from oral literature) is

comparatively recent in Papua New Guinea. It was given its first major stimulus with the
setting up of creative writing courses by Ulli Beier at the University of Papua New
Guinea (established in 1966). Beier also founded a Papua Pocket Poets series, as well as
the literary magazine Kovave, the first of its kind in the country. Some of Papua New
Guinea's first noted writers, including John Kasaipwalova, Kumalau Tawali, Apisai Enos
and Kama Kerpi, were first published in Kovave.

In 1968, Albert Maori Kiki’s autobiography Ten Thousand Years in a Lifetime

was the first major work of Papua New Guinean literature published outside a magazine.
In 1970, Vincent Eri published the first Papua New Guinean novel, The Crocodile.

Notable Papua New Guinean writers also include Ignatius Kilage, Nora Vagi
Brash, Steven Edmund Winduo and Loujaya Kouza.

Singapore Literature

The literature of Singapore comprises a collection of literary works by

Singaporeans in any of the country's four main languages: English, Chinese, Malay and
Tamil.

While Singaporean literary works may be considered as also belonging to the

literature of their specific languages, the literature of Singapore is viewed as a distinct
body of literature portraying various aspects of Singapore society and forms a significant
part of the culture of Singapore. A number of Singaporean writers such as Tan Swie Hian
and Kuo Pao Kun have contributed work in more than one language. However, this cross-
linguistic fertilisation is becoming increasingly rare and it is now increasingly thought
that Singapore has four sub-literatures instead of one.
Philippine Literature

The variety and abundance of Philippine literature evolved even before the
colonial periods. Folk tales, epics, poems and marathon chants existed in most
ethnolinguistic groups that were passed on from generations to generations through word
of mouth. Tales associated with the Spanish conquest also took part in the country’s rich
cultural heritage. Some of these pre-colonial literary pieces showcased in traditional
narratives, speeches and songs are Tigmo in Cebuano, bugtong in Tagalog, patototdon is
Bicol and paktakon in Ilongo. Philippine epics and folk tales are varied and filled with
magical characters. They are either narratives of mostly mythical objects, persons or
certain places, or epics telling supernatural events and bravery of heroes, customs and
ideologies of a community.

Below are examples of ethno-epics popularized by different ethnic groups in the country:

Biag ni Lam-ang (Life of Lam-ang) of the Ilocanos narrates the adventures of the
prodigious epic hero, Lam-ang who exhibits extraordinary powers at an early age. At
nine months he is able to go to war to look for his father’s killers. Then while in search of
lady love, Ines Kannoyan, he is swallowed by a big fish, but his rooster and his friends
bring him back to life.

Aliguyon or the Hudhud of the Ifugaos tells of the adventures of Aliguyon as he battles
his arch enemy, Pambukhayon among rice fields and terraces and instructs his people to
be steadfast and learn the wisdom of warfare and of peacemaking during harvest seasons.

There are shorter narratives that tell the origins of the people, the stars, the sky and the
seas. A famous story that tells of the origin of man and woman is that of Sicalac (man)
and Sicavay (woman) who came out of a bamboo after being pecked by a bird. This, and
other stories of equal birthing of man and woman throughout the archipelago assert a
woman’s equal position with a man within the tribal systems.

During the Spanish colonial period, the country has encountered transformations in their
daily customs. It affected not only the country’s whole system but as well tainted the
purity of their folklore traditions. And because of the western’s strong influence and
forceful implication of their civilization, the locals’ forms of expression on national
issues and self-consciousness were replaced through political essays, novels, poems and
religious prose- a form of learning, however, that led to ultimate awakening of Filipinos
regarding the unreasonable colonial rule in the country. Famous examples of these
Spanish-adapted writings are the novels of Jose Rizal, El Filibusterismo and Noli Me
Tangere.

Nowadays, Filipino writers have continued to patronize the intellectual influence started
by Rizal but to further aim at reviving the richness of the country’s very own folk
traditions and introducing it to new generations as a significant form of art.
Sri Lankan literature

Sri Lankan literature is the literary tradition of Sri Lanka. The largest part of Sri
Lankan literature was written in the Sinhala language, but there is a considerable amount
of works in other languages used in Sri Lanka over the millennia (including Pāli, Tamil,
and English).

Up to the present, short stories are a very important part of Sri Lankan literature;
the output 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.

Some of the significant characteristics of Sri Lankan Tamil were by this time
easily distinguishable. They were:

1. dichotomous development of religio-literary traditions (Saiva-Tamil,

Christian-Tamil literature and Islamic-Tamil literature) and secular
literary developments, each enjoying popularity at its own level;
2.
Muslims enjoying an ethnic identity that was separate from that of
Tamils; and

3. a sense of region-consciousness. Although Sri Lanka is geographically small,

one could identify nine Tamil sub-cultural regions - Batticaloa, Trincomalee,
Vanni, Jaffna, Mannar, the North-West districts, Colombo, the Southern districts
and Upcountry. Each region has its own specificity. The influence of Jaffna was
hegemonic until independence.
Thailand Literature

Thailand's classical literature is based on tradition and history, so it's not surprising the
Thai version of Hundu's Ramayana, known as the Ramakien is the basis of Thailand's
music and art. Although the Thai version is one fourth longer than the Hindu original,
the basic theme stays the same.

In popular writing, there are many women authors, and the style for modern writing is
more Western.

One of Thailand's most famous novelists, Kukrit Pramoj, was also the Prime Minister in
1975.

Literature in Thailand was traditionally heavily influenced by Indian culture. Thailand's

national epic is a version of the Ramayana called the Ramakien. A number of versions of
the epic were lost in the destruction of Ayutthaya in 1767. Three versions currently exist:
one of these was prepared under the supervision (and partly written by) King Rama I. His
son, Rama II, rewrote some parts for khon drama. The main differences from the original
are an extended role for the monkey god Hanuman and the addition of a happy ending.

The most important poet in Thai literature was Sunthorn Phu, who is best known for his
romantic adventure story Phra Aphai Mani and nine travel pieces called Nirats.

Kings Rama V and Rama VI were also writers, mainly of non-fiction works as part of
their programme to combine Western knowledge with traditional Thai culture.

