Chapter 1:

Asian Literature
We have finished the literary pieces of our country, the Philippines.
As we move on to discussing different literature of the world, we will
start with the continent where our country is located, Asia.
Asian literature, according to Questia.com, refers to the
literature that was written over a period of thousands of years, in a
variety of countries in Asia. Asian literature encompasses East Asian
literature that includes Chinese, Japanese and Korean literature;
Central Asian literature comprising of Bengali, Indian, Pakistani and
Tamil literature; West Asian Literature that covers Arabic literature,
Persian literature and Turkish literature and South East Asian
Literature that is comprised of literature of the
Philippines.
The study of the massive amount of Asian
literature as a whole requires the aggregation of literature
under specific headings. Asian literature can be divided
into a host of different labels, categorized according
to religion, zone, region, ethnic group, literary genre,
historical perspective or language of origin.
Though throughout the centuries a vast
amount of Asian literature has been written,
most of Asian literature can be broadly
categorized as lyric, drama or narrative. The
literary type of Asian writing was usually
determined by the surrounding culture of
the time and often expresses the ideologies
prevalent in the era. Some researchers
choose a straightforward division of Asian
literature, categorizing the mass of
literature under Chinese, Japanese and
Indian literature based on the longevity and
influence of the literary traditions of these
countries.

1
CHAPTER 1: ASIAN LITERATURE

JAPAN is an island nation in the

Pacific Ocean with dense cities, imperial
palaces, mountainous national parks and
thousands of shrines and temples.
Shinkansen bullet trains connect the main
islands of Kyushu (with Okinawa's
subtropical beaches), Honshu (home to
Tokyo and Hiroshima‘s atomic-bomb memorial) and Hokkaido (famous for
skiing). Tokyo, the capital, is known for skyscrapers, shopping and pop
culture and Japanese is the official language.
Retrieved from: https://www.google.com.ph/#q=Japan

About the Author:

HARUKI MURAKAMI was born in Kyoto, Japan, on June 12, 1949.

He grew up in Kobe and then moved to Tokyo, where he attended Waseda
University. After college, Murakami opened a small jazz bar, which he and his
wife ran for seven years.
His first novel, Hear the Wind Sing, won the Gunzou Literature Prize
for budding writers in 1979. He followed this success with two sequels, Pinball,
1973 and A Wild Sheep Chase, which all together form ―The Trilogy of the
Rat.‖
Murakami is also the author of the novels Hard-Boiled Wonderland
and the End of the World; Norwegian Wood; Dance Dance Dance; South of the
Border, West of the Sun; The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle; Sputnik Sweetheart; Kafka on the Shore; After Dark;
1Q84; and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. He has written three short story collections:
The Elephant Vanishes; After the Quake; and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman; and an illustrated novella, The
Strange Library.
Additionally, Murakami has written several works of nonfiction. After the Hanshin earthquake and the
Tokyo subway sarin gas attack in 1995, he interviewed surviving victims, as well as members of the religious cult
responsible. From these interviews, he published two nonfiction books in Japan, which were selectively combined
to form Underground. He also wrote a series of personal essays on running, entitled What I Talk About When I
Talk About Running.
The most recent of his many international literary honors is the Jerusalem Prize, whose previous
recipients include J. M. Coetzee, Milan Kundera, and V. S. Naipaul. Murakami‘s work has been translated into
more than fifty languages.
Retrieved from: http://www.harukimurakami.com/author

Vocabulary Development:

The words below are underlined words used in the selection. Write the meaning of the following words
based on their usage in the literary piece.

1. sluggish – ________________________________________________________

2
 2. smirk – ________________________________________________________
3. interrogation – ________________________________________________________
4. rifling – ________________________________________________________
5. study – ________________________________________________________
6. fate – ________________________________________________________
7. ominous – ________________________________________________________
8. pulverize – ________________________________________________________
9. vanish – ________________________________________________________
10. flutter – ________________________________________________________

Pre-Reading:

Kafka on the Shore is powered by two remarkable

characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from
home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for
his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called
Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is
drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities
of daily life, he cannot fathom.
As their paths converge, and the reasons for that
convergence become clear, Haruki Murakami enfolds readers in a
world where cats talk, fish fall from the sky, and spirits slip out of their bodies to make
love or commit murder. Kafka on the Shore displays one of the world‘s great storytellers at the peak of his
powers.
Retrieved from: http://www.harukimurakami.com/book_summary/kafka-on-the-shore-summary

Literary Selection:

THE BOY NAMED CROW

[Excerpt from Kafka on the Shore]
(as published in Uychoco, 2016)

―So you‘re all set for money then?‖ the boy named Crow asks in his characteristic sluggish voice. The
kind of voice that you have when you‘ve just woken up and your mouth feels heavy and dull. But he‘s just
pretending. He‘s totally awake. As always.
I nod.
―How much?‖
I review the numbers in my head. ―Close to ¥400,000 in cash, plus some money I can get from the ATM.
I know it‘s not a lot, but it should be enough. For the time being.‖
―Not bad.‖ The boy named Crow says, ―For the time being.‖
I give him another nod.
―I‘m guessing this isn‘t Christmas money from Santa Claus.‖
―Yeah you‘re right,‖ I reply.
Crow smirks and looks around. ―I imagine you‘ve started out by rifling drawers, am I right?‖
I don‘t say anything. He knows whose money we‘re talking about, so there‘s no need for any long-
awaited interrogations. He‘s just giving me a hard time

3
 ―No matter,‖ Crow says. ―You really need this money and you‘re going to get it — beg, borrow, or steal.
It‘s your father‘s money, so who cares, right? Get your hands on that much and you should be able to make it. For
the time being. But what‘s the plan after it‘s all gone? Money isn‘t like mushrooms in a forest — it doesn‘t just
pop up on its own, you know. You‘ll need to eat, a place to sleep. One day you‘re going to run out.‖
―I‘ll think about that when the time comes,‖ I say.
―When the time comes,‖ Crow repeats, as if weighing these words in his hand.
I nod.
―Like by getting a job or something?‖
―Maybe,‖ I say.
Crow shakes his head. ―You know you‘ve got a lot to learn about the world. Listen — what kind of job
could a 15-year old kid get in some far-off place he‘s never been to before? You haven‘t even finished junior
high. Who do you think‘s going to hire you?‖
I blush a little. It doesn‘t take much to make me blush.
―Forget it,‖ he says. ―You‘re just starting out and I shouldn‘t lay all this depressing stuff on you. You‘ve
already decided what you‘re going to do, and all that‘s left is to set the wheels in motion. I mean, it‘s your life.
Basically, you have to go with what you think is right.‖
That‘s right. When all is said and done, it is my life.
―I‘ll tell you one thing, though. You‘re going to have to get a lot tougher if you want to make it.‖
―I‘m trying my best, I say.
―I‘m sure you are,‖ Crow says. ―These last few days you‘ve grown a whole lot stronger. I‘ve got to hand
it to you.‖
I nod again.
―But let‘s face it — you‘re only 15,‖ Crow goes on. ―Your life‘s just begun and there‘s a ton of things out
in the world you‘ve never laid eyes on. Things you never could imagine.‖
As always, we‘re sitting beside each other on the old sofa in my father‘s study. Crow loves the study and
all the little objects scattered around there. Now he‘s toying with a bee-shaped glass paperweight. If my father
was at home, you can bet Crow would never go anywhere near it.
―But I have to get out of here,‖ I tell him. ―No two ways about it.‖
―Yeah, I guess you‘re right.‖ He places the paperweight back on the table and links his hands behind his
head. ―Not that running away‘s going to solve everything. I don‘t want to rain on your parade or anything, but I
wouldn‘t count on escaping this place if I were you. No matter how far you run. Distance might not solve
anything.‖
The boy named Crow lets out a sigh, then rests a fingertip on each of his closed eyelids and speaks to me
from the darkness within.
―How about we play our game?‖ he says.
―All right,‖ I say. I close my eyes and quietly take a breath.
―OK, picture a terrible sandstorm,‖ he says. ―Get everything else out of your head.‖
I do as he says, get everything else out of my head. I forgot who I am, even. I‘m a total blank. Then things
begin to surface. Things that — as we sit here on the old leather sofa in my father‘s study — both of us can see.
―Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing direction,‖ Crow says.
Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing direction. You change direction, but
sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous
dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn‘t something that blew in from far away,
something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside you. So all you can do is give in
to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and walk through it, step by step. There‘s no sun there, no

