China

1. Mature fictional novel arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the
masses of literate Chinese.
II. Introduction of widespread woodblock printing during the Tang Dynasty.
Invention of movable type printing by Bi Sheng.
III. China has a wealth of classical literature whose compilation is attributed to
Confucius.
Two forms of literature in China: a. Poetry - It is the most highly regarded
literary genre in China; divided into shi, ci and qu. There is also a kind of
prose-poem. b. Prose - Neo-classical style of prose influenced prose writing
for the next 800 years.
Egypt
1. Egyptian novelists and poets were among the firsts to experiment with
modern styles of Arabic literature and the forms they developed have been
widely imitated throughout the Middle East.
2. Vernacular poetry is the most popular literary genre among Egyptians.
Egyptians were the first culture to develop a book. The Nile had a strong
influence on the writing of the ancient Egyptians.
Literary forms in Egypt:
a. Secular Literature - short stories
b. Instructive Literature - Wisdom texts
c. Poems
d. Biographical and Historical texts
e. Scientific Treaties - Mathematical and Medical texts
India
1. India has produced several great writes who have influenced other
generations and will continue to inspire the coming generations. The earliest
works of Indian literature were orally transmitted.
2. Sanskrit literature begins with the Rig Veda, a collection of sacred hymns.
In contemporary Indian literature, there are two major literary awards- Sahitya
Akademi Fellowship and the Jnanpith Award.
Japan
1. Early works were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and
Chinese literature.
2. Japanese literature developed into a separate style in its own rights as
Japanese writers began writing their own works about Japan.
3. Since Japan reopened its ports to Western trading and diplomacy in the
19th century, Western and Eastern literature have strongly affected each
other; this influence is still seen today.
Malaysia
1. Literature styles in Malaysia changed with the influences of Europeans
(Portuguese, Dutch and English). The classical literary style of Malays was
eventually replaced in print with the vernacular language.
2. The first newspaper was written and printed using the (vernacular) spoken
language in 1876.
3. The Serajah Melayu (Malay Annals), written in the 1500s, is the most
important Malaysia literary works and tells the story of a Malacca sultanate.
Korea
Korean literature was written in Chinese and in Korean, first using the
transcription systems idu and gugyeol and finally using the Korean script
hangul. It is commonly divided into classical and modern periods.
Singapore
1. The Literature of Singapore comprises a collection of literary works by
Singaporeans in any of the country's four main language: English, Chinese,
Malay and Tamil.
2. Some poets have been labeled Confessional for their personalized writing,
often dealing with intimate issue such as sexuality.
3. Literary forms of Singaporean literature:
a. Poetry - Some poets have been labeled Confessional for their personalized
writing, often dealing with intimate issues.
b. Drama
c. Fiction - Fiction writing in English did not start in earnest until after
independence. Short stories flourished as a literary form, the novel arrived
much later.
Thailand
1. EARLY Thai literature was primarily concerned with religion. Thai verse
was written exclusively by the aristocracy or royalty.
One important Thai literary work is the Ramakian, a Thai version of the Indian
epic, the Ramayan.
3. King Rama I's Ramakian is the major historical source of medieval Thai
courtly traditions.
African Literature
Africa has a long literary tradition. Little of this literature was written down until
the 20th century. It was primarily oral and passed down from one generation
to another. Mostly written in European languages.
Rudimentary forms of writing were developed and used by secret societies
and other exclusive groups. It has been influenced by many cultures,
including the ancient Romans, Arabs, French and Spanish, as well as its
indigenous people. It also contributed to writing in Phoenician, Greek and
Latin.
The first African writing were focused on slavery. Newspapers served as
vehicles for expressing nascent nationalist feelings.
Contemporary African literature reveals disillusionment and dissent with
current events.
Literary compositions were generally copied on papyrus paper. Literature also
constitutes an important cultural element in the life of Egypt.
Africa's form of literature are:
Myth - Typically explain the creation of the universe, the activities of the gods
at the beginning of creation, the essence of all creatures of all creatures, and
the nature of their interrelationships
Legend - describes such heroic human feats as establishing dynasties or
preventing disasters and has much in common with epics, both focuses on
heroism.
Folktale - Told for night time entertainment, often employed for social
commentary and instruction and served as a potent means of affirming group
values and discouraging antisocial behavior.
Tricksters Tale - Features a small but witty animal that employs its cunning
traits to protect itself against much larger and more powerful animals.
Epigram, Proverbs and Riddles - Effective speech and social success depend
on a good command or proverbs. It usually based on principles of analogy
that require the listener to decipher the intended meaning.
Kenya
1. Written literature in Swahili and later in English. Developed in the early
throughout the colony. Oral tradition, the writing down of stories only 20th
century, when these languages were adopted for use in schools began with
European colonization.
Somalia
1. Produced a large amount of literature through Islamic poetry and Hadith
from Somali scholars of the last centuries to modern fiction. 2. Poetry in the
form of Qasida's was also popular among Somali Shaykhs who produced
several thousand poems in praise of the Prophet Mohammad.
Algeria
1. Algeria has been influence by many cultures including the ancient Romans,
Arabs, French, and Spanish, as well as the indigenous people. 2. The
dominant language in Algeria literature are French and Arabic, but Berber is
also represented. 3. Algerian literature has played a vital role in the culture of
North Africa, and its influence is felt throughout the world.
Libya
1. Libyan literature has historically been very politicized. After the Italian
defeat in World War II, the focus of Libyan literature shifted to the fight for
independence. 2. Social change, the distribution of oil-wealth and Six-Day
War were a few of the most discussed topics.
Nigeria