20th century Thai writers have tended to produce light fiction rather than literature, but
the Isan region has produced two notably sociocritical writers in Khamsing Srinawk and
Pira Sudham.

Thailand has had a wealth of expatriate writers in the 20th century as well. The Bangkok
Writers Group is currently publishing fiction by Indian author G.Y. Gopinath, the fabulist
A.D. Thompson, as well as non-fiction by Gary Dale Cearley.
Vietnam Literature

Classical literature, modeled after the Chinese, was one of two styles used in pre-French
colonial rule, with the other being a local one that centered around local genres and
themes. With the French colonial influence, literature changed dramatically in
Vietnam. Namely, literature was written in quoc ngu and modeled after Western styles,
particularly drama, poetry and novels. Even with the division of Vietnam, this tendency
continued in the South with the North creating a form of "socialism realism."

Nowadays, modern Vietnamese writers are staying away from "socialism realism" and
are writing more about the realities of the Vietnam War legacy and societal problems.

Vietnamese literature is literature, both oral and written, created largely by Vietnamese-
speaking people, although Francophone Vietnamese and English-speaking Vietnamese
authors in Australia and the United States are counted by many critics as part of the
national tradition. For a millennium before the 11th century, Vietnam was dominated by
China and as a result much of the written work during this period was in Classical
Chinese. Chữ nôm, created around the 10th century, allowed writers to compose in
Vietnamese using modified Chinese characters. Although regarded as inferior to Chinese,
it gradually grew in prestige. It flourished in the 18th century when many notable
Vietnamese writers and poets composed their works in chữ nôm and when it briefly
became the official written script. While the quốc ngữ script was created in the 17th
century, it did not become popular outside of missionary groups until the early 20th
century, when the French colonial administration mandated its use in French Indochina.
By the mid-20th century, virtually all Vietnamese works of literature were composed in
quốc ngữ.
 EASTERN ASIA

Chinese Literature

Ancient literature is a precious cultural heritage of China's several thousand years of

civilization. The Book of Songs, a collection of 305 folk ballads of the Western Zhou
Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn period, compiled in the sixth century B.C., is
China's earliest anthology of poetry.

Qu Yuan of the Warring States Period, China's first great poet, write Li Sao (The
Lament), and extended lyric poem. The Book of Songs and Li Sao are regarded as
classics in Chinese literary history. Later, different literary styles developed in
subsequent dynasties.

There were pre-Qin prose, magnificent Han fu (rhymed prose), and the yuefu folk songs
of the end of the Han Dynasty. Records of the Historian, written by Sima Qian of the
Han Dynasty, is respected as a model of biographical literature, and The Peacock Flies to
the Southeast represents the magnificent yuefu folk songs. These are all well known
among the Chinese people.

The Wei and Jin Dynasties (220-420) were a great period for the production of
poetry. The poems written by Cao Cao, a statesman and man of letters of that time, and
by his sons Cao Pi and Cai Zhi, are fervent and vigorous. They are outstanding
forerunners of the progressive literature of later generations. The Tang Dynasty gave
birth to a great number of men of letters. The Complete Tang Poems is an anthology of
more than 50,000 poems.

Representative poets include Li Bai, Du Fu, and Bai Juyi, who are the pride of the
Chinese people. The Song Dynasty is well known for its ci (lyric). Song lyricists may
be divided into
two groups. The first, best represented by Liu Yong and Li Qingzhao, is known as the
"gentle school"; the second, the "bold and unconstrained school," is best represented by
Su Shi and Xin Qiji.

The most notable achievement of Yuan Dynasty literature was the zaju, poetic drama set
of music. Snow in Midsummer by celebrated playwright Guan Hanqing and The
Western Chamber written by another zaju master, Wang Shipu, are masterpieces of the
ancient drama.

The Ming and Qing dynasties saw the development of the novel. The Three Kingdoms
by Luo Guanzhong, Outlaws of the Mars by Shi Nai'an, Journey to the West by Wu
Cheng'en, and A Dream of Red Mansions by Cao Xueqin are the four masterpieces
produced in this form during this period. They have been celebrated for centuries for
their rich historical and cultural connotations and unique style.
Japanese Literature

Japanese literature spans a period of almost two millennia. Early works were heavily
influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in
Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the diffusion of
Buddhism in Japan. Eventually, Japanese literature developed into a separate style in its
own right as Japanese writers began writing their own works about Japan, although the
influence of Chinese literature and Classical Chinese remained until the end of the Edo
period. Since Japan reopened its ports to Western trading and diplomacy in the 19th
century, Western and Eastern literature have strongly affected each other and continue to
do so.

Before the introduction of kanji from China,there was no Japanese writing system. At
first, Chinese characters were used in Japanese syntactical formats, and the result was
sentences that look like Chinese but are phonetically read as Japanese. Chinese characters
were further adapted, creating what is known as man'yōgana, the earliest form of kana, or
syllabic writing. The earliest works were created in the Nara period. These include Kojiki
(712), a work recording Japanese mythology and legendary history; Nihon Shoki (720), a
chronicle with a slightly more solid foundation in historical records than Kojiki; and
Man'yōshū (759), a poetry anthology. One of the stories they describe is the tale of
Urashima Tarō, which has been identified as the earliest example of a story involving
time travel.

Classical Japanese literature generally refers to literature produced during the Heian
period, referred to as the golden era of art and literature. Genji Monogatari (early 11th
century) by a woman named Murasaki Shikibu is considered the pre-eminent masterpiece
of Heian fiction and an early example of a work of fiction in the form of a novel. Other
important writings of this period include the Kokin Wakashū (905), a waka-poetry
anthology, and Makura no Sōshi (990s), the latter written by Murasaki Shikibu's
contemporary and rival, Sei Shōnagon, as an essay about the life, loves, and pastimes of
nobles in the Emperor's court. The iroha poem, now one of two standard orderings for the
Japanese syllabary, was also developed during the early part of this period.

