ASIAN LITERATURE
 Asian literature encompasses the rich and
widely diverse cultural and ethnic heritages
found in such countries as China, India, Japan,
Vietnam, Korea, and more.
 By its technical term, it is basically the literary
products made in continent Asia throughout
history.
 Asian American literature also shows the impact
of immigrating to a new country, with the Asian
characters trying to retain their previous
cultures and adjust to new situations
 It provides readers with opportunities to
explore various cultures through a wide variety
of literary genres
Philippine Literature - withstood time and periods and
has evolved through generations. For every period that
passed, different genres appeared, and these literary
works rooted from all regions reflecting their culture,
society and lifestyle
1. Pre-Colonial Period (--BC to1564)
2. Spanish Colonization Period (1565 to 1897)
3. Nationalistic/Propaganda and Revolutionary
Period (1864 to 1896)
4. American Colonial Period (1898 to 1945)
5. Japanese Occupation Period (1946 to 1985)
6. Contemporary/Modern Period (1960 to 1999)
7. 21st Century (2000 to Present)
GENRES:
 Creative Non-Fiction
 Hypertext Poetry
 Mobile Phone Textula
 Chick Lit
 Speculative Fiction
 Flash Fiction
 Blog
 Graphic Novels
Chinese Literature - extends thousands of years, from
the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the
mature vernacular fiction novels that arose during the
Ming dynasty to entertain the masses of literate
Chinese.
1. Pre-Classical (cult and lay musical practices
(Shijing), divination (Yi jing)
2. Classical
3. Late Qing
4. Post-tiananmen
GENRE:
 Campus literature
o There does not exist a clear definition of
the genre of Chinese campus literature
o Both Wu Yanmei (吴艳梅) and Wei
Lanxiang (魏兰香) underline the
importance of campus literature within
the education of students: writing can
increase one’s creativity and reading
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can expand one’s knowledge of the
world, of others, and of oneself
 Online literature
o In the new millennium, online literature
in China plays a much more important
role than in the United States and the
rest of the world.[47] Most books are
available online, where the most
popular novels find millions of readers.
 Translation
o Translated literature has long played an
important role in modern China. Some
writers, such as Lu Xun, Yu Dafu, Ba Jin
and others were literary translators
themselves, and many present day
writers in China, such as the Nobel
laureate Mo Yan, listed translated works
as sources of enlightenment and
inspiration.
AUTHORS:
GE FEI - One of the first and most influential avant-garde
writers of China. His most prominent works include the
Jiangnan Trilogy, for which he was awarded the Mao
Dun Literary Award, one of the most prestigious literary
awards of China, and the novella The Invisibility Cloak,
for which he was awarded the Lu Xun Literary Prize and
Lao She Literary Award. His works has been translated
into more than ten languages.
BI FEIYU - He started writing novels in the 1980s, and
his oeuvre already includes several short stories,
novellas, and novels. The novels The Moon Opera and
Three Sisters is considered to be amongst his most
representative work.
YANG HONGYING - She is one of present-day China’s
most influential writers of children’s literature, and has
written more than 80 fairy tales, children’s novels and
essays in the course of her more than 30 year long
career. Her popularity in China has given her the
nickname “China’s J.K. Rowling”.
DONG XI - He has published several novels, some of
which have been translated into English, such as Help,
Our Father and Life Without Language, for which he was
awarded the First Lu Xun Literary Prize in 1998. Several
pieces of his work has been adapted to movies and TV
plays.
WORKS:
The Great Masque and More Stories of Life in the City
This volume includes twelve stories such as Confidences
in a Hair Salon by Wang Anyi, Say, Qiezi by Dai Lai and
The Great Masque by Wei Wei. The works of this
volume reflect the contemporary lives of Chinese living
in the cities.
 How Far is Forever and More Stories by women writers
This volume includes twelve stories such as How Far is
Forever? By Tie Ning, The Kitchen by Xu Kun, A Rose in
Full Bloom Overnight by Chi Li and The Surgery by Sheng
Keyi. The works of this volume reflect the lives and
emotions of contemporary Chinese women by women
authors.
Japanese Literature – were heavily influenced by
cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often
written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an
influence through the separation of Buddhism in Japan.
Popular fiction, non-fiction, and children's literature all
flourished in urban Japan during the 1980s.
Many popular works fell between "pure literature" and
pulp novels, including all sorts of historical serials,
information-packed docudramas, science fiction,
mysteries, detective fiction, business stories, war
journals, and animal stories.
Non-fiction covered everything from crime to politics.
Although factual journalism predominated, many of
these works were interpretive, reflecting a high degree
of individualism.
Children's works re-emerged in the 1950s, and the
newer entrants into this field, many of them younger
women, brought new vitality to it in the 1980s.
HISTORY:
 Ancient
 Classical
 Medieval
 Modern
THEMES:
 Environmental concerns
 Intellectual and moral issues
 Raise social and political consciousness
ELEMENTS:
 Plot development
 Action
TRADITIONS:
 Post-war literature
 Development of japan into an industrialized
mass consumptions society
 Difficulties in understanding present-day
literature
MANGA - These are Japanese comic books) have
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penetrated almost every sector of the popular market.
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They include virtually every field of human interest,
such as a multi volume high-school history of Japan and,
for the adult market, a manga introduction to
economics, and pornography. At the end of the 1980s,
manga represented between twenty and thirty percent
of total annual publications in Japan, representing sales
of some four hundred billion yen annually. In
contemporary Japan, there is a debate over whether the
rise in popular forms of entertainment such as manga
and anime has caused a decline in the quality of
literature in Japan.
CELLPHONE LITERATURE - It appeared in the early 21st
century. Written by and for cell phone users, the novels
– typically romances ready by young women – have
become very popular both online and in print. Some,
such as Love Sky, have sold millions of print copies, and
at the end of 2007 cell phone novels comprised four of
the top five fiction best sellers.
JAPANESE LITERATURE:
 Prominent writers were identified with
intellectual and moral issues in their attempts to
raise social and political consciousness.
 Japanese writers covered a wide variety of
subjects, one particularly Japanese approach
stressed their subject’s inner lives, widening the
earlier novel’s preoccupation with the narrator’s
consciousness.
 In Japanese fiction, plot development and
action have often been of secondary interest to
emotional issues. in keeping with the general
trend toward reaffirming national
characteristics, many old themes re-emerged,
and some author turned consciously to the
past.
AFRICAN LITERATURE
African literature comprises of literary works of the
African continent, consisting of a body of work in
different languages and various genres, ranging from
oral literature to literature written in colonial languages
(French, Portuguese, and English).
As George Joseph notes in his chapter on African
literature in Understanding Contemporary Africa,
whereas European views of literature often stressed a
separation of art and content, African awareness is
inclusive:
"Literature" can also imply 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. "
BASIC THEMES:
1. The predominant African languages used are
Amharic, Zulu, Hausa, and Swahili.
2. Includes oral and written literature from more
than 3000 ethnic African groups.
3. During the colonization period, written slave
narratives documented European atrocities and
the horror of slavery.
4. Contemporary African literature often
documents how corrupt, modern African
governments perpetuate the suffering of the
Africa people.
founded newspapers that served as vehicles
for expressing nascent nationalist feelings.
• The Negritude Movement, a product of
black writers joining together through the
French language to assert their cultural
identity. Their poetry not only denounced
colonialism, it proudly asserted the validity
of the cultures that the colonials had tried
to crush
POST WORLD WAR
• Africans began demanding their
independence, more African writers were
published.
• Such writers as, in western Africa, Wole
Soyinka , Chinua Achebe Ousmane
Sembene , Kofi Awooner, and etc. produced
poetry, short stories, novels, essays, and
plays.