4
moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That‘s
the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine.
And that‘s exactly what I do. I imagine a white funnel stretching vertically up like a thick rope. My eyes
are closed tight, hands cupped over my ears, so those fine grains of sand can‘t blow inside me. The sandstorm
draws steadily closer. I can feel the air pressing on my skin. It really is going to swallow me up.
The boy called Crow rests a hand softly on my shoulder, and with that the storm vanishes.
―From now on — no matter what — you‘ve got to be the world‘s toughest 15-year-old. That‘s the only
way you‘re going to survive. And in order to do that, you‘ve got to figure out what it means to be tough. You
following me?‖
I keep my eyes closed and don‘t reply. I just want to sink off into sleep like this, his hand on my shoulder.
I hear the faint flutter of wings.
―You‘re going to be the world‘s toughest 15-year old,‖ Crow whispers as I try to fall asleep. As if he were
carving the words in a deep blue tattoo on my heart.
And you really have to make it through that violent, metaphysical storm. No matter how metaphysical or
symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flesh like a thousand razor blade. People will
bleed there, and you will bleed too. Hot, red blood. You‘ll catch that blood in your hands, your own blood and the
blood of others.
And once the storm is over you won‘t remember how you made it through, how you manage to survive.
You won‘t even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you came out of
the storm you won‘t be the same person who walked in. That‘s what this storm‘s all about.
On my fifteenth birthday I‘ll run away from home, journey to a far-off town and live in a corner of a
small library. It‘d take a week to go into the whole thing, all the details. So I‘ll just give the main point. On my
fifteenth birthday I‘ll run away from home, journey to a far-off town, and live in a corner of a small library.
It sounds a little like a fairytale. But it‘s no fairytale, believe me. No matter what sort of spin you put on
it.

Guide Questions:

Uychoco (2016) published the following guide questions for the excerpt of Kafka on the Shore, The Boy
Named Crow:

1. How would you describe the boy named Crow?

2. What does the boy feel toward Crow? Gove textual evidence to prove your point.
3. Why does it seem like he can read the narrator‘s mind? Why can they both see the mental picture of the
sandstorm? Who, or what, is Crow?
4. What does the sandstorm represent? Gove textual evidence to prove this.
5. Do you agree with the narrator‘s view about fate? Why or why not?
6. How would you describe the boy‘s relationship to his father? Could this be considered a relationship that
many people have with their fathers? Why or why not?
7. Why does the boy want to run away?
8. Have you ever felt the way he does in the story? Why or why not?
9. Why does he have to be the toughest 15-year-old in the world?
10. Why does the narrator say that it sounds like a fairytale, but it isn‘t one?

5
Chapter 2:

European Literature
European Literature, also known as Western literature, history of literatures in the languages of the Indo-
European family, along with a small number of other languages whose cultures
became closely associated with the West, from ancient times to the
present.
According to Britannica.com, Diverse as they are,
European literatures, like European languages, are parts of a
common heritage. Greek, Latin, Germanic, Baltic and Slavic,
Celtic, and Romance languages are all members of the Indo-
European family. (Finnish and Hungarian and Semitic
languages of the eastern Mediterranean, such as Hebrew, are
not Indo-European. Literatures in these languages are,
however, closely associated with major Western literatures
and are often included among them.) The common literary
heritage is essentially that originating in ancient Greece and
Rome. It was preserved, transformed, and spread by Christianity
and thus transmitted to the vernacular languages of the European
Continent, the Western Hemisphere, and other regions that were settled by
Europeans. To the present day, this body of writing displays a unity in its main features that sets it apart from the
literatures of the rest of the world.
Such common characteristics are
considered here.

6
CHAPTER 2: EUROPEAN LITERATURE

ENGLAND, birthplace of
Shakespeare and The Beatles, is a
country in the British Isles bordering
Scotland and Wales. The capital,
London, on the River Thames, is home
of Parliament, Big Ben and the 11th-
century Tower of London. It's also a
multicultural, modern hub for the arts and business. Other large cities are
Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Bristol and the university centres of
Oxford and Cambridge. It is one of the four kingdoms, along with Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland, that forms the United Kingdom.
Retrieved from:
https://www.google.com.ph/#q=England

About the Author:

NEIL GAIMAN (Neil Richard Gaiman) was born on November 10, 1960 in
Hampshire, UK, and now lives in the United States near Minneapolis. As a
child he discovered his love of books, reading, and stories, devouring the works
of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, James Branch Cabell, Edgar Allan Poe, Michael
Moorcock, Ursula K. LeGuin, Gene Wolfe, and G.K. Chesterton. A self-
described "feral child who was raised in libraries," Gaiman credits librarians
with fostering a life-long love of reading: "I wouldn't be who I am without
libraries. I was the sort of kid who devoured books, and my happiest times as a
boy were when I persuaded my parents to drop me off in the local library on
their way to work, and I spent the day there. I discovered that librarians actually
want to help you: they taught me about interlibrary loans."
Gaiman began his writing career in England as a journalist. His first
book was a Duran Duran biography that took him three months to write, and his
second was a biography of Douglas Adams, Don't Panic: The Official Hitch
Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion. Gaiman describes his early writing: "I was very, very good at taking a
voice that already existed and parodying or pastiching it." Violent Cases was the first of many collaborations with
artist Dave McKean. This early graphic novel led to their series Black Orchid, published by DC Comics.
The groundbreaking series Sandman followed, collecting a large number of US awards in its 75 issue run,
including nine Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards and three Harvey Awards. In 1991, Sandman became the first
comic ever to receive a literary award, the 1991 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story.
Neil Gaiman is credited with being one of the creators of modern comics, as well as an author whose
work crosses genres and reaches audiences of all ages. He is listed in the Dictionary of Literary Biography as one
of the top ten living post-modern writers and is a prolific creator of works of prose, poetry, film, journalism,
comics, song lyrics, and drama.
Gaiman has achieved cult status and attracted increased media attention, with recent profiles in The New
Yorker magazine and by CBS News Sunday Morning.

