21st CENTURY LITERATURE - authors
poetry and scientific and historical texts
 Epics of Muslim
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 Dynasties in China
- People began to write about art and
appreciate painting for its own beauty.
1. Shang Dynasty – first dynasty for which
there is historical record and
archaeological evidence.
2. Chou dynasty (Basic Philosophical and
Religious Literature)
- Longest of all dynasties, lasted 800
years.
- Beginning of two major Chinese
philosophies: Confucianism and Taoism
- The Chinese call this simultaneous
emergence of religions and
philosophies the
“One Hundred Schools of Thought.”
3. Ch’in dynasty (Literary Disaster and
Legalism)
- Mohism- Big philosophical and religious
school.
- Li Si – Ch'in emperor who introduced a
writing system and developed into a Modern
Chinese writing
- Legalism- philosophical school. Legalism
text is autocratic, centralized rule and harsh
penalties.
- Standardized writing system help people all
over the country to communicate more
clearly.
- Legalism texts and the standardization of
writing were the Ch'in Dynasty era’s literary
contributions.
4. Han dynasty (Scientific and Historical
Texts)
- This period was one of the most
glorious eras of Chinese history
contributed important
- Liu An "Master of Huainan"
Huainanzi a chinese text that consists of
a collection of
philosophies.
5. T’ang dynasty (Early Woodblock
Printing and Poetry)
- Fine arts and literature flourished
during this era which is viewed as the
Golden.
- Age of Chinese civilization. Among the
technological advances of this time
were the invention of gunpowder and
the block printing.
- Li Bai was one of the greatest romantic
poets
- Du Fu wrote more than a thousand
poems, realist poets of China.
6. Sung dynasty (Neo-Confucian)
- This period was characterized by
delicacy
and refinement although inferior in
terms of literary arts but great in
learning.
- The practice of Neo-Confucianism grew.
- Divided into two (Northern Sung
and Southern Sung)
7. Later dynasty (Drama, and great
fictional novels)
- During the late 12th century and early
13th century, Northern China was
overrun by Mongol invaders led by
Genghis Khan.
- It was during this time that Marco Polo
visited China.
- There was growth of drama in colloquial
language and a decline of a language of
learning.
- Guan Hanqing is regarded as one of the
best playwrights of the times. He wrote
 Midsummer Snow that was one of the
most popular drama pieces.
 Taoism
- Living on simple and balanced life in
harmony with nature.
- A religious tradition of Chinese origin
- Emphasizes living in harmony with Tao
- the opposite of Confucianism and
the most important religion that
encompasses a variety of tradition,
beliefs, and spiritual
practices attributed to Buddha.
- Lao Tzu was the one who expounded
Taoism during the Chou dynasty.
 Hinduism
- Currently practiced by a minority of
residents of China.
- The religion has a very limited presence
in modern mainland China.
- Confucius
- is a chinese teacher,editor, politician,
and philosopher whose ideas influenced
all civilization of East Asia.
- "Do not do unto others what you don't
want others to do unto you"
 Confucianism
- Emphasizes personal and governmental
morality, correctness of social
relationships, justice and sincerity.
- is not properly speaking , a religion. It’s
a way of behaving, so you'll do the right
things.
 Buddhism
- First reached China from India roughly
2000 years ago during the Han
dynasty.\Introduced to China by Silk
Road Traders from the west
 Chaucer’s collection stories
- A collection of 24 stories
- England’s greatest poets
 Tale of Genji
- Is a classical work of Japanese literature
written by the noblewoman and lady-in
waiting Murasaki Shikibu in early years
of the 11th century
- Has been praised for its analysis of the
psychology of love and relationships in
ways that still resonate with modern
readers.
 Enlightenment period
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 Romanticism
- is an artistic, literary, and intellectual
movement that originated in Europe
toward the end of the 18th century
- feelings and sentiments are very much
present in romantic works.
 Periods of Latin America
1. Pre-Columbian Literature - Primarily
oral, though the Aztecs and Mayans.
2. Colonial Literature - When Europeans
encountered the New World, early
explorers and conquistadores produced
written accounts and crónicas of their
experience, such as Columbus's letters
or Bernal Díaz del Castillo's description
of the conquest of Mexico.
3. 19th century literature (foundational
fictions) - Novels in the Romantic or
Naturalist traditions that attempted to
establish a sense of national identity.