The 10th century Japanese narrative, Taketori Monogatari, can be considered an early
example of proto-science fiction. The protagonist of the story, Kaguya-hime, is a princess
from the Moon who is sent to Earth for safety during a celestial war, and is found and
raised by a bamboo cutter. She is later taken back to her extraterrestrial family in an
illustrated depiction of a disc-shaped flying object similar to a flying saucer.[2] Another
notable piece of fictional Japanese literature was Konjaku Monogatarishū, a collection of
over a thousand stories in 31 volumes. The volumes cover various tales from India, China
and Japan. In this time, the imperial court particularly patronized the poets, most of
whom were courtiers or ladies-in-waiting. Reflecting the aristocratic atmosphere, the
poetry was elegant and sophisticated and expressed emotions in a rhetorical style. Editing
the resulting anthologies of poetry soon became a national pastime.
Korean Literature

Early Korean literature was heavily influenced by Shamanism, Buddhism and

Confucianism. The early literature, which began as an oral tradition, depicted a love
of nature and man and held that man was a part of nature. Good was rewarded and
evil was punished and values like loyalty to the King, filial piety, respect for one's
elders, true friendship and chastity were emphasized. Some of the earliest Korean
writings were poems, called hyangga, written during the Shilla Kingdom using the
script type Idu partially adapted from Chinese characters phonetically, only 25
remain. During the Koryo period, Korean literature of the upper class, mostly written
in classical Chinese, was characterized by an emphasis on philosophic expositions on
the Chinese classics, an art that was essential for government service, the only
respectable avenue to success outside of teaching.

Scholarly essays and diaries of scholars an court ladies compose one strain of the
literature of this time. Also during this period, hanshi, poems in Chinese characters,
developed to maturity, and toward the end of the dynasty, a new form of poetry called
shijo gained wide acceptance. The shijo, a short three-line poem written in Han-gul
(the Korean alphabet), remained popular throughout the Choson Dynasty, as did the
later kasa, a new vernacular verse genre which was more descriptive and expository.
The Choson period also saw a great outpouring of literature written in Han-gul which
often centered on the concept that all men are equal and attacked social inequality,
spurred by the introduction of Sirhak (Practical Learning) in the 17th century.

The predecessor of this genre was Hong Kil-ton Chon, generally considered to be the
first Korean novel, written in the early 17th century to criticize the inequalities of
Choson society. This trend was reinforced during the late 19th century by the
introduction of Western influences, as writers were inspired by ideas of
enlightenment, freedom and independence. Modern writers have also focused on
social injustice, particularly under the authoritarian regimes, as well as the
dehumanizing influence of industrialization and modernization.

Traditional: Korean literature shows a significant difference before and after Western
influences. In the pre-Western period, literature was influenced by Shamanism,
Buddhism and Confucianism. Under these influences, individuals accepted the status
quo and had a fatalistic view of life. Early literature depicted a love of nature and man
and held that nature and man are one. Another special aspect of the early period of
Korean literature was that it began as an oral tradition. Therefore, many literary
works, also tales and legends sung or spoken by the ancestors of various Korean
tribes, were presented at tribal rites, religious festivals, sacrifices and political
gatherings.

Influenced by social norms, morals and customs, in Korean literature good is

rewarded and evil is punished. Early literature stresses behavior patterns like loyalty
to the king, filial piety, respect for seniors, true friendship and chastity of women.
 Mongolian Literature

Mongolian literature has been greatly influenced by its nomadic oral traditions. The
“three peaks” of Mongolian literature, the Secret History of the Mongols, Geser and
Jangar, all reflect the age-long tradition of heroic epics on the Eurasian Steppes.
Mongolian literature has also been a reflection of the society of the given time, its
level of political, economic and social development as well as leading intellectual
trends.

The ancestors of the Mongolic peoples are the Bronze-Iron Age Donghu (630 BC-209
BC) mentioned in the Shiji of Sima Qian as bordering north of the State of Yan. Their
culture was basically nomadic and thus could have included the regular singing of heroic
epics to the accompaniment of early forms of xiqin and dombra. This could have been
part of a larger oral tradition that included myths, wisdom sayings and uliger not much
different from present Mongolian ones. The Xianbei (209 BC- 4th century AD),
descendants of the Donghu, were said to have had a runic-like script for writing on strips
of wood. A 3rd century Xianbei song called the “Song of the Xianbei Brother (A-kan)”
has been preserved in Chinese translation. Many Mongolic words from the Toba/Tabgach
era (386-534) have come down to us in Chinese transcription, such as ho-lan (many), wu-
lien (cloud), e-zhen (owner), a-kan (brother), shi-lou (mountain), chi-na (wolf), ko-po-
chen (to hedge), to-po-chen (sole of foot) and ta-wu-sun (dust). However, these are all
fragmentary and no substantial written materials from the Xianbei Tabgach have been
discovered yet that would deserve the name “literature”.

The Khitan of the Liao Dynasty (907-1125) had two scripts, the Large and Small scripts
invented in the 920s. Compared to the other Xianbei Mongolic peoples they have left a
relatively more substantial amount of written material, including lengthy inscriptions
found on rocks and in tombs, that are currently being deciphered and researched. It is
thought that the Old Uyghur alphabet, derived from Syriac, was still used by Nestorians
and Buddhists within the major tribes of Mongolia until the time of Genghis Khan
although no work has survived.
Taiwanese Literature

Literature of Taiwan refers to the literature published in or particular to Taiwan. As

mainland China and Taiwan share a written language of Chinese and much of the
Chinese cultural heritage, literature in Taiwan is largely similar to the literature in
mainland China. The literature taught in Taiwanese schools is classic and modern
Chinese literature with some local works. However, due to political sensitivities,
literature relating to politics on mainland China or communism was banned until the
1980s.

Taiwan has a very active literary scene, with a large number of writers of novels and
(especially) short stories enjoying a wide readership, many of them for many decades
running. A short selection of prominent writers includes:

• Chen Ruoxi
• Huang Chunming
• Pai Xianyong
• Wang Wenxing

Similarly, there is a large poetry community in Taiwan, and there have been several
anthologies of Taiwanese poetry in English translation.

Two areas of cross-pollination between literature and other arts in Taiwan include
modern dance (particularly the modern dance troupe Cloud Gate Dance Theater, founded
and directed by author Lin Huai-min) and filmmaking (including productions of stories
by Huang Chunming directed by the leading Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien).

