AFRO-ASIAN LITERATURE

BLEPT REVIEW 2014

English Specialization
Aklan Catholic College

Facilitated by: Byron Paul C. Beadoy

AFRO-ASIAN LITERATURE

• Indian Literature
• Chinese Literature
• Japanese Literature
• African Literature
INDIAN LITERATURE
Brought by Aryans around 1500 BC
• nomads and highly poetic people
• worshipped the forces of nature
• extolled the hereditary deities
 Agni (fire)
 Savitri (sun)
 Usas (dawn)
 Rudras (storms)
 Indra (war and rain)
 Mitra (honor)
 Varuna (divine authority)
 Indra, Vishnu (creation)
INDIAN LITERATURE
• 6th century BC until abut AD 1000 was the

Classical Period

epics
court poems
dramas
THE INDIAN SCRIPTURES CAN BE BROADLY
CLASSIFIED INTO TWO CATEGORIES:

 
The Shruti literature
The Smriti literature.
 
 
Shruti is concerned with ‘the heard’ or ‘the
revealed’. Smriti is concerned with ‘the
remembered.’
The Vedas and the Upanishads are considered as
the Shruti literature. The Sanskrit root ‘ shrut’
means ‘to hear’.
Smriti literature is concerned with ‘that what is
remembered’; the literature which was based on the
knowledge acquired through the experience or the tradition.
The guidelines for ethics, moral obligations, social codes,
customs etc. are found in the Smriti literature.
The great epics Mahabharata and Ramayana also belong
to the Smriti literature.
INDIAN LITERATURE
The Rigveda
• ‘hymns of supreme sacred
knowledge’ or Samhita
• foremost collection (1,028 hymns)
• oldest of Vedas
• contains energetic hymns
• comparable to psalms
• regarded as divinely inspired or
heard directly from the gods
Rig-Veda – considered a scripture of pre-Hindu Vedic
religion. It is made up of Hymns praising the gods. It
represented the spirit of Aryan religiosity after they arrived
in India. The hymns are strong, energetic religious
expressions comparable to the Old Testament Psalms. The
Vedas are the most celebrated possessions of the
mankind. The Rig Veda is the oldest literary work in the
history of the world.
 INDIAN LITERATURE

The Dhammapada (Way of Truth)

• anthology of basic Buddhist teaching in aphoristic style
• contains 423 stanzas arranged in 26 chapters
• compared with the Bible’s Christ’s Sermon the Mount
INDIAN LITERATURE
The Upanishads
• ‘sitting at the feet f the
teacher’
• commentary on the thoughts
suggested by Rigveda
• most important doctrine is
the existence of single
supreme being, the
Brahman, and iits union with
the Atman or self
Upanishads – also considered scripture of Vedic
religion. It is consisted of a group of sketches,
illustrations, explanations, and critical comments on
the religious thought suggested the hymns of Rig-
Veda. The most important philosophical doctrine of
the Upanishads is the recognition of the existence of
the Brahma, the oversoul, and its identity with the
human soul, Atman, or Self.
 SANSKRIT LITERATURE
• Ved Vyasa's Mahabharata and Valmiki's Ramayana,
written in Epic Sanskrit, are regarded as the greatest
Sanskrit epics. The famous poet and playwright Kālidāsa
 wrote one epic: Raghuvamsha (Dynasty of Raghu) ; it was
written in Classical Sanskrit rather than Epic Sanskrit.
Kālidāsa is often considered to be the greatest playwright
in Sanskrit literature. He occupies the same position in
Sanskrit literature that Shakespeare occupies in English
literature.
INDIAN LITERATURE
EPICS
Mahabharata Ramayana
THE EPICS OF INDIA
 
The epics of India pose commentaries in political and social life,
which when seen in its entirety, describes the Hindu world.
 
Mahabharata – It tells the story of the Great Wars between the
Pandavas and the Korawas (Kauravas) sometime in 850 BC.
 