TRADITION: All were writing in European languages, and often they

shared the same themes:
1. Including stories, dramas, riddles, histories,
myths, songs, proverbs, and other expressions, • the clash between indigenous and colonial
is frequently employed to educate and entertain cultures
children. o condemnation of European subjugation
2. Essential to oral literature is a concern for • pride in the African past
presentation and oratory. Folktale tellers use o and hope for the continent's
call-response techniques. A griot (praise singer) independent future.
will accompany a narrative with music.
AUTHORS AND WORKS:
WRITTEN LITERATURE
CHINUA ACHEBE:
• It is most characteristic of those sub-
THINGS FALL APART – Novel
Saharan cultures that have participated in
the cultures of the Mediterranean. Most tells the story of a traditional tribesman
notable are those created by the scholars of who clashes with British imperialists in a
what is now northern Nigeria, changing Africa.
• Somali people have produced a traditional
written literature. AFRICA’S TARNISHED NAME – Book
• There are also works written in Geʿez
(Ethiopic) and Amharic, two of the exposes the ridiculousness of some racist
languages of Ethiopia, which is the one part descriptions of African "savages".
of Africa.
TAIYE SELASI:
The relationship between oral and written
GHANA MUST GO– Novel
traditions and in particular between oral and modern
written literatures is one of great complexity and not a tells the story of a splintered family reconciling
matter of simple evolution. Modern African literatures after being devastated by abandonment and
were born in the educational systems imposed by death.
colonialism, with models drawn from Europe rather
than existing African traditions. But the African oral
traditions exerted their own influence on these
literatures.
WHAT IS AN AFROPOLITAN? - Essay
Early 19th Century
discusses the rise of internationally mobile,
• Writers from western Africa have used
young
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of African descent, making their
GMT -05:00
newspapers to air their views. Several
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 mark on the world and defying downtrodden SHORT STORY - A piece of prose fiction that typically
stereotypes can be read in one sitting and focuses on self contained
incident with the intent of evoking a single effect
SHADRECK CHIKOTI:
WOMEN’S WRITING - Based on the notion that the
AZOTUS THE KINGDOM – Novel experience of women historically has been shaped by
a story about how Africa would be 500 years their gender
from now (AUTO)BIOGRAPHY - is a detailed description of a
person’s life. It involves more than just the basic facts
like education, work, relationships and death. It
EUROPEAN LITERATURE portrays a person’s experience of these life events

• Western Literature FACTION - Blurring the fact and fiction. Denotes literary
works that presents factual contents in the form of a
Important Classical and Medieval Traditions fictional novel. Historical novels

• Latin DETECTIVE NOVEL - a story that revolves around

• Ancient Greek investigation and solving a crime
• Old Norse
• Medieval French AUTHORS:
• Italian Tuscan
• Judith Ryan – The Novel After Theory
Themes: • Gene Plunka – Holocaust Theater
• Emma Forest – Damage Control
• Belief in God
• Storytelling
• The Relativity of Truth
• Science and Religion

Themes:

• The novel and narrative theory

• The short story of novella
• Women’s writing
• (auto)biography
• Translation as a genre
• ‘faction’ (the blurring of fact and fiction)
• The detective novel

NOVEL - a fictitious prose narrative of book length

typically representing character and action with some
degree of realism

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