The 1990s saw the rise of a nativist Taiwan literature movement.

 NORTHERN ASIA

Literature of Belarus

Pre-17 century

Belarusian literature was formed from the common basis of Kievan Rus literary tradition,
which also gave rise to Ukrainian literature and Russian literature. A separate literary
tradition of Belarus became apparent only in 14-15th centuries. The old Belarusian
literature experienced its golden age in the 16-17th centuries, when the Old Belarusian
language was the official language of the Great Duchy of Lithuania. The Statutes of the
Great Duchy of 1529, 1566 and 1588, as well as polemic religious literature were all
published in Old Belarusian language. Since early 16th century Belarusian literary works
have been printed. The first printed Belarusian book (in the version of Old Belarusian)
was Psaltyr, which was printed in Prague by Francysk Skaryna in 1517 (this was the first
book to be printed in an East Slavonic language). During the 16th and 17th century
poetry and drama (see Simeon Polatsky) appeared in Belarusian literature under the
influence of a more developed Polish literature.

18th and 19th centuries

Due to cultural dominance of Polish language within the Rzech Pospolita and of Russian
language within the Russian Empire, Belarusian literary tradition was severely damaged
in the 18th century. Its renaissance began in the first half of the 19th century, when an
anonymous satirical poem 'Taras na Parnase' was published. First novels have been
authored by Pauljuk Bahrym, and several works have been contributed by Polish poets
born in Belarus (Jan Barszczewski, Jan Czeczot, Adam Mickiewicz, Vintsent Dunin-
Martsinkyevich, Andrej Rypinski). Books were often published in the Latin alphabet
(Lacinka), not the Cyrillic, which is the norm today. In the second half of the 19th
century there was a rise in the literary tradition of Realism (Francisak Bahusevic, Adam
Hurynovic, Jan Lucyna).

Early 20th century

New period started after the Russian Revolution of 1905, when first Belarusian language
newspapers were established in Vilnius (Nasa Dolia and Nasha Niva). They brought
together a circle of writers, who were arguing for developing Belarusian language and its
literature (including Maksim Bahdanovich, Zmitrok Biadulia, Maksim Harecki, Yakub
Kolas). Belarusian literature of the time combined elements of Romanticism, Realism
and Modernism.
Literature of Kazakhstan

Most of Kazakhstan’s early literary works were written in Arabic in mosques

and religious schools. Writing in the Kazakh language did not begin until the second
half of the nineteenth century. The development of a domestic Kazakh literature,
therefore, is quite recent, a tradition less than 150 years old. The great Kazakh poet
Abay Kunanbayev (1845 – 1904) is commonly called the “father of Kazakh
literature.” He played a leading role in establishing the Kazakh literary tradition.
Many people regard Kunanbayev as the most famous Kazakh in history.

Kunanbayev was one of the first members of Kazakhstan’s secular elite. He was a
well-educated composer and educator as well as a poet. Some of his poems were
critical of the tradi- tional Kazakh way of life. Kunanbayev also greatly admired
Russian culture. He strongly supported a close friendship between the Russians and
his own people. His writings helped pave the way for the Soviet-imposed economic,
social, and political changes of the twentieth century. Kunanbayev’s ideas were best
expressed in his collection of essays called Edifications. After his death, another great
playwright, author, and novelist, Mukhtar Auezov (1897– 1961), followed
Kunanbayev’s path, becoming a leading figure of Kazakhstan’s Soviet-era literature.
However, during the period of Stalin’s leadership in the Soviet Union, many
representatives of the Kazakh vanguard, led by Akhmet Baytursunov, were sent to
prison because of their writings.
Literature of Kyrgyzstan

The literary history of the modern-day Kyrgyz begins in the early 19th century,
notwithstanding disputed attempts by scholars to identify as “Old Kyrgyz” the
language of runic Turkic inscriptions from the Yenisey River basin (9th to 11th
centuries). The language of the earliest surviving works of Kyrgyz literature in
manuscript, including the 19th-century poems of Moldo Nïyaz, is Chagatai, the
common Turkic literary language of Central Asia, modified with ... (100 of 868
words)

The growth and development of Kyrgyz literature was closely linked to the
method of socialist realism, but interpreted in a simplified manner, so that this method
limited the full blooming of artistic imagination and thinking. This schematic and
dogmatic approach, characteristic of socialist-realist literature, produced a large
number of colorless works which have become mere footnotes in literary history. In
these works, reality is shown in a one-sided manner and from a rigid point of view.
For example, the so called "theory of conflictlessness," which dominated literature for
a long time, was based on the claim that conflict could exist only between the good
and the better and that life should be presented as a festivity of labor, involving all
people.

Later, such a simplified approach to artistic imagination was replaced by a more

analytic attitude toward poetics and the description of characters, one in which the
individual and his psyche, his emotions and doubts, became the main object of literary

analysis. Over a certain period of time, this shift improved the quality of literature and
raised the esthetic criteria to a higher level. Of course, this process did not evolve
without inner contradictions, tensions, and conflicts, but it also brought about
achievements. Thus, alongside official and pompous works, there developed another
literature which determined the overall quality of Kyrgyz literature.
Russian literature

It refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language

literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or
the Soviet Union. Prior to the nineteenth century, the seeds of the Russian literary
tradition were sown by the poets, playwrights and writers as Gavrila Derzhavin, Denis
Fonvizin, Alexander Sumarokov, Vasily Trediakovsky, Nikolay Karamzin and Ivan
Krylov. From around the 1830s Russian literature underwent an astounding golden age,
beginning with the poet and novelist Alexander Pushkin and culminating in two of the
greatest novelists in world literature, Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and the
short story writer and playwright Anton Chekhov. In the Twentieth Century leading
figures of Russian literature included internationally recognised poets such as
Alexander Blok, Sergei Yesenin, Marina Tsvetaeva, Vladimir Mayakovsky and prose
writers Maxim Gorky, Vladimir Nabokov, Mikhail Sholokhov, Mikhail Bulgakov and
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Old Russian literature consists of several masterpieces written in the Old

Russian language (not to be confused with the contemporaneous Church Slavonic).
Anonymous works of this nature include The Tale of Igor's Campaign and Praying of
Daniel the Immured. The so-called "lives of the saints" (Russian: жития святых,
zhitiya svyatykh) formed a popular genre of the Old Russian literature. Life of
Alexander Nevsky offers a well-known example. Other Russian literary monuments
include Zadonschina, Physiologist, Synopsis and A Journey Beyond the Three Seas.
Bylinas – oral folk epics – fused Christian and pagan traditions. Medieval Russian
literature had an overwhelmingly religious character and used an adapted form of the
Church Slavonic language with many South Slavic elements. The first work in
colloquial Russian, the autobiography of arch priest Avvakum, emerged only in the
mid-17th century.

