2nd Quarter 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World
Representative Texts and Authors from Asia
East Asia Author
China – cradle of •Du Fu – Tu Fu is his pen
civilization name, he was considered as
a modern Chinese poet and
greatest Chinese poet in
China
•Li Po – Li Bai is his pen
name, he is a competition of
Du Fu and he writes
Conversational Poems or
poems that tackle about your
personal life
•Wang Wei – he is a writer,
poet, musician and painter,
usually he writes about
nature/landscapes he is also a
statesman and became a
leader in Tang Dynasty (Golden
age)
•Mo Yan – he won a noble
prize in 2012 and he is also
a fictionist and novelist
•Yu Hua – a female short
story writer, Champion of
Chinese Meta Fiction (Meta is
when authors put themselves
in the story itself)
Korea Author
•Ch’oe Nam - Seon
•Yi Kwang - Su
•Kim OK
•Yun Hunggil
•Haruki Murakami
Japan Authors
•Abe kobo
•Kimitake Hiraoka
•Ryunosuka Akutagawa
•Haruki Murakami
Text
•The ballad of Army cats – the
poem is about military service, about
young people having compulsory
military service and parents wishing
they had a daughter instead of a son
because boys are already fixed to go
to military once met a specific age
•Alone and Drinking Under the
Moon – it has 3 characters in
which the MC talks to his cup of
wine and the moon
-
•Red Sorghum – about the
Japanese against the Chinese
•To live – about poverty, family
and civil war
Text
•The ocean to the youth
•The heartless
•The dance of agony
•Chagma
•Hear the Wind Sing
Text
•Tomodachi (Friends)
•The temple of the golden pavilion
•Rashonon
•Hear the Wind sing
 Middle East Asia Author Text

•Abbas Mahmoud •Al-Aggad Sahabah

•Taha Hussein •The Days

•Ali ahmad sa’id esber •“First poems”

•Etgar Keret •“Leaves in the mind”

•Glitch of the galaxy

South and Southeast Asia Author Text

•Rabindranath Tagore •The bard of Bengal / Song

offering

•Dhanpat Rai Srivastava -

•Raja Kao •Godaan (Cow donation)

•Rasipuram Krishnaswami •The serpent and the rope

Narayan

•Chart Korbjitti •The Guide

•Nguyed Du •The Judgement

•Tengku Amir Hamzah •The tale of Kien Nyangi Sunyi

Central Asia Author Text

Abdullah Qodiriy O’tgan Kunlar – historical novel

from the 19th century

Mukhtar Auez-ali Abay – a long novel based irl

Chuingiz Aytmatov – Jamila – about arranged marriage

Russian poet, novelist and
writer

Africa - Cradle of human kind

African Literature mostly talks about freedom, contentment and spiritual stuff/beings.

4 types of African Literature

1. Oral Africa/African Lit - myths, supernatural, early history and tricksters (tricksters are
mostly gods and godesses.
2. Pre Coloninal - animal tricksters, folklore and fables
3. Colonial - stories that goes between or after war and talks about independence,
freedom and liberty.
4. Post Colonial - Publishes books in western language (english, spanish, etc) and it is a
combination of present and history.
 Representative Texts and Authors from Africa
Authors
Chinua Achebe - a nigerian poet, novelist
and profesor and won the grand pix de la
memoir
Wole Soyinka - the first black african to be
awarded with a Nobel Prize for Lit
Kofi Awoonor - ghanaian writer, novelist
and writer
Ngungi Wa Thiongo - kenyan writer
Okot p’ Bitek - ugandan writer, novelist,
poet and social anthropologist
Nadine Gordimer - south african poet,
novelist and writer
Jacques Robermananjara -
madagascars most prominent writer and
a famous writer in africa
Es’kia Mpahlele - south african
autobiography writer
Thomas Mofolo
Text
Things fall apart - post colonial, focuses on Igbo or
the indigenous people of africa
A dance of the forest - colonial, celebrated since
1960, talks about political and government stuff
The earth, my brother - the poem and novel has 2
levels:
a.) Standard Narrative (level 1) - about a guy
amamu wanting to be an attorney
b.) Mystical journey (level 2) - involves poem and
biblical quotes
Weep not, Child - first major novel that used
english language in east africa, it is about the war
on kenya and classified as colonial
Verse Collections - it has 3 series and it is classified
as post colonial, they consist of 14 chapters and
some are taken down due to how problematic and
controversial they are
a.) Song of Lawino (1966) - talks about how women
should be non literate and men should be the only
ones having the rights to be literate
b.) Song of Ocol (1970) - justifies the idea that men
should be in higher positions than women
c.) Two songs (1971) - women protesting/saying
that thre should be fairness in terms of having the
rights to be educated and literate
The conservationist - it is a novel about Mehring a
successful businessman who invested and
agriculture and farm stuff, one day while inspecting
his land, he saw a corpse and no one knows who is it
and he just gave it a proper burial
Les dieux malgaches - a novel about gods or the
higher ups, the novel is about King Radama II on
how he led his kingdom
Down Second Avenue - it is a classical
autobiography (or something that happens a lot on
someone), it is about a black african who got the
chance to stufy at an american school and
experienced racism
Chaka - a historical novel and the main character is
King Zulu Shaka, he had 6 wives and 26 children
(based irl)
 Representative Texts and Authors from North America