7
 Audiences for science fiction and fantasy form a substantial part of Gaiman's fan base, and he has
continuously used social media to communicate with readers. In 2001, Gaiman became one of the first writers to
establish a blog, which now has over a million regular readers.
In 2008, Gaiman joined Twitter as @neilhimself and now has over 1.5 million followers and counting on
the micro-blogging site. He won the Twitter category in the inaugural Author Blog Awards, and his adult novel
American Gods was the first selection for the One Book, One Twitter (1b1t) book club.
Neil Gaiman writes books for readers of all ages, including the following collections and picture books
for young readers: M is for Magic (2007); Interworld (2007), co-authored with Michael Reaves; The Day I
Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish (1997); The Wolves in the Walls (2003); the Greenaway-shortlisted Crazy
Hair (2009), illustrated by Dave McKean; The Dangerous Alphabet (2008), illustrated by Gris Grimly; Blueberry
Girl (2009); and Instructions (2010), illustrated by Charles Vess.
Gaiman's books are genre works that refuse to remain true to their genres. Gothic horror was out of
fashion in the early 1990s when Gaiman started work on Coraline (2002). Originally considered too frightening
for children, Coraline went on to win the British Science Fiction Award, the Hugo, the Nebula, the Bram Stoker,
and the American Elizabeth Burr/Worzalla award. Odd and the Frost Giants, originally written for 2009's World
Book Day, has gone on to receive worldwide critical acclaim.
The Wolves in the Walls was made into an opera by the Scottish National Theatre in 2006, and Coraline
was adapted as a musical by Stephin Merritt in 2009.
Gaiman is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Neverwhere (1995), Stardust (1999), the
Hugo and Nebula Award-winning American Gods (2001), Anansi Boys (2005), and Good Omens (with Terry
Pratchett, 1990), as well as the short story collections Smoke and Mirrors (1998) and Fragile Things (2006).
His first collection of short fiction, Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions, was nominated for
the UK's MacMillan Silver Pen Awards as the best short story collection of the year. Most recently, Gaiman was
both a contributor to and co-editor with Al Sarrantonio of Stories (2010), and his own story in the volume, The
Truth Is A Cave In The Black Mountains, has been nominated for a number of awards.
American Gods has been released in an expanded tenth anniversary edition, and there is an HBO series in
the works.
Gaiman wrote the screenplay for the original BBC TV series of Neverwhere (1996); Dave McKean's first
feature film, Mirrormask (2005), for the Jim Henson Company; and cowrote the script to Robert Zemeckis's
Beowulf. He produced Stardust, Matthew Vaughn's film based on Gaiman's book by the same name.
He has written and directed two films: A Short Film About John Bolton (2002) and Sky Television's
Statuesque (2009) starring Bill Nighy and Amanda Palmer.
An animated feature film based on Gaiman's Coraline, directed by Henry Selick and released in early
2009, secured a BAFTA for Best Animated Film and was nominated for an Oscar in the same category.
Gaiman's 2011 episode of Doctor Who, "The Doctor's Wife," caused the Times to describe him as "a
hero."
Retrieved from: http://www.neilgaiman.com/About_Neil/Biography

Vocabulary Development:

The words below are underlined words used in the selection. Write the meaning of the following words
based on their usage in the literary piece.

1. shoveled – ________________________________________________________
2. studding – ________________________________________________________
3. principle – ________________________________________________________

8
 4. cautiously – ________________________________________________________
5. gleaming – ________________________________________________________

Pre-Reading:

Coraline is a dark fantasy children's novella by British author Neil Gaiman, published in 2002 by
Bloomsbury and Harper Collins. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novella, the 2003 Nebula Award
for Best Novella, and the 2002 Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers. It has been compared to
Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and was adapted into a 2009 stop-motion film directed by
Henry Selick.
Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coraline

Coraline's often wondered what's behind the locked door in the drawing
room. It reveals only a brick wall when she finally opens it, but when she tries again
later, a passageway mysteriously appears. Coraline is surprised to find a flat
decorated exactly like her own, but strangely different. And when she finds her
"other" parents in this alternate world, they are much more interesting despite their
creepy black button eyes. When they make it clear, however, that they want to make
her theirs forever, Coraline begins a nightmarish game to rescue her real parents and
three children imprisoned in a mirror. With only a bored-through stone and an aloof
cat to help, Coraline confronts this harrowing task of escaping these monstrous
creatures.
Gaiman has delivered a wonderfully chilling novel, subtle yet intense on
many levels. The line between pleasant and horrible is often blurred until what's what becomes suddenly clear,
and like Coraline, we resist leaving this strange world until we're hooked. Unnerving drawings also cast a dark
shadow over the book's eerie atmosphere, which is only heightened by simple, hair-raising text. Coraline is
otherworldly storytelling at its best.
Retrieved from: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17061.Coraline

Literary Selection:

CORALINE
[Excerpt]
(as published in Uychoco, 2016)

It sounded like her mother. Coraline went into the kitchen, where the voice had come from. A woman
stood in the kitchen with her back to Coraline. She looked a little like Coraline‘s mother. Only…
Only her skin was white as paper.
Only she was taller and thinner.
Only her fingers were too long, and they never stopped moving, and her dark red fingernails were curved
and sharp.
―Coraline?‖ the woman said. ―Is that you?‖
And then she turned around. Her eyes were big black buttons.
―Lunchtime, Coraline,‖ said the woman.
―Who are you?‖ asked Coraline.

9
 ―I‘m your other mother,‖ said the woman. ―Go and tell your other father that lunch is ready,‖ She opened
the door of the oven. Suddenly Coraline realized how hungry she was. It smelled wonderful. ―Well go on.‖
Coraline went down the hall, to where her father‘s study was. She opened the door. There was a man in
there, sitting at the keyboard, with his back to her. ―Hello,‖ said Coraline. ―I–I mean, she said to say that lunch is
ready.‖
The man turned around.
His eyes were buttons, big and black and shiny.
―Hello Coraline,‖ he said. ―I‘m starving.‖
He got up and went with her into the kitchen. They sat at the kitchen table, and Coraline‘s other mother
brought them lunch. A huge, golden-brown roasted chicken, fried potatoes, tiny green peas. Coraline shoveled the
food into her mouth. It tasted wonderful.
―We‘ve been waiting for you for a long time,‖ said Coraline‘s other father.
―For me?‖
―Yes,‖ said the other mother. ―It wasn‘t the same here without you. But we knew you‘d arrive one day,
and then we could be a proper family. Would you like some more chicken?‖
It was the best chicken that Coraline has ever eaten. Her mother sometimes made chicken, but it was
always out of packets or frozen, and was very dry, and it never tasted of anything. When Coraline‘s father cooked
chicken he bought real chicken, but he did strange things to it, like stewing it in wine, or studding it with prunes,
or baking it in pastry, and Coraline would always refuse to touch it on principle.
She took some more chicken.
―I didn‘t know I had another mother,‖ said Coraline, cautiously.
―Of course you do. Everyone does,‖ said the other mother, her black button eyes gleaming. ―After lunch I
thought you might like to play in your room with the rats.‖
―The rats?‖
―From upstairs.‖
Coraline had never seen a rat, except on television. She was quite looking forward to it. This was turning
out to be very interesting day after all.