The modernization of Russia, commonly associated with Peter the Great and
Catherine the Great, coincided with a reform of the Russian alphabet and increased
tolerance of the idea of employing the popular language for general literary purposes.
Authors like Antiochus Kantemir, Vasily Trediakovsky, and Mikhail Lomonosov in the
earlier 18th century paved the way for poets like Gavrila Derzhavin, playwrights like
Alexander Sumarokov and Denis Fonvizin, and prose writers like Alexander
Radishchev and Nikolay Karamzin; the latter is often credited with creation of the
modern Russian literary language.
Tajikistan Literature

As they did during the Soviet era, educated Tajiks define their cultural heritage broadly,
laying claim to the rich legacy of the supraethnic culture of Central Asia and other parts
of the Islamic world from the eastern Mediterranean to India. Soviet rule
institutionalized Western art forms, publishing, and mass media, some elements of
which subsequently attracted spontaneous support in the republic. However, since the
beginning of Soviet rule in the 1920s, the media and the arts always have been subject
to political constraints.

Despite long-standing Soviet efforts to differentiate between the Persian speakers of

Central Asia and those elsewhere, Tajiks in Tajikistan describe all of the major literary
works written in Persian until the twentieth century as Tajik, regardless of the ethnicity
and native region of the author. In Soviet times, such claims were not merely a matter of
chauvinism but a strategy to permit Tajiks some contact with a culture that was
artificially divided by state borders. Nevertheless, very little Persian literature was
published in Cyrillic transcription in the Soviet era.

Three writers dominated the first generation of Soviet Tajik literature. Sadriddin Aini
(1878-1954), a Jadidist writer and educator who turned communist, began as a poet but
wrote primarily prose in the Soviet era. His works include three major novels dealing
with social issues in the region and memoirs that depict life in the Bukhoro Khanate. Aini
became the first president of Tajikistan's Academy of Sciences.

Abu'l-Qasem Lahuti (1887-1957; in Tajik, Abdulqosim Lohuti) was an Iranian poet who
emigrated to the Soviet Union for political reasons and eventually settled in Tajikistan.
He wrote both lyric poetry and "socialist realist" verse. Another poet, Mirzo Tursunzoda
(1911-77), collected Tajik oral literature, wrote poetry of his own about social change in
Tajikistan, and turned out various works on popular political themes of the moment.
Since the generation that included those three writers, Tajikistan has produced numerous
poets, novelists, short story writers, and playwrights.
Ukrainian Literature

The history of Ukrainian written language is thousand-years long. Its origin is

ascribed to the times of the Kyivan Rus, but even before the 9th century A.D., the
ancestors of Ukrainians had developed an advanced spoken language tradition. The
chronicles Account of Bygone Years (Povist' vremennykh lit) is an outstanding
memorial that is also a source of historical information, a collection of epic songs,
legends and narrations of the Kyivan state epoch. The poetic masterpiece of the ancient
literature is Slovo o polku Igorevim. This heroic epic had imbibed the best samples of
folklore and has become the common property and pride of the entire Slavic people.

Ukrainian literature had a difficult development because, due to constant foreign

domination over Ukrainian territories, there was often a significant difference between
the spoken and written language. At times the use of the Ukrainian language was even
partly prohibited to be printed.

However, these foreigners, including Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Austria-

Hungary, and Ottoman Turkey, have left behind a legacy of new words, greatly enriching
the Ukrainian language. And despite many repressions, Ukraine has a rich literary
heritage having produced many notable authors.
Uzbek Literature

1930s was a period of crisis in Uzbek Literature because of the Stalinist purges. In the
early 1980s, the literature of Uzbekistan revived when some Uzbek writers' creations
reflected the Birlik Movement.

After much criticism by the Soviet Union, these type of writings continued. The aim of
this kind of writing was to preserve and purify the Uzbek language. The usage of
Russian lexicon was minimized in their works. The writers openly promoted Uzbek as
the state language of Uzbekistan. This was officially declared in 1992. However these
writings were best known for their bold style.

Among the famous writers of Uzbekistan, Siddiki Ajzi (1864-1927) and the finest of his
creations was “Sharhi Mulla”. Pirimkul Kadirov was one of the jewels in the world of
Uzbek Literature. Among the numerous novels and books he wrote, " Jon Shirin ",
"Olov", "Meros", " Besh yilliklar farzandi ", "Kadrim" and "Erk" are the best.

Literature in Uzbekistan is rich and ancient. There are many antique books in
Uzbekistan, that includes the history of the nation and the economic and social picture
of ancient times. Many writers of Uzbekistan have been awarded internationally. The
tradition of culturing literature is very common in every household. Almost all the
households have a good collection of books.

Most of the Uzbek writings are based on the real life incidents and social affairs.
Sometimes history and culture is also the theme. Uzbek Literature has contributed a
great deal to the international relations of Uzbekistan. Recently many books and novels
are reflecting foreign relations of Uzbekistan.
 WESTERN ASIA

Armenian literature

Armenian literature begins about 406 with the invention of the Armenian
alphabet by Mesrop. Isaac, the Catholicos of Armenia, formed a school of translators
who were sent to Edessa, Athens, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Caesarea in
Cappadocia, and elsewhere, to procure codices both in Syriac and Greek and translate
them. From Syriac were made the first version of the New Testament, the version of
Eusebius' History and his Life of Constantine (unless this be from the original Greek),
the homilies of Aphraates, the Acts of Gurias and Samuna, the works of Ephrem Syrus
(partly published in four volumes by the Mechitharists of Venice). In these first years of
the 5th century were composed some of the apocryphal works which, like the
Discourses attributed to St. Gregory and the History of Armenia said to have come from
Agathangelus, are asserted to be the works of these and other well-known men. This
early period of Armenian literature also produced many original compositions. Eznik of
Kolb wrote a "Refutation of the Sects", and Koryun the "History of the Life of St.
Mesrop and of the Beginnings of Armenian Literature". These men, both of whom were
disciples of Mesrop, bring to an end what may be called the golden age of Armenian
literature.