Authors Text

David L. Weatherford - a writer and Slow Dance

psychologist, he got famous at his book
entitled Chicken Soup which consists of
quotes and inspirational sayings

Alfred Edward Housman - best researcher When i was one and twenty
in north america

Kate Chopin - american creator of short The story of an hour - falls at the chicklit
stories category, it is about when a wifes husband died due
to an accident, socity been telling her that she cant
live by herself without her man but proved them
wrong

James Grover Thurber - writes comedy The secret life of walter mitty - about a guy who
and drama and got famous because of the fantasizes and daydreams a lot about his different
kid shows he published professions

Robert Charles Benchley My face - about the MC not content of his face and
constantly changes it

Representative Text and Author from Latin America

Author Text

Tess Almendarez Lojacono – a novelist, Just one thing – about family and the parents
instructor, writer and businesswoman providing guidance and advices to their children

3 Basic Period in English Language

1. Old English - the words are not fixed in terms of technicalities, grammar and writing,
texts were easy to publish at this period because critiques dont check it, in terms of
vocabulary it was influenced by latin and germanic.
2. Middle English - fixed words, influence by french, law and religion.
3. Modern English - 1450-1500, at this period critiques check the text before
publishing.

10 Periods of European Literature

1. Old English (450-1066) - most challenging era for our authors

➢ 6 Genre, elements, structure and tradition

1.1. Epic Poetry - long poem about heroes

1.2 Hagiography - story about saints

1.3. Sermons - sermon of a pope/homily

1.4. Bible Translations - according to Wycliff Global Alliance there are 724 bible
translations/languages and 1,617 translated new testament

1.5. Chronicles - it is in chronological order and states facts (example: diary,

journals)

1.6. Riddles
2. Middle English Literature (1066-1500) - used different languages and dialects, based
on culture beliefs and traditions
➢ 8 Genre, elements, structure and tradition

2.1. Allegorical Narrative Poem - consists of literal and symbolic meaning and
uses metaphors

2.2. Drama - emotions, unexpected scenes

2.3. Liturgy - sermon but in a formal way and presented in public

2.4. Folk tales- short stories like legends, magic and fantasy

2.5. Hagiographies

2.6. Historiography - history

2.7. Bible Translations

2.8. Romances

3. English Renaissance (1500-1660) - story and authors focuses about publishing

cultural and artistic movement
➢ 8 Genre, elements, structure and tradition

3.1. Romances

3.2. Allegorical Narrative Poem

3.3. Drama

3.4. Folk tales

3.5. Vernacular Literature - they use vernacular style in which they use
different dialects and diction based on their region

3.6. Vernacular Liturgy - (refer to the definition of 3.5)

3.7. Sonnet - came from the latin word “sonetto” or little song, the songs uses
the Iambic pentameter (14 lines and 10 syllables)