Guide Questions:

Uychoco (2016) published the following guide questions for the excerpt of Coraline:

1. The protagonist has an unusual name. Why do you think it is spelled that way?
2. How would you describe the other mother? Why do you feel that way?
3. Why does the other mother have significant differences in appearance from her real mother? What could
this mean?
4. How do you feel about the button eyes? What could this signify in the story?
5. Have you ever fantasized about having another mother or father? Why?
6. How does this story feed on this fantasy?
7. How is the chicken in the other family different from how chicken is usually served in her household?
8. What does the chicken symbolizes?
9. The other mother encourages Coraline to play with rats. What does this tell us about the other mother‘s
character?
10. Why does Coraline respond the way that she does?

10
Chapter 3:

Anglo-American Literature
As published in Britannica.com, North America,
third largest of the world‘s continents, lying for the most part
between the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer. North
America occupies the northern portion of the landmass
generally referred to as the New World, the Western
Hemisphere, or simply the Americas. Mainland North
America is shaped roughly like a triangle, with its base in the
north and its apex in the south; associated with the continent
is Greenland, the largest island in the world, and such
offshore groups as the Arctic Archipelago, the West Indies,
Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands), and the
Aleutian Islands.
Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to the Angles, England, the English people, or the English
language, such as in the term Anglo-Saxon language. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people
of British Isles descent in The Americas, New Zealand and Australia.
Anglo-America most often refers to a region in the Americas in which English is a main language and
British culture and the British Empire have had significant historical, ethnic, linguistic and cultural impact.
Anglo-America is distinct from Latin America, a region of the Americas where Romance languages (Spanish,
Portuguese and French) are prevalent (Wikipedia.org).
American literature, the body of written works produced in the English language in the United States.
Like other national literatures, American literature was shaped by the history of the country that produced
it. For almost a century and a half, America was merely a group of
colonies scattered along the eastern seaboard of the North American
continent—colonies from which a few hardy souls tentatively ventured
westward. After a successful rebellion against the motherland,
America became the United States, a nation. By the end of the 19th
century this nation extended southward to the Gulf of Mexico,
northward to the 49th parallel, and westward to the Pacific. By the end
of the 19th century, too, it had taken its place among the powers of the
world—its fortunes so interrelated with those of other nations that
inevitably it became involved in two world wars and, following these
conflicts, with the problems of Europe and East Asia. Meanwhile, the
rise of science and industry, as well as changes in ways of thinking and
feeling, wrought many modifications in people‘s lives. All these
factors in the development of the United States molded the literature of
the country.
Canadian literature is the body of written works produced by
Canadians. Reflecting the country‘s dual origin and its official
bilingualism, the literature of Canada can be split into two major
divisions: English and French. This article provides a brief historical
account of each of these literatures.

11
CHAPTER 3: ANGLO-AMERICAN LITERATURE

CANADA is a North American

country stretching from the U.S. in the
south to the Arctic Circle in the north.
Major cities include massive Toronto,
west coast film center Vancouver, French-
speaking Montréal and Québec City, and
capital city Ottawa. Canada's vast swaths of wilderness include lake-filled
Banff National Park in the Rocky Mountains. It's also home to Niagara Falls,
a famous group of massive waterfalls.
Retrieved from: https://www.google.com.ph/#q=Canada

About the Author:

MARGARET ATWOOD was born on November 18, 1939 in

Ottawa, and grew up in northern Ontario and Quebec, and in Toronto. She
received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University
of Toronto and her master‘s degree from Radcliffe College.
Margaret Atwood is the author of more than forty books of fiction,
poetry, and critical essays. Her latest book of short stories is Stone Mattress:
Nine Tales (2014). Her MaddAddam trilogy – the Giller and Booker prize-
nominated Oryx and Crake (2003), The Year of the Flood (2009), and
MaddAddam (2013) – is currently being adapted for HBO. The Door is her
latest volume of poetry (2007). Her most recent non-fiction books are
Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth (2008) and In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination
(2011). Her novels include The Blind Assassin, winner of the Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller
Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; and The Robber Bride, Cat‘s Eye, The Handmaid‘s Tale –
coming soon as a TV series with MGM and Hulu – and The Penelopiad. Her new novel, The Heart Goes Last,
was published in September 2015. Forthcoming in 2016 are Hag-Seed, a novel revisitation of Shakespeare‘s play
The Tempest, for the Hogarth Shakespeare Project, and Angel Catbird – with a cat-bird superhero – a graphic
novel with co-creator Johnnie Christmas. (Dark Horse.) Margaret Atwood lives in Toronto with writer Graeme
Gibson.
Margaret Atwood currently lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.
Atwood was President of the Writers‘ Union of Canada from May 1981 to May 1982, and was President
of International P.E.N., Canadian Centre (English Speaking) from 1984-1986. She and Graeme Gibson are the
Joint Honourary Presidents of the Rare Bird Society within BirdLife International. Ms. Atwood is also a current
Vice-President of PEN International.
Retrieved from: http://margaretatwood.ca/biography/

Vocabulary Development:

The words below are underlined words used in the selection. Write the meaning of the following words
based on their usage in the literary piece.

1. eminent – ________________________________________________________

12
 2. plausible – ________________________________________________________
3. compulsion – ________________________________________________________
4. edifying – ________________________________________________________
5. inklings – ________________________________________________________
6. slipperiness – ________________________________________________________
7. wiliness – ________________________________________________________
8. foxiness – ________________________________________________________
9. unscrupulousness – ________________________________________________________
10. jeering – ________________________________________________________
11. gossip – ________________________________________________________
12. minstrel – ________________________________________________________
13. preposterous – ________________________________________________________
14. aristocrat – ________________________________________________________
15. fumbling – ________________________________________________________

Pre-Reading:

The Penelopiad is a novella by Margaret Atwood. It was published in 2005 as

part of the first set of books in the Canongate Myth Series where contemporary
authors rewrite ancient myths. In The Penelopiad, Penelope reminisces on the events
during the Odyssey, life in Hades, Odysseus, Helen, and her relationships with her
parents. A chorus of the twelve maids, whom Odysseus believed were disloyal and
whom Telemachus hanged, interrupt Penelope's narrative to express their view on
events. The maids' interludes use a new genre each time, including a jump-rope
rhyme, a lament, an idyll, a ballad, a lecture, a court trial and several types of songs.

The novella's central themes include the effects of story-telling perspectives,

double standards between the sexes and the classes, and the fairness of justice.
Atwood had previously used characters and storylines from Greek mythology in
fiction such as her novel The Robber Bride, short story The Elysium Lifestyle Mansions and poems "Circe: Mud
Poems" and "Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing" but used Robert Graves' The Greek Myths and E. V. Rieu
and D. C. H. Rieu's version of the Odyssey to prepare for this novella.
Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Penelopiad

Metafiction is a fiction that discusses, describes, or analyzes a work of fiction or the conventions of
fiction.
Retrieved from: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/metafiction

A fiction in which the author self-consciously alludes to the artificiality or literariness of a work by
parodying or departing from novelistic conventions (especially naturalism) and traditional narrative techniques
Retrieved from: https://www.google.com.ph/?ion=1&espv=2#q=metafiction%20definition

Historiographic metafiction is a term coined by Canadian literary theorist Linda Hutcheon in the late
1980s. The term is used for works of fiction which combine the literary devices of metafiction with historical
fiction. Works regarded as historiographic metafiction are also distinguished by frequent allusions to other

