ASIA, AFRICA, AND LATIN AMERICA

REPRESENTATIVE
TEXTS AND
AUTHORS
REPRESENTATIVE
TEXTS AND
AUTHORS FROM
ASIA
 ASIAN LITERATURE
• Refers to the body of literature produced in the countries of Asia.

• Asian literature mirrors not only the customs and traditions of Asian
countries but also their philosophy of life which overall is deeply and
predominantly contemplative. It reflects the storm and stress in and of
developing nations seeking a place under the sun which everyone must
understand so that one can know how this literature affects the history and
culture of a nation.
EAST ASIA
CHINA
 CHINESE
LITERATURE
This body of works is in Chinese.
It has more than 50 000
published works in a wide range
of topics
 IN YOUR OWN OPINION/UNDERSTANDING, PLEASE
EXPLAIN THE QUOTATION:

NO MATTER HOW LUCKY A PERSON IS, THE MOMENT HE

DECIDES HE WANTS TO DIE, THERE'S NOTHING THAT
WILL KEEP HIM ALIVE

— Yu Hua, To Live
DU FU (712 - 770)
He is also known as Tu fu. He’s considered by many literary
critics as China’s greatest poet. He was known for his works
of lüshi. A lüshi has eight lines, each of which has five or
seven syllables following a strict tonal pattern. It became
widely popular during the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE), the
golden age of art and literature in Chinese history. He also
wrote the poem “The Ballad of the Army Cats” which is
about conscription—and with hidden satire that speaks of the
noticeable luxury of the court.
LI BAI (701 - 762)
Also called Li Po, rivaled Du Fu for the title of China’s
greatest poet. Unlike Du Fu, he wrote less formal verse
forms. He was romantic in his personal life and his poetry.
His works are known for its conversational tone and vivid
imagery. He wrote the poem “Alone and Drinking under the
Moon” that deals with the ancient social custom of drinking.
A famous drinker, he frequently celebrated drinking in his
poetry.
QU YUAN (330 -
278 BC)
He was a statesman and poet during the Warring States
period. He has been attributed to the first seven poems of the
Chu ci (Songs of Chu). He served under King Huai but was
banished after composing the poem “Li Sao” (Encountering
Sorrow), which attacked the court for failing to listen to his
advice. He committed suicide by throwing himself in a river.
WANG WEI (701 -
761
He was a painter, musician, poet, devout Buddhist and
statesman during the Tang dynasty (the golden ages of the
Chinese cultural history).
LUO
GUANZHONG
(1330 - 1400)
He was a prolific writer who has had many anonymous
works attributed to him over the years. Historians agree that
the second of the “four great classical novels”.
 MO YAN
He is a fictionist who won the 2012 Nobel Prize for
Literature. His first novel was “Red Sorghum”, and still his
best-known work. It tells the story of the Chinese battling
Japanese intruders as well as each other during the 1930s. It
relates the story of a family in a rural area in Shandong
Province during this turbulent time
YU HUA
He is a world-acclaimed short story writer and considered as
a champion for Chinese meta-fictional or postmodernist
writing.
 MOST ESSENTIAL TEXTS FOR READING:

• THUNDERSTORMS (DRAMA) CAO YU

• FAMILY (NOVEL) PA JIN
• PLEASE DON'T CALL ME HUMAN (NOVEL) WANG SHOU
• STRANGE TALES FROM A CHINESE STUDIO (SHORT STORY)
PU SONGLING
• ON A GATE TOWER AT YUZHOU (POETRY) ZHANG CHENZHI
• BATTLE (POEM) CHU’U YUAN
KOREA
 KOREAN
LITERATURE
Korea’s literary tradition is greatly
influenced by China’s cultural dominance.
As early as the 4th century CE, Korean
poets wrote literary pieces in Classical
Chinese poetry then transformations
happened at the 7th century.
CH'OE NAM-
SEON
He was considered a prominent historian, pioneering poet,
and publisher in the Korean literature. He was also a leading
member of the modern literary movement and became
notable in pioneering modern Korean poetry.
YI KWANG-SU
He was also the one who launched the modern literary
movement together with Ch’oe Nam-Seon. He was a
novelist and wrote the first Korean novel “The Heartless”
and became well-known because of it.
KIM OK
He was a Korean poet and included in the early modernism
movement of Korean poetry. He wrote the first Korean
collection of translation from Western poetry “The Dance of
Agony”.
YUN HEUNGGIL
He is a South Korean novelist who won the 1977 Korean
Literature Writers Award. He wrote the classic novel
“Changma” (The Rainy Spell) that on a post-war family with
two grandmothers and their shared grandson.
PAK KYONGI
She was a South Korean poet and novelist. She wrote the
Korean’s masterpiece and internationally acclaimed 21-
volume epic novel T’oji (“The Land”), wherein she
chronicled the violent Korean history from 1897 to 1945.
JAPAN
 JAPAN
LITERATURE
Japanese literature reflects simple yet complex,
imperfect yet abounding with beauty – the
traditional Japanese cultural identity. In
contemporary times, Western influences take
part in the Japanese literature, specifically in the
pioneering of modern Japanese novels,
translations of the poetry, and reinventions of
traditional Japanese poetic forms like haiku and
tanka.
ABE KOBO
He was a Japanese novelist and playwright and also known
by the pseudonym of Abe Kimifusa. He wrote the best-
known play "Tomodachi" (Friends) which is a story, with
dark humor, reveals the relationship with the other, and
exposes the peculiarity of human relations in the present
age."
KAMITAKE
HIRAOKA
He is also known by the pen name Mishima Yukio, the most
important Japanese novelist of the 20th century. He was one
of the finalists of the 1963 Nobel Prize for Literature and
won numerous awards for his works.
RYUNOSUKE
AKUTAGAWA
He was a Japanese writer and regarded as the Father of the
Japanese short story. He wrote the short story “Rashomon”
that recounts the encounter between a servant and an old
woman in the dilapidated Rashōmon, the southern gate of the
then-ruined city of Kyoto, where unclaimed corpses were
sometimes dumped.
HARUKI
MURAKAMI
He was a Japanese novelist who won the international award
Jerusalem Prize. He also won the Gunzou Literature Prize
for his first novel “Hear the Wind Sing”.
MIDDLE EAST
 ARABIC
LITERATURE
Arabic literary tradition has been
flourishing in the Middle East. Islam is
the foundation of culture in this region -
an essential component. Its literary
tradition has grown and influenced
others like Persian, Byzantine, and
Andalusian traditions.
ABBAS
MAHMOUD AL -
AQQAD
He was an Egyptian poet, journalist, and literary critic, an
innovator of the 20th-century Arabic poetry and criticism.
He became famous for his Abqariyat series, a seven-book
compilation that covers the life of seven of the most
important Sahabah (the disciples and followers of
Muhammad).
TAHA HUSSEIN
He was an Egyptian novelist, essayist, critic, and an
outstanding figure in Egyptian literature. His nickname was
“The Dean of Arabic Literature”. He wrote the novelized
autobiography “The Days”, one of the most popular works of
modern Arabic literature that deals with his childhood in a
small village, then his studies in Egypt and France.
ALI AHMAD
SAID ESBER
He is known also as Adonis as his pseudonym. He is an
award-winning Syrian-born Lebanese poet, literary critic,
and is a leader of the modernist movement in contemporary
Arabic poetry. He was the recipient of numerous honors,
including the 2011 Goethe Prize and the 2017 PEN/Nabokov
Award for Achievement in International.
ETGAR KERET
He is an Israeli writer known for his short stories, graphic
novels, and scriptwriting for film and television. His 2019
Fly Already (“Glitch at the Edge of the Galaxy”) published
in English won Israel’s prestigious Sapir Prize in Literature.
 MOST ESSENTIAL TEXTS FOR READING:

• LAST SIMILE (POEM) ABID B AL-ABRAS

• LĀMIYYĀT ‘AL-ARAB (POEM) AL-SHANFARĀ
• THAT SMELL AND NOTES FROM PRISON (NOVEL)
SONALLAH IBRAHIM
• CITIES OF SALT (NOVEL) ABDUL RAHMAN MUNIF
• THE PEOPLE OF THE CAVE (NOVEL) TAWFIQ AL-HAKIM
• A LOVE POEM (POEM) UMM KHALID ANNUMAIRIYYA
• BIN BARKA ALLY (NOVEL) I AM THE ONE WHO SAW
(SADDAM CITY)(NOVEL) MAHMOUD SAEED
• A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUN (NOVEL) KHALED
HOSSEINI
SOUTH
ASIA
INDIA
 INDIAN
LITERATURE
India is the cultural giant over South
Asia. Hallmark writings such as Veda,
the Brahmanas, and the Upanishads are
the roots of Indian literature. As early as
1500 BCE, the Veda written in the
Sanskrit language introduced the birth
of Indian literary works. Around the
16th century, written literature in India
appeared.
BHASA
one of the earliest and most celebrated Indian playwrights in Sanskrit, predating Kalidasa. His

plays had been lost for centuries until the manuscripts were rediscovered in the early 20th century.
CHANAKYA
was an ancient Indian teacher, philosopher, economist, jurist and royal advisor. He is traditionally identified as Kauṭilya or Vishnugupta, who