Ramayana – It is the story of the wanderings of the banished king
in exile, Rama and the kidnapping of his wife, Sita, and his
subsequent search for her.
INDIAN LITERATURE
Mahabharata
Vyasa Pandavas Kauravas
INDIAN LITERATURE
Mahabharata
Vyasa Pandavas Kauravas
INDIAN LITERATURE
Mahabharata
Vyasa Pandavas Kauravas
INDIAN LITERATURE

The Bhagavad Gita (The Blessed Lord’s Song)

INDIAN LITERATURE
The Ramayana

Rama Sita Ravana

INDIAN LITERATURE
The Ramayana

Laksmana Hanuman Valmiki

THE PANCHATANTRA
• oldest extant collection of fables in Sanskrit literature
• dating probably from the 3rd century BC to the 4th century AD
• attributed to Indian writer Vishnusharman
• The fables are organized into five books
• originally intended to instruct a young prince in the conduct that
would ensure his worldly success
• The Sanskrit original is lost, but was translated into the major
languages of Europe and Southeast Asia and has influenced the
folktales of those regions
 INDIAN LITERATURE

The Panchatantra

• Mitra-bheda: The Separation of Friends

• Mitra-lābha or Mitra-samprāpti: The Gaining of Friends
• Kākolūkīyam: War and Peace
• Labdhapraṇāśam: Loss Of Gains
• Aparīkṣitakārakaṃ: Rash deeds
INDIAN LITERATURE
Sakuntala by Kalidasa
INDIAN LITERATURE

The Little Clay Cart ( Mrcchakatka), attributed to Shudraka

INDIAN LITERATURE

Gitanjali (Song Offerings),

Rabindranath Tagore
BENGALIE LITERATURE
The first evidence of Bengali literature is known as
Charyapada or Charyageeti, Buddhist hymns from the 8th
century, the oldest known written form of Bengali. The most
internationally famous Bengali writer is Nobel
laureate Rabindranath Tagore, who received the Nobel
Prize for Literature in 1913 for his work "Gitanjali". He wrote
the national anthem of India and Bangladesh namely, "Jana
Gana Mana" and "Amar Sonar Bangla", respectively. He
was the first Asian who won the Nobel Prize.
INDIAN LITERATURE

The Taj Mahal, Sahir Ludhianvi

INDIAN LITERATURE
Major Writers in India

Kalidasa Rabindranath Tagore Prem Chand

INDIAN LITERATURE
Major Writers in India

Kamala Markandaya R.K. Narayan Anita Desai

INDIAN LITERATURE
Major Writers in India

Vir Singh Arundhati Roy

CHINESE LITERATURE

• Chinese literature and all Chinese culture has been profoundly

influenced by three great school of thoughts: Confucianism,
Taoism, and Buddhism.
• It is the literature of a large multicultural area that became
an empire in the 3rd century BC. This empire lasted until
1911, when the Republic of China was formed.
• Most of the literature prior to the 20th century was written or
collected by officials who were part of the imperial system
or by men educated as a part of this system.
• Chinese literature therefore has many connections with the
history of China and with the major philosophical and
religious beliefs of the society.
• Poetry and essays were the major forms of Chinese
literature prior to the 20th century. Yet over the
centuries the Chinese also developed traditions of
fiction and drama.
• All forms of Chinese literature have had a major
influence on the writings of Korea, Japan, and
neighboring countries of Central and Southeast Asia.
• Most of the writing attributed to the first 1,000 years of
Chinese literature is contained in a set of texts
endorsed in the 6th century BC by the philosopher
Confucius in a record of his conversations entitled
Lunyu (The Analects).
• The texts promoted by Confucius became
known in later centuries as Jing (Classics),
THE SIX CONFUCIAN CLASSICS

• The I Ching (Yi jing, or Book of Changes) presents the universe and

human society as constantly changing but having a definable order.
• The Shu jing (Book of History) concerns itself primarily with the
practices of good government.
• The Shi jing (Book of Songs) is a collection of folk songs, love
poems, and ceremonial odes. The verses are in lines of four
characters (or syllables) and use rhyme and alliteration (repetition
of the initial letter). All the verses in the Shi jing have been treated
as moral allegories.
• The Li ji (Book of Ritual) contains detailed discussions of the
principles of conduct at court and in private ceremonies.
• The Chun qiu (Spring and Autumn Annals) is a simple chronicle
of the state of Lu, where Confucius was born, in the years from
722 to 481 BC (known as the Spring and Autumn period). With it
are associated two interpretative commentaries, and a longer
one, the Zuo Zhuan, which is a collection of narratives
concerning all the Chinese feudal states during this period. The
Zuo Zhuan (Tso Chuan) is the first great historical text of
Chinese literature.
• The Yue jing (The Book of Music) is believed to have been lost
before the founding of the Han dynasty, and there is no known
copy in existence.
CHINESE LITERATURE