4. Modernismo and Boom Precursors -
Emerged in the late 19th century
- A poetic movement whose founding
text was the Nicaraguan Rubén Darío's
Azul (1888).
- Had been the renovation of poetic from
& techniques, extending to the use of
free verse.
 5. The Boom
- After World War II, Latin America
enjoyed increasing economic
prosperity, and a new-found confidence
also gave rise to a literary boom.
- Famous Boom authors include Julio
Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes, Octavio Paz,
Mario Vargas Llosa, and Gabriel García
Márquez.
6. Post Boom to Contemporary
- characterized by a tendency towards
irony and towards the use of popular
genres
- Some writers felt the success of the
Boom to be a burden, and spiritedly
denounced the caricature that reduces
Latin American literature to magical
realism.
 Mark Twain
- American writer, humorist,
entrepreneur, publisher and lecturer.
- Greatest humorist this country has
produced
- Father of American Literature
 Virginia Woolf
- One of the most important modernist
20th century authors
- Pioneer in the use of steam of
consciousness as a narrative device
- From London
 Charles Dickens
- English writer and social critic
- Created the world’s best known
frictional characters and is regarded by
many as the
- Greatest novelist of Victorian era.
- From United Kingdom
 Washington Irving
- Was an American short story writer,
essayist, biographer, historian, and
diplomat of the early 19th century
- Best known for his short stories “Rip
Van Winkle” and “The legend of sleepy
hollow”
 Walt Whitman
- An American poet, essayist and
journalist.
- A humanist, he was a part of transition
between transcendentalism and
realism, incorporating both views in his
works.
- “Father of free verse”
 Geoffrey Chaucer
- Greatest English poet of the middle
ages
- Known for the “Canterbury Tales”
- Father of English Literature
- First writer buried in Poet’s Corner of
Westminster Abbey.
 William Shakespeare
- Greatest writer in English language and
world’s greatest dramatist.
- Often called England’s national poet
and the “Bard of Avon”
 William Wordsworth
- Was an English romantic poet, with
Samuel Coleridge, helped to launch the
Romantic Age in English literature with
their joint publication Lyrical Ballads.
 Homer
- Legendary author of the Iliad and the
Odyssey, two epics poems that are the
central works of ancient Greek
literature.
 Pablo Neruda
- Awarded the Noble Prize for Literature
in 1971
- He was perhaps the most important
Latin American poet of the 20th century
 Giovanni Boccaccio
 - Was an Italian writer, poet,
correspondent of Petrarch, and an
important Renaissance Humanist.
- He wrote a number of notable work,
including the Decameron and On
Famous Woman.
 Dante Aleighri
- An Italian poet
- A landmark in Italian Lit. and among the
greatest works of all medieval Europen
lit., is a profound Christia vision of
humankind’s temporal and eternal
density.
 Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- A Colombian novelist, short story
writer, screenwriter and journalist
- Known affectionately as Gabo or Gabito
throughout Latin America.
 Jorge Luis Borges
- Was an Argentine short story writer,
essayist, poet and translator, and a key
figure in Spanish language and universal
literature.
- His most famous works include;
Universal History of Infamy, Ficciones ,
the Aleph and the Book of Sand.
 Carlos Fuentes
- Was a Mexican Novelist and essayist.
- His works are mixture of social protest,
realism, psychological insight, and
fantacy.
- Among his works are the Death of
Artemio Cruz, Aura, Terra Nostra, The
Old Gringo and Cristopher Unborn.
 Isabel Allende Sophocles
- Is a Chilean ournalist amd author.
- Her best known works include the
novels “The House of the Spirits and
City of the Bests.
 Leo Tolstoy
- Was an Russian writer who is regarded
as one of the greatest authors of all
time.
- In 1873, he set to work on the second
of his best known novels, Anna
Karenina.
- In 1869s, he wrote his first great novel,
War and Peace.
 Magical Realism
- There is argument between those who
see magical realism as a Latin American
invention and those who see it as the
global product of a postmodern world.
- When magical or supernatural elements
are introduced into an otherwise
realistic fictional setting; magical
realism will depict believable settings,
characters, and circumstances, but the
supernatural or magical is incorporated
into the fiction. Carpentier coined the
term “lo real maravilloso.” Authors
associated with magical realism include
Garcia Marquez, Carpentier, and
Esquivel (especially Like Water for
Chocolate).
- Rarely presents the extraordinary in
the form of a dream or a psychological
experience.
 Critical Approaches
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