13
artistic, historical and literary texts (i.e. intertextuality) in order to show the extent to which works of both
literature and historiography are dependent on the history of discourse.
Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historiographic_metafiction

Literary Selection:

A LOW ART
[Excerpt from The Penelopiad]
(as published in Uychoco, 2016)

Now that I’m dead I know everything. This is what I wished would happen, but I like so many of my
wishes it failed to come true. I know only a few factoids that I didn‘t know before. Death is much too high a price
to pay for the satisfaction of curiosity, needless to say.
Since being dead — since achieving this state of bonelessness, liplessness, breastlessness — I‘ve learned
some things I would rather not know, as one does when listening at windows or opening other people‘s letters.
You think you‘d like to read minds? Think again.
Down here everyone arrives with a sack, like the sacks used to keep the winds in, but each of these sacks
is full of words — words you‘ve spoken, words you‘ve heard, words that have been said about you. Some sacks
are very small, others large; my own is a reasonable size, though a lot of the words in it concern my eminent
husband. What a fool he made of me, some say. It was a specialty of his: making fools. He got away with
everything, which was another of his specialties: getting away.
He was always so plausible. Many people have believed that his versions of events was the true one, give
or take a few murders, a few beautiful seductresses, a few one-eyed monsters. Even I believed him, from time to
time. I knew he was tricky and a liar, I just didn‘t think he would play his tricks and try out his lies on me. Hadn‘t
I been faithful? Hadn‘t I waited, and waited, and waited, despite the temptation — almost the compulsion — to do
otherwise? And what did I amount to, once the official version gained ground? An edifying legend. A stick used
to beat other women with. Why couldn‘t they be as considerate, as trustworthy, as all-suffering as I had been?
That was the line they took, the singers, the yarn-spinners. Don’t follow my example, I want to scream in your ears
— yes, yours! But when I try to scream, I sound like an owl.
Of course I had inklings, about his slipperiness, his wiliness, his foxiness, his — how can I put this? —
his unscrupulousness, but I turned a blind eye. I kept my mouth shut; or if I opened it, I sang his praises. I didn‘t
contradict, I didn‘t ask awkward questions, I didn‘t dig deep. I wanted happy endings in those days, and happy
endings are best achieved by keeping the right doors locked and going to sleep during the rampages.
But after the main events were over and things had become less legendary, I realized how many people
were laughing at me behind my back — how they were jeering, making jokes about me, jokes both clean and
dirty; how they were turning me into a story, or into several stories, though not the kind of stories I‘d prefer to
hear about myself. What can a woman do when scandalous gossip travels the world? If she defends herself she
sounds guilty. So I waited some more.
Now that all the others have run out of air, it‘s my turn to do a little story-making. I owe it to myself. I‘ve
had to work myself up to it: it‘s a low art, tale-telling. Old women go in for it, strolling beggars, blind singers,
maidservants, children — folks with time on their hands. Once, people would have laughed if I‘d tried to play the
minstrel — there‘s nothing more preposterous than an aristocrat fumbling around with the arts — but who cares
about public opinion now? The opinion of the people down here: the opinions of shadows, of echoes. So I‘ll spin
a thread of my own.

14
Guide Questions:

Uychoco (2016) published the following guide questions for the excerpt of The Penelopiad, A Low Art:

1. Why does Penelope consider storytelling ―a low art‖?

2. How does Penelope‘s portrayal differ from the traditional portrayal of Odysseus? What do you think of
Odysseus?
3. Based on Penelope‘s perspective, how is she different from how the epic portrays her? What do you think
of Penelope‘s character in the preceding story?
4. What does she have to say about the ―official version‖ of what happened? Why does she point this out?
5. Why does she call herself ―a stick used to beat other women with‖? Do you agree with her?
6. Why does Penelope say that she ―sounds like an owl‖ when she tries to warn other women?
7. How much of ancient history do you think is based on fact, and how much on gossip or exaggeration?
8. Do you think a story is colored by biases of the storyteller?
9. Do you think history is colored by the biases of the historian?
10. Does this story change the way you look at literature and history? Why or why not?

15
Chapter 4:

Latin American Literature

Latin America (occasionally referred to in
writing by the portmanteau ―LatAm‖ or ―LATAM‖)
is the group of countries and dependencies in the
Americas where Romance languages are
predominant. The term originated in 19th century
France to consider French-speaking territories in the
Americas along the larger group of countries where
Spanish and Portuguese languages prevail. It is
therefore broader than the terms Ibero-America or
Hispanic America — though it usually excludes
French Canada.
Latin America consists of twenty sovereign
states and several territories and dependencies which
cover an area that stretches from the northern border
of Mexico to the southern tip of South America,
including the Caribbean. It has an area of
approximately 19,197,000 km2 (7,412,000 sq mi),
almost 13% of the Earth's land surface area. As of
2015, its population was estimated at more than 626
million and in 2014; Latin America had a combined
nominal GDP of 5,573,397 million USD and a GDP
PPP of 7,531,585 million USD. As of 2015, violent
homicides make Latin America the most insecure
region in the world. The term ―Latin America‖ was

first used in 1861 in La revue des races Latines, a

magazine ―dedicated to the cause of Pan-Latinism‖.
Latin American literature, as published in
Britannica.com, the national literatures of the Spanish-
speaking countries of the Western Hemisphere.
Historically, it also includes the literary expression of the
highly developed A merican Indian civilizations conquered
by the Spaniards. Over the years, Latin American literature
has developed a rich and complex diversity of themes,
forms, creative idioms, and styles.

16
CHAPTER 4: LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE

CHILE is a long, narrow country

stretching along South America's western
edge, with more than 6,000km of Pacific
Ocean coastline. Santiago, its capital, sits in
a valley surrounded by the Andes and
Chilean Coast Range mountains. The city's
palm-lined Plaza de Armas contains the
neoclassical cathedral and the National History Museum. The massive Parque
Metropolitano offers swimming pools, a botanical garden and zoo.
Retrieved from: https://www.google.com.ph/#q=chile

About the Author:

ISABEL ALLENDE, Chilean author, won worldwide acclaim when

her bestselling first novel, The House of the Spirits, was published in 1982.
In addition to launching Allende‘s career as a renowned author, the book,
which grew out of a farewell letter to her dying grandfather, also established
her as a feminist force in Latin America‘s male-dominated literary world.
She has since written 20 more works, including Of Love and
Shadows, Eva Luna, Stories of Eva Luna, The Infinite Plan, Daughter of
Fortune, Portrait in Sepia, a trilogy for young readers (City of Beasts,
Kingdom of the Golden Dragon, and Forest of Pygmies), Zorro, Ines of My
Soul, Island Beneath the Sea, Maya‘s Notebook, Ripper and her latest book,
The Japanese Lover. Books of nonfiction include Aphrodite, a humorous
collection of recipes and essays, and three memoirs: My Invented Country, Paula (a bestseller that documents
Allende‘s daughter‘s illness and death, as well as her own life), and The Sum of Our Days.
Allende‘s books, all written in her native Spanish, have been translated into more than 35 languages and
have sold more than 67 million copies. Her works both entertain and educate readers by weaving intriguing
stories with significant historical events. Settings for her books include Chile throughout the 15th, 19th and 20th
centuries, the California gold rush, the guerrilla movement of 1960s Venezuela, the Vietnam War, and the slave
revolt in Haiti in the 18th century.
Allende, who has received dozens of international tributes and awards over the last 30 years, describes her
fiction as ―realistic literature,‖ rooted in her remarkable upbringing and the mystical people and events that fueled
her imagination. Her writings are equally informed by her feminist convictions, her commitment to social justice,
and the harsh political realities that shaped her destiny. A prominent journalist for Chilean television and
magazines in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Allende‘s life was forever altered when Gen. Augusto Pinochet led a
military coup in 1973 that toppled Chile‘s socialist reform government. Allende‘s cousin Salvador Allende, who
had been elected Chile‘s president in 1970, died in the coup. The Pinochet regime was marked early on by
repression and brutality, and Allende became involved with groups offering aid to victims of the regime.
Ultimately finding it unsafe to remain in Chile, she fled the country in 1975 with her husband and two children.
The family lived in exile in Venezuela for the next 13 years.
In 1981 Allende learned that her beloved grandfather, who still lived in Chile, was dying. She began a
letter to him, recounting her childhood memories of life in her grandparents‘ home. Although her grandfather died
before having a chance to read the letter, its contents became the basis for The House of the Spirits, the novel that