The Book f Songs (Shih Ching)

 CHINESE LITERATURE
The Analects (Lun Yu)

Confucius
CHINESE LITERATURE

The Tao Te Ching (Classic

of the Way of Power)
CHINESE LITERATURE

Lao Tzu
CHINESE LITERATURE
Li po Tu Fu

The T’ang Poets

CHINESE LITERATURE

The Book of Changes

CHINESE LITERATURE
• The Parables of Ancient Philosophers
• Record of a Journey to the West by Wu Chengen
• Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Zhan
• The Injustice Done to Tou Ngo by Guan Han-Cheng
• Romance f the Three Kingdoms
• A Country By Quits School by La Hsiang
• Literature for the Masses by Mao Tse-Tung
CHINESE LITERATURE
Major Chinese Writers
Taoist Writers

Chuang Tzu Lieh Tzu Lui An

CHINESE LITERATURE
Major Chinese Writers

Ssu-ma C’ien
CHINESE LITERATURE
Major Chinese Writers
T’ang Poets

Li Po Tu Fu Wang Wei
CHINESE LITERATURE
Major Chinese Writers

Po Chui Li Ch’ing-chao Chou-Shu-jen

JAPANESE LITERATURE
Shinto Legends
Poetry is one of the oldest and most popular means of
expression and communication in the Japanese culture.
Poetry has already existed for centuries as part of oral
tradition of the Japanese. The first anthology of Japanese
poetry is the Manyoshu, or the ‘Book of Ten Thousand
Leaves.’
CHOKA
• A poem that consists of alternate lines of five and
seven syllables with an additional seven-syllable line at
the end.
• Unlike other Japanese verse forms, there is no limit to
the number of lines in a choka.
TANKA
• A poetic form consists of five lines of five, seven, five,
seven, seven syllables
• The common subjects are love and nature
• Tanka poets generally exhibit restraint, relying on clear,
powerful imagery to evoke an emotional response
rather than using abstract words to directly express
their feelings.
HAIKU
• A poetic form consists of three lines of five, seven, five
syllables
• Originally the opening verse (the hokku) of a renga, a
form of collaborative poetry, but later the haiku
developed into a distinct literary form.
• Haiku are characterized by precision, simplicity, and
suggestiveness. Almost all haiku contains a kigo, a
seasonal word, such as cherry blossoms, snow, falling
leaves.
THE TOKUGAWA PERIOD
• Period named after the ruler Tokugawa Iyeyasu. Haikus
and the poetic travel accounts of Basho are some of
the famous works in this era.
NOH PLAY
• The earliest surviving form of Japanese drama
• performed on an almost bare stage by a small cast of
actors wearing masks; the actors are accompanied by
a chorus; and the play is written either in verse or in
highly poetic prose.
Two other forms of drama emerged later: the
Joruri (now called Bunraku) and Kabuki. Joruri is
staged using puppets. Kabuki involves lively,
melodramatic acting and is staged using elaborate
and colorful costume and sets.
JAPANESE LITERATURE

The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon

JAPANESE LITERATURE

The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki Shikibu

JAPANESE LITERATURE

The Tale of Heike

JAPANESE LITERATURE

Essays in Idleness by Yoshida Kenko

JAPANESE LITERATURE

The Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters)

JAPANESE LITERATURE

Atsumori by Seami Motokiyo

JAPANESE LITERATURE

In the Grove by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

JAPANESE LITERATURE

The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon

JAPANESE LITERATURE
Major Japanese Writers

Seami Motokiyo Matsuo Basho Yosa Buson Kobayashi Issa

JAPANESE LITERATURE
Major Japanese Writers

Yasunari Kawabata Junichiro Tanizaki Yukio Mashima

JAPANESE LITERATURE
Major Japanese Writers

Dazai Ozamu Ryunosuke Akutagawa Oe Kenzaburo

 AFRICAN LITERATURE
• Most of Africa’s written literature is in
European languages, owing to European
colonization of the continent from the 16th
century to the mid-20th century.
AFRICAN LITERATURE
Major African Writers

Leopard Sedar Senghor Okot P’Bitek Wole Soyinka

AFRICAN LITERATURE
Major African Writers

Chinua Achebe Nadine Gordimer Bessie Head

AFRICAN LITERATURE
Major African Writers

Barbara Kimenye Ousmane Sembene