Armenia is known to have been a nation often occupied by nearby powers, such as the
Sassanid Empire. The beginning of the Medieval era was marked by the Arab
occupation of Armenia. The people then start to talk of a great hero who would be able
to liberate them and reestablish Armenian sovereignty. David of Sasun, known as
Sasuntsi Davit', is the medieval Armenian equivalent of Hercules. For over a thousand
years the legend of David was passed from grandfathers to their grandsons thanks to the
Armenian oral tradition, and it is difficult to classify his stories as ancient or medieval.
In 1873, the story was first written down by Archbishop Karekin Servantzdiants, who
copied word for word the tale as told by a peasant storyteller from Moush named Grbo.
Other versions of the tale from various regions of Armenia were copied down in the
ensuing years, and during the early Soviet era in Armenia, the stories were collated into
a "united version"; a connected narrative out of dozens isolated episodes, fragments,
and near-complete though differing versions of the legend. One of the most famous
treatments of the story was the verse rendition made by Hovhannes Toumanian in 1902.
His poem only covers the story of David, which is actually only one of 4 parts of the
story, although the central portion.
Azerbaijani literature

Refers to the literature written in Azerbaijani, which currently is the official

state language of the Republic of Azerbaijan and is widely spoken in north-western Iran
and eastern Turkey. Azeri is a dialect of Oghuz branch of Turkic languages, and as
such, is mutually intelligible with other Oghuz dialects spoken in Turkey, Iran,
Turkmenistan, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Russia, the Balkans and the Middle
East.

Persian and Arabic literature have greatly influenced Azeri literature, especially
in its classical phase. Amongst poets who have written in Persian and have influenced
Azeri literature, one can mention Ferdowsi, Sanai, Hafez, Saadi, Attar, and Rumi.
Arabic literature, especially the Quran and Prophetic sayings, has also played a major
role in influencing Azeri literature. Amongst poets who have written in Arabic and have
influenced Azeri literature, one can mention Mansūr al-Hallāj who has had a wide
ranging influence in the Sufic literature of the Islamic world.

An influential piece of post-World War II Azeri poetry, Heydar Babaya Salam

(Greetings to Heydar Baba) was written by Iranian poet Mohammad Hossein Shahriar
who had already established himself as a notable. This poem, published in Tabriz in
1954 and written in colloquial Azeri, became popular among Iranians and the people of
Azerbaijan. In Heydar Babaya Salam, Shahriar expressed his identity as an Iranian
Azeri attached to his homeland, language, and culture. Heydar Baba is a hill near
Khoshknab, the native village of the poet.
Cyprus Literature

Like the history of the island, has come a long way. It reflects the cultural heritage
of the country. Though the literature of Cyprus has existed for a long time, over the past
three decades it has developed substantially both in quantity and quality. Cyprus
literature covers poetry, novels, journals etc. There are several poets and writers in
Cyprus who have been accredited for their works.

Literature in Cyprus includes various genres and various types of literary works. From
the ancient and medieval times Cyprus has been the cradle of Greek and Byzantine
culture. Thus Greek literature plays a pivotal role in the shaping of Cypriot literature.
Cyprus literature has been coming down ages but never before was it so extensive and
varied as it has become today.

Poetry, an integral aspect of the literature of Cyprus, is given a lot of importance by the
littérateurs of the country. Earlier too it made its mark in the field of literature in Cyprus
but now the face of Cypriot poetry has undergone a discernible change. Some of the
reputed Cyprus poets include Costas Montis, Dimitris Lipertis, Emilios Fytikkides, Maria
Polidouri, Pavlos Liasides etc. Amongst the writers of Cyprus are Klitos Loannides,
Thapste Eleftherws, Andros Pavlides etc.

The Cypriot literature captures the spirit and essence of Cyprus reflecting in its various
forms the people, their emotions, their hopes and aspirations, the society and the long
history of the island. A unique blend of Greek poetry and Cypriot perspective, Cyprus
literature, especially modern poetry, has thus become a powerful and profound
representation of the island and its people.
Literature in Iran

This literature is undoubtedly the most brilliant expression of the Iranian genius.
While there are also interesting works in prose, it is poetry -the most varied in the
Islamic world -that gives Iranian literature special value. Cherished over a period of
more than 10 centuries, it was enjoyed and imitated well beyond the confines of the
Iranian Plateau: in Asia Minor, in Central Asia and in the Muslim communities of
India. The literature of Turkey and India developed under its influence.
Of the early known poets one should count Rudaki, who was blind, and Daqiqi. Of
Rudaki's poems dating 940 AD, few remain to this day though he is reputed to have
written sevthousa. Daqiqi wasan epic poet, commissioned to write the original
Shahnameh. He died when having completed only a thousand lines. His task was ably
completed by Ferdowsi.
The great poet Ferdowsi (born in 940 AD in Tus, near Mash had), was 40 yea~ old
when he wrote Shahnameh (The Book of Kings), the national epic. It took him about
thirty years to compose 60,000 couplets of the Shahnameh which gives the history of
Iran to the end of the Sassanian period.
He is said to have been promised a gold coin for every couplet of his Shahnameh by
the reigning court. However, when he completed the monumental work in 999 AD,
the reigning monarch, Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi, was staggered by the size ofit and
instead offered him a silver coin for each couplet. Ferdowsi turned down the offer and
returned to Tus, brokenhearted, where he composed a sharp satire against the Sultan.
He died penniless, but his Shahnameh lives forever in the heart of every Iranian.
Sultan Mahmud is reputed to have had four hundred poets attached to his court. These
included many poets who were great in their own right: Onsori, Farrokhi, Manuchehri,
Asadi, etc, al-Biruni, who wrote The Chronicle of Ancient Nations, was also at his
court. Classical Persian literature has developed under two powerful patronages: royal
and religious. Though existing fragments of Persian verse are dated by experts as early
as the 8th century AD, the known history of Persian literature begins in the 9th
century, with the beginning of the decline of the caliphs at Baghdad. At that time,
local royal dynasties were rising in Iran and increasingly asserting their independence
of the caliphs. The resulting dynasties established their own courts and patronized
poets and scholars. It was in Bokhara, at the Samanid court, that Avicenna improved
on the medicine and philosophy of ancient Greece. Until two centuries ago his treaties
and books were used as textbooks in some schools of medicine in Europe. He is said
to have started writing his encyclopedia when he was only eight years old.
Prose -tales, fables, allegories, and philosophical and scientific works -also flourished.
The most outstanding prose works were histories; many of these surpassed their
Arabic models.
Iraqi literature