3.8. Bible Translations

4. Elizabeth Period (1558-1603)

➢ 5 famous writers at the Elizabeth Period
Edmund Spencer - wrote “The faerie queene” talks about all the
queens in england
Sir Philip Sidney - soldier, poet, statesman and made “sonnet
sequence” it has 108 love sonnets
William Shakespeare - Greatest poet in england, he was considered
as “bard of avon” bard meant famous storyteller and Avon is his
birthplace
Christopher Marlowe - his pen name is Kit marlowe and he writes
dramatic blank verse
Ben Jonson - an actor, and 2nd greatest poet because he is the right
hand of william shakespeare
➢ 7 Genre, elements, structure and tradition

4.1. English Renaissance Theatre - also known as elizabethan theatre

4.2. Poetry
 3 types of poetry

a.) lyrics - most common type of poetry, it can also be a song, great
example is haiku (5,7,5) and elegy that are songs about the ones who
passed away or about sorrow

b.) narrative - tells a story

c.) dramatic

4.3. Epic Poem

4.4. Songs

4.5. Tragedy - unhappy ending

4.6. Romances

4.7. Tragicomedies - combination of tragedy and comedy

5. Jacobean Period (1603 - 1625) - this period is where William Shakespeare became
famous
➢ 6 Genre, elements, structure and tradition

5.1. Problem Play - story about controversial issues

5.2. Tragedies

5.3. Revenge Play - when a protagonist seeks revenge to the antagonist

5.4. Romance

5.5. Sonnet

5.6. Metaphysical Poem - story or poem about love, religion and morality

4 kinds to consider before calling it metaphysical

a.) Philosophical topic/theme

b.) figurative speech/language

c.) original conceits

d.) paradox (self contradiction)

6. Late Renaissance (1625 - 1660) - John Donne is the father of metaphysical

➢ Genre, elements, structure and tradition

6.1. Metaphysical Poem

6.2. Allegory/Classical Allusions

-Allegory - symbolic and has hidden meanings

-Classical Allusions - a reference to a well known person, place, event or

character

7. Restoration Age (1660-1700)

➢ 15 Genre, elements, structure and tradition

7.1. Sexual Comedy play - sexual situations 18+ (ex. Love affairs)

7.2. Moral Wisdom Prose - story about moral lessons

 7.3. Literary Criticism Narratives - literature that is composed of interpretations
and analysis

7.4. Epic poem

7.5. Satirical Verse - uses bitterness on wordings, irony and humor

7.6. Fiction - not real

7.7. Political and economic writing

7.8. Philosophical Themes - controversial

7.9. Allegory

7.10. Novel - consist of many chapters

7.11. Long Fiction - considered as long fiction when it has 40,000-50,000

minimum words and maximum of 100,000

7.12. Romance

7.13. Drama

7.14. Fictional Biographies - the biography or life of a character in a fictional

story

7.15. Comedy

8. Age of Romanticism (1798 - 1837)

➢ 7 Genre, elements, structure and tradition

8.1. Elegy

8.2. Romance

8.3. Dramatic Monologue - long speech on a characters mind

8.4. Romance Novel

8.5. Historical Novel

8.6. Nature Poem

8.7 Romantic Poem

9. Victorian Literature (1832 - 1901)

➢ 10 Genre, elements, structure and tradition

9.1. Vampire Literature - about values, culture and traditions

9.2. Invasion Literature - about war and soldiers

9.3. Literature for Children - target audience is 1-8 year olds, most stories are
fables

9.4. Poetry

9.5. Musical Burleques - parody

9.6. novel

9.7. Feminist novels

 9.8. Ghost Stories - focuses more on spirits and how someone died or how did
the dead person lived its life

9.9. Horror story - focuses more on killers and creating fear

9.10. Horror Fiction

10. Modernism (1901 - 2000)

➢ 9 Genre, elements, structure and tradition

10.1. Radio Drama

10.2. Fantasy

10.3. Detective Novels

10.4. Childrens Novel

10.5. Lyric Poetry

10.6. Feminism

10.7. Allegorical Novel

10.8. Television plays

10.9. Short Stories