17
launched her literary career at age 40. The novel details the lives of two families living in Chile from the 1920s to
the country‘s military coup in 1973, and has been described as both a family saga and a political testimony.
In addition to her work as a writer, Allende also devotes much of her time to human rights. Following the death of
her daughter in 1992, she established in Paula‘s honor a charitable foundation dedicated to the protection and
empowerment of women and children worldwide.
Since 1987, Allende has made her home in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Allende became a
U.S. citizen in 1993 but, as she says, she lives with one foot in California and the other in Chile.
Retrieved from: http://www.isabelallende.com/en/bio

Vocabulary Development:

The words below are underlined words used in the selection. Write the meaning of the following words
based on their usage in the literary piece.

1. startled – ________________________________________________________
2. clatter – ________________________________________________________
3. shattered – ________________________________________________________
4. clasped – ________________________________________________________
5. lashing – ________________________________________________________
6. adrift – ________________________________________________________
7. deluge – ________________________________________________________
8. sprawled – ________________________________________________________
9. spattered – ________________________________________________________
10. haste – ________________________________________________________

Pre-Reading:

City of the Beasts (La ciudad de las bestias in Spanish) is the first young adult
novel by Chilean-American writer Isabel Allende. Published in 2002, the story is set in
the Amazon rainforest. The novel was translated by Margaret Sayers Peden from
Spanish to English. Walden Media is said to be producing a movie.
Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_the_Beasts

Literary Selection:

THE NIGHTMARE
[Excerpt, Chapter One, from City of the Beasts]
(as published online)

Alexander Cold awakened at dawn, startled by a nightmare. He had been dreaming that an enormous
black bird had crashed against the window with a clatter of shattered glass, flown into the house, and carried off
his mother. In the dream, he watched helplessly as the gigantic vulture clasped Lisa Cold's clothing in its yellow

18
claws, flew out the same broken window, and disappeared into a sky heavy with dark clouds. What had awakened
him was the noise from the storm: wind lashing the trees, rain on the rooftop, and thunder.
He turned on the light with the sensation of being adrift in a boat, and pushed closer to the bulk of the
large dog sleeping beside him. He pictured the roaring Pacific Ocean a few blocks from his house, spilling in
furious waves against the cliffs. He lay listening to the storm and thinking about the black bird and about his
mother, waiting for the pounding in his chest to die down. He was still tangled in the images of his bad dream.
Alexander looked at the clock: six-thirty, time to get up. Outside, it was beginning to get light. He
decided that this was going to be a terrible day, one of those days when it's best to stay in bed because everything
is going to turn out bad. There had been a lot of days like that since his mother got sick; sometimes the air in the
house felt heavy, like being at the bottom of the sea. On those days, the only relief was to escape, to run along the
beach with Poncho until he was out of breath. But it had been raining and raining for more than a week — a real
deluge — and on top of that, Poncho had been bitten by a deer and didn't want to move. Alex was convinced that
he had the dumbest dog in history, the only eighty-pound Labrador ever bitten by a deer. In the four years of his
life, Poncho had been attacked by raccoons, the neighbor's cat, and now a deer — not counting the times he had
been sprayed by the skunks and they'd had to bathe him in tomato juice to get rid of the smell. Alex got out of bed
without disturbing Poncho and got dressed, shivering; the heat came on at six, but it hadn't yet warmed his room,
the one at the end of the hall.
At breakfast Alex was not in the mood to applaud his father's efforts at making pancakes. John Cold was
not exactly a good cook; the only thing he knew how to do was pancakes, and they always turned out like rubber-
tire tortillas. His children didn't want to hurt his feelings, so they pretended to eat them, but anytime he wasn't
looking, they spit them out into the garbage pail. They had tried in vain to train Poncho to eat them: the dog was
stupid, but not that stupid.
―When's Momma going to get better?‖ Nicole asked, trying to spear a rubbery pancake with her fork.
―Shut up, Nicole!‖ Alex replied, tired of hearing his younger sister ask the same question several times a
week.
―Momma's going to die,‖ Andrea added.
Liar! She's not going to die!" shrieked Nicole.
―You two are just kids. You don't know what you're talking about!‖ Alex exclaimed.
―Here, girls. Quiet now. Momma is going to get better,‖ John interrupted, without much conviction.
Alex was angry with his father, his sisters, Poncho, life in general — even with his mother for getting
sick. He rushed out of the kitchen, ready to leave without breakfast, but he tripped over the dog in the hallway and
sprawled flat.
―Get out of my way, you stupid dog!‖ he yelled, and Poncho, delighted, gave him a loud slobbery kiss
that left Alex's glasses spattered with saliva.
Yes, it was definitely one of those really bad days. Minutes later, his father discovered he had a flat tire
on the van, and Alex had to help change it. They lost precious minutes and the three children were late getting to
class. In the haste of leaving, Alex forgot his math homework. That did nothing to help his relationship with his
teacher, whom Alex considered to be a pathetic little worm whose goal was to make his life miserable. As the last
straw, he had also left his flute, and that afternoon he had orchestra practice; he was the soloist and couldn't miss
the rehearsal.
The flute was the reason Alex had to leave during lunch to go back to the house. The storm had blown
over but the sea was still rough and he couldn't take the short way along the beach road because the waves were
crashing over the lip of the cliff and flooding the street. He took the long way, running, because he had only forty
minutes.
For the last few weeks, ever since his mother got sick, a woman had come to clean, but that morning she
had called to say that because of the storm she wouldn't be there. It didn't matter, she wasn't much help and the

19
house was always dirty anyway. Even from outside, you could see the signs; it was as if the whole place was sad.
The air of neglect began with the garden and spread through every room of the house, to the farthest corners.
Alex could feel his family coming apart. His sister Andrea, who had always been different from the other
girls, was now more Andrea than ever; she was always dressing in costumes, and she wandered lost for hours in
her fantasy world, where she imagined witches lurking in the mirrors and aliens swimming in her soup. She was
too old for that. At twelve, Alex thought, she should be interested in boys, or piercing her ears. As for Nicole, the
youngest in the family, she was collecting a zoo full of animals…
Retrieved from: http://isabelallende.com/en/book/city/excerpt

Guide Questions:

Answer the following guide questions for the excerpt of City of the Beasts, Nightmare:

1. How would you describe the misunderstanding that happened between Andrea and Nicole? What kind of
relationship do you think they have?
2. If you are a member of the Cold Family, what would be your reaction during the discourse at breakfast?
3. Why do you think is the connection of their last name, Cold, to their characters?
4. Based on the characterization of Poncho, what do you think would be its role for the family? Why did you
say so?
5. What do you think is the relationship of Alexander‘s nightmare to the reality of his family‘s life?
6. If you are in the situation of the father, John, what would be your stand to your family‘s situation?
7. How did the selection convey the character of Alexander? Why do you think he had that such feeling?
8. If you are Alexander, how would you handle your emotions about your family?
9. Have you ever been in a situation similar with the Cold family? How would this affect you as a student?
as a person, in general?
10. What piece/s of advices can you give to a person with this kind of situation?