In the late 1970s, a period of economic upturn, prominent writers in Iraq were provided
with an apartment and car by Saddam Hussein's government, and were guaranteed at least
one publication per year. In exchange, literature was expected to express and galvanise
support for the ruling Ba'ath Party. The Iran–Iraq War (1980-1988) fuelled a demand for
patriotic literature, but also pushed a number of writers into opting for exile. According to
Najem Wali, during this period, "[e]ven those who chose to quit writing saw themselves
forced to write something that did not rile the dictator, because even silence was
considered a crime."

From the late 1980s onwards, Iraqi exile literature developed with writers whose
"rejection of dominant ideology and [whose] resistance to the wars in Iraq compelled
them to formulate a 'brutally raw realism' characterized by a shocking sense of
modernity" (N. Wali).
Israeli literature

The foundations of modern Israel writing were laid by a group of literary pioneers
from the Second Aliyah including S.Y. Agnon, Moshe Smilansky, Yosef Haim Brenner,
David Shimoni and Jacob Fichman. Until World War I, Hebrew literature was centered in
Eastern Europe. After the war and the Russian Revolution many Hebrew writers found
their way to Palestine, so that at the time Palestinian writing was essentially a
continuation of the European tradition. In 1921, 70 writers met in Tel Aviv and founded
the Hebrew Writers' Association. About this time the first literary periodicals made their
appearance—Ha-Adamah, edited by Brenner, and Ma'abarot, edited by Fichman. The
1920 and 1930s witnessed the emergence of Palestine as the dominant center of Hebrew
literary activity. Many of the pioneers of Hebrew literature were Zionists, and eventually
made their way to the Land of Israel. The great figures of the early part of the century—
Bialik, Ahad Ha-Am, Tchernichovsky—all spent their last years in Tel Aviv, and
although this was not the period of their greatest creativity, they exerted a great influence
on younger Hebrew writers. Among the earliest modern Hebrew writers was a small
minority of writers who were born in the Land of Israel. This cadre includes Yitzhak
Shami and Yehuda Burla , Sepharadi Jews whose families migrated to the Land of Israel
in the 19th and 18th centuries, respectively. The writing of this group stands out for its
authentic depiction of the Arab and Jewish population of Palestine, told from the vantage
point of those who grew up in its midst.The most important writers of the first generation,
S.Y. Agnon and Haim Hazaz, were deeply rooted in their European background, and
served as links between the classical writers of the early decades of the Hebrew revival
and the Hebrew writers in Israel during the following generations.For the next generation
of writers, the center of focus was the land of Israel, even when they were writing about
other parts of the world. Their framework was the period of aliyah and, very often, life in
the kibbutz. Among the outstanding names are Uri Zvi Greenberg and Avraham
Shlonsky, who found in Erez Israel the antidote to the rootlessness of the Diaspora.The
third generation of writers emerged around the time of the Israeli war of independence.
Its key figures (S. Yizhar, Moshe Shamir, Hanoch Bartov, Haim Gouri, Benjamin
Tammuz, Aharon Megged) were all sabras or had been brought to the country at an early
age. Strong influences now came in from other countries, especially Western. A group
called the "Canaanites" even sought to deny the connection between Israelis and Jews
elsewhere. But after 1948, a feeling of emptiness and of searching for new values was
leading to experiments in exploring the Jewish past.

The subsequent generation of the 1960s (A. B. Yehoshua, Amos Oz, Natan Yonatan,
Yoram Kaniuk, Yaakov Shabtai) has endeavoured to place Israeli culture within a world
context and stresses not so much the unique aspects of Jewish life and Israel as the
universal. This school of writers often identifies itself with the protest literature of other
countries.

The following generation, writers who were born in the 1960s and 1970s and made their
debut in the 1980s and 1990s, examined the basic questions of Jewish-Israeli existence by
exposing the collective tensions in individual characters and fates.
Lebanon Literature

Contains cultural traits of the French as well as of Arabs. Infused with the literary
spirit of both France and the Arabic world, Lebanon contributes to French and Arabic
literature simultaneously. Literature of this interesting country is a reflection on the
culture and society of Lebanon.

Lebanon literature consists of books, poetry, proverbs, quotes etc. Representing the
society of Lebanon along with tracing the cultural or political history of the country,
literature of Lebanon has given the world some famous names like Khalil Gibran, Grace
Halabi, and Emily Nasrallah etc.

Literature in Lebanon is a contains a gallery of a large number of works including novels,

poems, short stories, children's stories, biographies, narratives etc. Amongst the jewels of
Lebanon literature is Khalil Gibran whose inspirational and profound works has
enchanted people throughout generations and still continues to capture the interest of
people worldwide. Another name that has earned worldwide recognition is Karim El-
Koussa, who won the Saeed Akl Award. A famous name in Lebanon literature includes
Alexandre Najjar who has produced a number of poems, historical novels and narratives.
He has to his credit several literary awards. Mikhail Naimy is another of the Lebanese
authors who has written many popular novels.