1. Nigerian literature manifests the struggle of a people whose country is
undergoing the painful process of transformation from colonial through neo-
colonial to wholly self-determining nation. 2. Nigerian literature in English has
raised more issues relevant to contemporary situations that the literature of
the indigenous Nigeria languages.
Morocco
1. Moroccan literature was written in Arabic, Ferber, and French. 1960s,
Morocco was a refuge and artistic center for both French and Arabic 2.
Modern Moroccan literature began in the 1930s. During the 1950s and the
writers.
Ghana
1. Drama and Storytelling are widely enjoyed and are very popular in Ghana.
languages. Some of the plays are written in English while others are in the
indigenous languages 2. The country has one of the longest written literary
traditions in Africa.
European Literature
1. In the early time of the European literature, traditional Latin was the
language manifested in literary works in most of their states especially in
Germany.
2. As the prestige of the Papacy began to decline, national consciousness
began to increase in different states. This nationalism was manifested in
literature written in National Laguages or Vernacular instead of traditional
Latin.
3. The vernacular opened up such that cultural peculiarities could be more
naturally expressed. This allowed literature to feel more realistic and human to
the readers.
4. Their literature involved the Nobility: Kings, Queens, Kinghts etc... such as:
a. Beowulf from United Kingdom
b. Les Chansons de Roland from France
5. In the late 1600s and early 1700s, when the Enlightenment was well under
the way in Britain and France, Germany was highly fragmented both politically
and culturally.
6. German culture and literature were likewise disjoined with different regions
drawing on different influences and no distinct literary style yet to place.
7. While Franc and other European countries used vernacular languages for
literature, the literary language in Germany was still predominantly Latin. As a
result, Enlightenment ideas from England and France took a long time to
spread to Germany.
8. Famous writers and their Masterpieces:
a. Homer - was a legendary early Greek poet and rhapsode traditionally
credited with authorship of the major Greek epics. (ex. Iliad and Odyssey,
Phocais, Capture of Oechalia )
b. Sophocles - was an ancient Greek playwright, dramatist, priest and
politician in Athens. He is known as the second, chronologically, of the three
great Greek tragedians. (Oedipus the King, Ajax, Antigone)
c. Giovanni Boccaccio - was an Italian author and poet, the greatest of
Petrarch's disciples, an important Renaissance humanist in his own right. (ex:
Decameron, On Famous Women )
d. Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra - his influence on the Spanish language has
been so great that Spanish is often called "la lengua de Cervantes." (ex: Don
Quixote, La Galatea )
e. William Shakespeare - his ability to capture and convey the most profound
aspects of human nature is regarded by many as unequalled. (ex: Hamlet,
Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet )
f. Voltaire - is remembered and honored in France as a courageous
polemicist, who indefatigably fought for civil rights. (ex: Candide, The Maid of
Orleans, Henriade)
g. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm - well known for publishing collections of
German fairy tales. (ex: The Brothers Grimm's Hansel and Gretel )
h. Victor Hugo - as a French author, the most important of the Romantic
authors in the French language. (ex: Les Miserables, Les Contemplations,
The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
i. Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Russian writer, one of the major figures in Russian
literature. He is sometimes said to be a founder of existentialism. (ex: Crime
and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov )
g. Leo Tolstoy - notable for his ideas on nonviolent resistance and his
contributions to Russian literature and politics. (ex: War and Peace, Anna
Karenina)
North American Literature
1. It's not impossible that some people in North America knew how to write
before 1500 AD. Some Cherokee people tell stories about an early way
writing, for instance. But there is no evidence from before 1500 of any writing
in North America. There's nothing that looked like paper and nothing with
writing on it. Most kids learned stories by hearing them told out loud. These
stories were usually about religion, or about how people should act.
2. The earliest North American literature was mainly sermons by Cotton
Mather, written in the 1600s and 1700s. African-American people who had
come over from Africa as slaves met local Cherokee people and translated
traditional African and Cherokee stories into English as Br'er Rabbit stories.
By the 1800s people were beginning to write novels or fictional stories, like
those of James Fenimore Cooper (The Last of the Mohicans, 1826).
3.Novels began to take more serious themes, like Melville's Moby Dick (1851)
and Harriet Beacher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) about slavery.
4. Soon people were also writing books especially for kids like Horatin Alger
stories (1867), or Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer (1987) or Frances Hodgson
Burnett's The Secret Garden (1909).
5. The end of the slavery after the Civil War and the civil rights

21st Century Literature

1. 21ST CENTURY IN LITERATURE refers to world literature in prose
produced during the 21st century. The range of years in 21st century literature
was written from (roughly) the year 2001 to the present.
2. The 2000s (decade) saw a steep increase in the acceptability of literature
of all types, inspired by the comingof-age of millions of people who enjoyed
the works of writers such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien in their youths.
3. The 2000s (decade) also saw the popularization of manga, or Japanese
comics, among international audiences, particularly in English speaking
nations.
4. There are comics created in Japan, or by Japanese creators in the
Japanese language. The medium includes works in a broad range of genres:
action- adventure, romance, sports and games, historical drama, comedy,
science fiction and fantasy, mystery, suspense, detective, horror, sexuality,
and business/commerce, among others.
5. Many famous books like Harry Potter series were converted into movies.
Books on wars, guides for exams, myths, etc. were frequent sellers in this
decade. Some books were written in simple English and works of old writers
were translated into language that was easier to understand. Mythology was
converted into graphic novel form to build interest among young readers.