20
Chapter 5:
African Literature
African literature is literature of or from Africa
and includes oral literature (or "orature", in the term coined
by Ugandan scholar Pio Zirimu).
As George Joseph notes in his chapter on African
literature in Understanding Contemporary Africa, as
published in Wikipedia.org, whereas European views of
literature often stressed a separation of art and content,
African awareness is inclusive:
―Literature‖ can be the part of Asian also implies
an artistic use of words for the sake of art alone.
Traditionally, Africans do not radically separate art from
teaching. Rather than write or sing for beauty in itself,
African writers, taking their cue from oral literature, use
beauty to help communicate important truths and
information to society. Indeed, an object is considered
beautiful because of the truths it reveals and the
communities it helps to build.
African literature, as published in Britannica.com,
the body of traditional oral and written literatures in Afro-
Asiatic and African languages together with works written
by Africans in European languages. Traditional written
literature, which is limited to a smaller geographic area than is oral literature, is most characteristic of those sub-
Saharan cultures that have participated in the cultures of the Mediterranean. In particular, there are written
literatures in both Hausa and Arabic, created by the scholars of what is now northern Nigeria, and the Somali
people have produced a traditional written literature. There are also works written in Geʿez (Ethiopic) and
Amharic, two of the languages of Ethiopia, which is the one part of Africa where Christianity has been practiced
long enough to be considered traditional. Works
written in European languages date primarily from
the 20th century onward. The literature of South
Africa in English and Afrikaans is also covered in a
separate article, South African literature.
The relationship between oral and written
traditions and in particular between oral and modern
written literatures is one of great complexity and not
a matter of simple evolution. Modern African
literatures were born in the educational systems
imposed by colonialism, with models drawn from
Europe rather than existing African traditions. But
the African oral traditions exerted their own influence on these literatures.

21
CHAPTER 5: AFRICAN LITERATURE

NIGERIA, an African
country on the Gulf of Guinea, has
many natural landmarks and wildlife
reserves. Protected areas such as
Cross River National Park and
Yankari National Park have
waterfalls, dense rainforest, savanna and rare primate habitats. One of
the most recognizable sites is Zuma Rock, a 725m-tall monolith outside
the capital of Abuja that‘s pictured on the national currency.
Retrieved from: https://www.google.com.ph/#q=Nigeria

About the Author:

WOLE SOYINKA, in full Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka (born July

13, 1934, Abeokuta, Nigeria) Nigerian playwright and political activist who
received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986. He sometimes wrote of
modern West Africa in a satirical style, but his serious intent and his belief in
the evils inherent in the exercise of power usually was evident in his work as
well.
A member of the Yoruba people, Soyinka attended Government
College and University College in Ibadan before graduating in 1958 with a
degree in English from the University of Leeds in England. Upon his return to
Nigeria, he founded an acting company and wrote his first important play, A
Dance of the Forests (produced 1960; published 1963), for the Nigerian
independence celebrations. The play satirizes the fledgling nation by stripping
it of romantic legend and by showing that the present is no more a golden age
than was the past.
He wrote several plays in a lighter vein, making fun of pompous, Westernized schoolteachers in The Lion
and the Jewel (first performed in Ibadan, 1959; published 1963) and mocking the clever preachers of upstart
prayer-churches who grow fat on the credulity of their parishioners in The Trials of Brother Jero (performed
1960; published 1963) and Jero‘s Metamorphosis (1973). But his more serious plays, such as The Strong Breed
(1963), Kongi‘s Harvest (opened the first Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, 1966; published 1967), The Road
(1965), From Zia, with Love (1992), and even the parody King Baabu (performed 2001; published 2002), reveal
his disregard for African authoritarian leadership and his disillusionment with Nigerian society as a whole.
Other notable plays include Madmen and Specialists (performed 1970; published 1971), Death and the
King‘s Horseman (1975), and The Beatification of Area Boy(1995). In these and Soyinka‘s other dramas,
Western elements are skillfully fused with subject matter and dramatic techniques deeply rooted in Yoruba
folklore and religion. Symbolism, flashback, and ingenious plotting contribute to a rich dramatic structure. His
best works exhibit humor and fine poetic style as well as a gift for irony and satire and for accurately matching the
language of his complex characters to their social position and moral qualities.
From 1960 to 1964 Soyinka was coeditor of Black Orpheus, an important literary journal. From 1960
onward he taught literature and drama and headed theatre groups at various Nigerian universities, including those
of Ibadan, Ife, and Lagos. After winning the Nobel Prize, he also was sought after as a lecturer, and many of his
lectures were published—notably the Reith Lectures of 2004, as Climate of Fear (2004).

22
 Though he considered himself primarily a playwright, Soyinka also wrote novels — The Interpreters
(1965) and Season of Anomy (1973)—and several volumes of poetry. The latter include Idanre, and Other Poems
(1967) and Poems from Prison (1969; republished as A Shuttle in the Crypt, 1972), published together as Early
Poems (1998); Mandela‘s Earth and Other Poems (1988); and Samarkand and Other Markets I Have
Known(2002). His verse is characterized by a precise command of language and a mastery of lyric, dramatic, and
meditative poetic forms. He wrote a good deal of Poems from Prison while he was jailed in 1967–69 for speaking
out against the war brought on by the attempted secession of Biafra from Nigeria. The Man Died (1972) is his
prose account of his arrest and 22-month imprisonment. Soyinka‘s principal critical work is Myth, Literature, and
the African World (1976), a collection of essays in which he examines the role of the artist in the light of Yoruba
mythology and symbolism. Art, Dialogue, and Outrage (1988) is a work on similar themes of art, culture, and
society. He continued to address Africa‘s ills and Western responsibility in The Open Sore of a Continent (1996)
and The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness (1999).
Soyinka was the first black African to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. An autobiography, Aké:
The Years of Childhood was published in 1981 and followed by the companion pieces Ìsarà: A Voyage Around
Essay (1989) and Ibadan: The Penkelemes Years: A Memoir, 1946–1965 (1994). In 2006 he published another
memoir, You Must Set Forth at Dawn. In 2005–06 Soyinka served on the Encyclopædia Britannica Editorial
Board of Advisors.
Soyinka has long been a proponent of Nigerian democracy. His decades of political activism included
periods of imprisonment and exile, and he has founded, headed, or participated in several political groups,
including the National Democratic Organization, the National Liberation Council of Nigeria, and Pro-National
Conference Organizations (PRONACO). In 2010 Soyinka founded the Democratic Front for a People‘s
Federation and served as chairman of the party.
Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wole-Soyinka

Vocabulary Development:

The words below are underlined words used in the selection. Write the meaning of the following words
based on their usage in the literary piece.