authored the ancient Indian political treatise, the Arthashastra, a text dated to roughly between the 4th century BCE and the 3rd century CE.
VISHNU
SHARMA
He was an Indian scholar and author who is believed to have
written thePanchatantra, a collection of fables.
VALMIKI
He is celebrated as the harbinger-poet in Sanskrit literature.
The epic Ramayana, dated variously from the 5th century
BCE to first century BCE, is attributed to him, based on the
attribution in the text itself. He is revered as Ādi Kavi, the
first poet, author of Ramayana, the first epic poem.
KRISHNA
DVAIPAYANA
Better known as Vyasa or Veda Vyasa, was a legendary sage
portrayed in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, and regarded by
Hindu-tradition as the compiler of that work. As a
Shaktyavesha Avatar of Vishnu, he is also regarded by
tradition as the arranger of the mantras of the Vedas, as well
as the author of the eighteen Puranas and the Brahma Sutras.
RABINDRANATH
TAGORE
He was a Bengali poet, short-story writer, song composer,
playwright, essayist, and painter. He was referred to as “the
Bard of Bengal”.
DHANPAT RAI
SRIVASTAVA
Also known by his pseudonym Prem Chand, he is a famous
Indian author of novels and short stories of his modern
Hindustani literature. He pioneered in adapting Indian
themes to Western literary styles.
RAJA RAO
He is an Indian writer of novels and short stories in the
English language. His famous novel “The Serpent and the
Rope”, a semi-autobiographical account of the narrator, a
young intellectual Brahman, and his wife seeking spiritual
truth in India, France, and England, recognized him as one of
the fines Indian prose Stylists.
R. K. NARAYAN
One of the finest Indian authors in the English language, he
wrote the Sahitya Award-winning novel “The Guide” which
was adapted for film and for Broadway. It was based on the
fictional town in South India and describes the
transformation of the protagonist from a tour guide to a
spiritual guide and one of the greatest holy men of India.
THAILAND
CHART
KORBJITTI
He is the most successful Thai writer. He was recognized by
his publication of his novel Khamphiphaksa (The Judgment).
His novel was named as Book of the Year by Thailand's
Literature Council and won him the S.E.A Write Award. He
was awarded the National Artist in Literature (2004) and was
among the honorees of the inaugural Silpathorn Award,
given to Thai contemporary artists.
THAILAND
NGUYEN DU
The best-loved poet and the father of Vietnamese literature,
he was most known for his epic poem “The Tale of Kieu”
that recounts the life, trials, and tribulations of Thuy Kieu, a
beautiful and talented young woman, who has to sacrifice
herself to save her family. She sells herself into marriage
with a middleaged man, not knowing that he is a pimp, and
is forced into prostitution.
INDONESIA
TENGKU AMIR
HAMZAH
He was an Indonesian poet and National Hero of Indonesia.
His poem collection “Nyangi Sunyi” is considered the most
developed and shows the theme of God and His relationship
to humanity, fate, dissatisfaction, and escape. Some literary
critics think that the collection is an attempt to address the
worldly problems of Amir. He was the only Indonesian poet
recognized internationally.
 MOST ESSENTIAL TEXTS FOR READING:

• IN CUSTODY (NOVEL) ANITA DESAI

• THE GODS OF SMALL THINGS (NOVEL) ARUNDHATI ROY
• THE FOLDED EARTH (NOVEL) ANURADHA ROY
• THE FEATHER OF THE DAWN (POETY) SAROJINI NAIDU
SUBRAHMANYAM (THE NIGHTINGALE OF INDIA)
• THE CAGED ONES (NOVEL) LUDU U HLA
• A CRAZY MAN'S SHOULDER BAG (ANECDOTE) HMAWBI
SAYA THEIN
• WORKING ELEPHANTS (ESSAY) KYI AYE
• THE GENERAL RETIRES AND OTHER STORIES (SHORT
STORY) NGUYEN HUY THIEP
SHORT QUIZ
Directions. Identify the different
literary authors in Asia

1. He was a Japanese writer and

regarded as the Father of the
Japanese short story.

2. He is an Israeli writer known for

his short stories, graphic novels, and
scriptwriting for film and television.
3. He was also called Li Po, rivaled Du
Fu for the title of China’s greatest poet.
Unlike Du Fu, he wrote less formal verse
forms.
4. He is a world-acclaimed short story
writer and considered as a champion for
Chinese meta-fictional or postmodernist
writing.
5. He was a Korean poet and included in
the early modernism movement of Korean
poetry. He wrote the first Korean
collection of translation from Western
poetry “The Dance of Agony”.
Directions. Recognize the different
literary works in Asia

6. In Custody (novel)

7. Battle (poem)

8. A Love Poem (poem)

9. The Gods of Small Things (novel)

10. I Am The One Who Saw (Saddam City)

(novel)
KEY TO CORRECTIONS
Directions. Recognize the
different literary works and
authors in Asia
• He was a Japanese writer and
regarded as the Father of the
Japanese short story.
• He is an Israeli writerAkutagawa
Ryūnosuke known for
his short stories, graphic novels,
and scriptwriting for film and
television.

Etgar Keret
3. He was also called Li Po, rivaled Du
Fu for the title of China’s greatest poet.
Unlike Du Fu, he wrote less formal verse
forms.
Li Bai
4. He is a world-acclaimed short story
writer and considered as a champion for
Chinese meta-fictional or postmodernist
writing.

Yu Hua
5. He was a Korean poet and included in
the early modernism movement of
Korean poetry. He wrote the first Korean
collection of translation from Western
poetry “The Dance of Agony”.

Kim Ok
Directions. Recognize the different
literary works in Asia

6. In Custody (novel) Anita Desai

7. Battle (poem) Chu'u Yuan

8. A Love Poem (poem) Umm Khalid

Annumairiyya
9. The Gods of Small Things (novel)
Arundhati Roy
10. I Am The One Who Saw (Saddam City)
(novel)

Mahmoud Saeed
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 THANK YOU
AND
HAVE A NICE DAY!
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