From the ancient times the poetry and prose of Lebanon have captivated the interests of
readers and lovers of literature. Earlier the field of literature in Lebanon was narrow.
Over the years Lebanon literature has witnessed gradual transformation and today the
literature of Lebanon includes various types of works that have been touched with
changes faced by the world and particularly by Lebanon.
Literature of Syria

Under Ottoman rule, literary production was subjected to censorship. In the

second half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth, aspiring Syrian writers
often chose emigration, moving primarily to Egypt -where they contributed to al-Nahda,
the renaissance of Arabic literature- and to the United States, developing Syrian literature
from abroad.

From 1918 to 1926, while Syria was under French rule, French Romantic influences
inspired Syrian authors, many of whom turned away from the traditional models of
Arabic poetry.

In 1948, the partitioning of neighbouring Palestine and the establishment of Israel

brought about a new turning point in Syrian writing. Adab al-Iltizam, the "literature of
political commitment", deeply marked by social realism, mostly replaced the romantic
trend of the previous decades. Hanna Mina, rejecting art for art's sake and confronting the
social and political issues of his time, was arguably the most prominent Syrian novellist
of this era. Following the Six-Day War in 1967, Adab al-Naksa, the "literature of defeat",
grappled with the causes of the Arab defeat.

Baath Party rule, since the 1966 coup, has brought about renewed censorship. As Hanadi
Al-Samman puts it,

"In the face of threats of persecution or imprisonment, most of Syria's writers had
to make a choice between living a life of artistic freedom in exile-as do Nizar
Kabbani, Ghada al-Samman, Hamida Na'na', Salim Barakat, and prominent poet,
critic, and novelist 'Ali Ahmad Sa'id (Adonis)-or resorting to subversive modes of
expression that seemingly comply with the demands of the authoritarian police
state while undermining and questioning the legitimacy of its rule through subtle
literary techniques and new genres".

In this context, the genre of the historical novel, spearheaded by Nabil Sulayman,
Fawwaz Haddad, Khyri al-Dhahabi and Nihad Siris, is sometimes used as a means of
expressing dissent, critiquing the present through a depiction of the past. Syrian folk
narrative, as a subgenre of historical fiction, is imbued with magical realism, and is also
used as a means of veiled criticism of the present. Salim Barakat, a Syrian émigré living
in Sweden, is one of the leading figures of the genre.

Contemporary Syrian literature also encompasses science fiction and futuristic utopiae
(Nuhad Sharif, Talib Umran), which may also serve as media of dissent.

Mohja Kahf has argued that literary dissent is typically expressed through the "poetics of
Syrian silence":
Turkish literature

Comprises both oral compositions and written texts in the Turkish language, either in its
Ottoman form or in less exclusively literary forms, such as that spoken in the Republic of
Turkey today. The Ottoman Turkish language, which forms the basis of much of the
written corpus, was influenced by Persian and Arabic and used a variant of the Perso-
Arabic script.

The history of Turkic literature spans a period of nearly 1,500 years. The oldest extant
records of written Turkic are the Orhon inscriptions, found in the Orhon River valley in
central Mongolia and dating to the 8th century. Subsequent to this period, between the
9th and 11th centuries, there arose among the nomadic Turkic peoples of Central Asia a
tradition of oral epics, such as the Book of Dede Korkut of the Oghuz Turks—the
linguistic and cultural ancestors of the modern Turkish people—and the Manas epic of
the Kyrgyz people.

Beginning with the victory of the Seljuks at the Battle of Manzikert in the late 11th
century, the Oghuz Turks began to settle in Anatolia, and in addition to the earlier oral
traditions there arose a written literary tradition issuing largely—in terms of themes,
genres, and styles—from Arabic and Persian literature. For the next 900 years, until
shortly before the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, the oral and written traditions
would remain largely separate from one another. With the founding of the Republic of
Turkey in 1923, the two traditions came together for the first time.

Throughout most of its history, Turkish literature has been rather sharply divided into two
rather different traditions, neither of which exercised much influence upon the other until
the 19th century. The first of these two traditions is Turkish folk literature, and the
second is Turkish written literature.

For most of the history of Turkish literature, the salient difference between the folk and
the written traditions has been the variety of language employed. The folk tradition, by
and large, was oral and remained free of the influence of Persian and Arabic literature,
and consequently of those literatures' respective languages. In folk poetry—which is by
far the tradition's dominant genre—this basic fact led to two major consequences in terms
of poetic style:

• the poetic meters employed in the folk poetic tradition were different, being
quantitative (i.e., syllabic) verse, as opposed to the qualitative verse employed in
the written poetic tradition;
• the basic structural unit of folk poetry became the quatrain (Turkish: dörtlük)
rather than the couplets (Turkish: beyit) more commonly employed in written
poetry.
Literature of U.A.E.

The main themes in Emirati poetry for Arab Poets range from satire, chivalry,
self-praise, patriotism, religion, family and love, and could range from descriptive to
narrative.

Poetry in the United Arab Emirates has a great influence on culture, being an Persian
Gulf Arab country were poetry has been part of since the dawn of time. The style and
form of ancient poetry in the UAE was strongly influenced by the eighth century Persian
Gulf Arab scholar, Al Khalil bin Ahmed, which followed sixteen metres. This form
underwent slight modification (Al Muwashahat) during the period of Islamic civilization
in Andalucia (Spain), where “the line or bait adhered to the two hemistitches form, each
with an equal number of feet, all the second hemistitches ending in the same rhyming
letter and sound throughout the poem.”1 The indigenous Arabic poetry form, however,
was not spared from western influence; sometime in the 20th century prose poetry started
to make their way into the local literary scene.

Ibn Majid who was born between 1432 and 1437 in Ras Al Khaimah was an iconic poet.
Coming from a family of successful sailors, Ibn Majid has a total of 40 surviving
compositions, 39 of which are verses.

The greatest luminaries in the UAE literary realm during the 20th century, particularly for
Classical Arabic poetry, were Mubarak Al Oqaili (1880-1954), Salem bin Ali al Owais
(1887-1959) and Ahmed bin Sulayem (1905 -1976). Three other poets from Sharjah,
known as the Hirah group, also thrived during the 20th century including Khalfan
Musabah (1923-1946), Sheikh Saqr Al Qasimi (1925-1993), an ex-ruler of Sharjah, and
Sultan bin Ali al Owais (1925-2000). The Hirah group’s works are observed to have been
heavily influenced by the Apollo and romantic poets