1. meritorious – ________________________________________________________
2. crookedness – ________________________________________________________
3. torment – ________________________________________________________
4. ribald – ________________________________________________________
5. seize – ________________________________________________________
6. discerning – ________________________________________________________
7. rudiment – ________________________________________________________
8. repel – ________________________________________________________
9. avarice – ________________________________________________________
10. scheme – ________________________________________________________
11. assiduously – ________________________________________________________
12. embellish – ________________________________________________________
13. ascent – ________________________________________________________
14. summon – ________________________________________________________
15. impertinence – ________________________________________________________

23
Pre-Reading:

After an exceptionally successful career as a butcher; Alaba, the protagonist

of this play decided that he deserves a life of quite retirement. Unfortunately beneath
the rock on which he has chosen to make his abode are precious mineral deposits.
Soon, both Alaba and the rock become a place of more than passing interest to
everyone – from the lowly, to denizens of power: The outcome of this rollicking
drama is more than anyone, least of all, Alaba himself, bargained for:
Wole Soyinka‘s latest play, is a powerful satire of the idiosyncrasies and
excesses of our contemporary Nigeria society; the corruption of power; opportunism
and cultural alienation.

Retrieved from: http://www.sunshinenigeria.com/alapata-apata-a-play-for-

yorubafonia-class-for-xenophiles-by-wole-soyinka

Literary Selection:

ALAPATA APATA
[Excerpt]
(as published online)

Alaba, the first class butcher, goes into retirement after a meritorious service that puts the name of his
country first. But he does not forget how in a bid to straighten the school atlas it broke the globe, which makes
him to drop out because his father refused to pay for it. For Alaba, the world since has not lost its crookedness
what with an atlas that remains bent forever, a world that would not be straight no matter what anyone does. It‘s
such a world that spews forth such characters like Daanielebo and the General to torment the souls of others with
their greed and selfishness that seek to corner everything good thing for themselves.
Daanielebo was a former protégé of the General, twin evil geniuses who are now at each other‘s throat as
they seek to outsmart each other and corner the commonwealth (in this case, the minerals in Alaba‘s rock) for
their personal use. These are two men with whom Alaba has the misfortune to stand up against in their ribald
quest to seize control of the rock on which is suspected to have huge deposits of precious metals. But Alaba, the
keeper of the rock of his inheritance, is a man of deeper nobility, a former Ifa acolyte, who was dismissed for not
discerning enough to be taught the rudiments of a powerful oracle like Ifa less he misapplied the knowledge.
Nevertheless, Alaba‘s few months of apprenticeship would seem to have equipped him with enough
powers to confront the duo of Daanielebo and the General or perhaps his simple innocence in being the rightful
owner of the much sought-after rock gives him enough power to repel their aggressive advances on his simple
habitation. Either way, Alaba comes top against the two power-lust personalities of his time, whose avarice can
consume an elephant in a single sitting.
In any case, Alaba‘s retirement from butchering work is symbolic and even symptomatic of the absurdity
of those in power who have a penchant for celebrating certain days and months they have stayed in office. Alaba
is celebrating his first 30 days in retirement not unlike what most elected state functionaries do in Nigeria‘s
democratic set up. He has in tow a schoolteacher as his adviser, who schemes up things for him, as Alaba
concretizes his retirement by sitting atop his inherited rock ‗doing nothing‘, just as government officials
apparently do nothing but find occasion to celebrate their days, months and years in office, as avenues of frittering
away state‘s resources.

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 Teacher: Transparency is the key, I told you. That is what prevents temptation and backsliding. When you
sit up there, where everybody can see you cannot perform, knowing that everybody‘s eyes are on you, you have
no choice. We can all bear witness to you working assiduously, industriously, methodically and conscientiously at
doing…? (Raises his hand. What follows is like practiced routine, with him conducting)
Alaba: Nothing.
Teacher: Thinking…
Alaba: Nothing.
Teacher: Producing…
Alaba: Nothing.
Teacher: Transforming…
Alaba: Nothing…
Teacher: Innovating…
Alaba: Nothing.
Teacher: Proving yourself capable, summarily of…
Alaba: Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
Teacher: But always full of sound and fury, signifying…
Alaba: Nothing. Oh, Teacher, you are a tower of strength.
Teacher: I know you give me credit but, lest I be accused of abusing copyright, of plagiarism — the
greatest crime our profession can be guilty of — that last one was from the Bard himself, William Shakespeare.
But he was of a different tack altogether. For truly teaching by example, one stands on the shoulders of the Great
Teachers, those who have taught us that it is possible to spend four years, eight years, even decades in office, with
resources envied by the world from the North Pole to the South, with all the manpower available for cooption and
yet end up doing…
Alaba: Nothing.
Teacher: Excellent!...
Alaba: I feel inspired, my mentor. Energized. Ready to take that 100 per day target head-on.
Teacher: And then a year, then five…
Teacher dreams up a scheme to upgrade Alaba‘s butcher‘s signpost to his status as a retired butcher and
asks his pupil Picasso to embellish it. But herein lays trouble. A pupil of no Yoruba descent, he does not know
where to put the required ascent to give it the proper meaning; what he ends up with the assistance of Alaba is
Esu‘s handiwork in confusion. Alaba relies on his abeti agba (dog-eared) cap for inspiration in guesswork manner
— head you win tail or you lose!
Of course, it ends up wrongly and Alaba unwittingly awards himself a chieftaincy title that invokes the
anger of royalty to summon a court sitting on his rocky perch. He is fined heavily for his impertinence, and it
would seem Alaba‘s breaking of the school atlas to make a crooked world straight would forever remain crooked,
also with everything else. But Alaba soon finds reprieve for his uncommon bravery in repelling both Daanielebo
and the General, sole tormentors of ordinary folks for which he gets a royal pardon and a reinstatement of a title
he mistakenly awards himself in wrongly applying the ascents.

Retrieved from: http://isokoland.blogspot.com/2014/01/alapata-apata-satirical-take-on-abuse.html

Guide Questions:

Answer the following guide questions for the excerpt of Alapata Apata:

1. How would you describe the outlook of Alaba towards their situation? Give textual evidences.

25
2. What is the significance of the Teacher, Alaba‘s adviser, in the story? Do you think the teacher improved
Alaba‘s outlook?
3. If you are in Alaba‘s situation, as the keeper of the rock, would fight for your right?
4. How would you identify the characteristic of Alaba, as portrayed in the story?
5. Did the story give justice in presenting the ideology of Alaba, especially during the time that his adviser
and he were having discussion?
6. Based on the story, how would you describe the life of Nigerian people? Did this summarize the life of
African people?
7. What do you think could be the connection of the government to the story? Do you think this could
greatly affect the lives of Nigerian people?
8. If you would be sent to Africa, what intervention would you do to uplift the lives of the African people?
9. How will you battle the struggles that would come into your way? What piece/s of advice could you give
to others?
10. If you are the teacher, how would you change the outlook of Alaba towards the current situation of the
country?

26