Asian Literature

Philippines, Vietnamese,
Indonesian, Thailand, Burma,
Laos

Discussants:
ARIEL P. ALOVERA
EDSEL R. ALAPAG
MAE KAREN R. PASCUA

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Topics of Discussion
 Roles
 Literature is Education
 Literature is Hope
 Literature is a subversive act

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Literature is Hope
 “Even in hopelessness there is
hope” (Prof. Grant Olson)
 Poem (Burma) “Let’s Go to Tahiti”
 Short Story (Vietnamese) To Live
 Novel (Philippines) Noli Me
Tangere
 “Writers hope to bring the spirit of
reform into all spheres of life”

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Literature is Education
 Living History
 Gives a voice to the people
 Conveys quality of life
 Geography - Rural vs. Urban
 Shows people land and relate to it

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 Demonstrate in Culture
 Shows how complex everything is
 Pictures ethnic conflict

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Literature is Education
 Explores relationship between Men
and Women and identifies gender
role
 Political Power and its corruption

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Literature is a
Subversive Act
 A medium for change
 Writers and Readers alike join in
the act
 Promotes Social Responsibility
and Social Consciousness

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 Genres
 Traditional Oral Literature- Folktales,
Proverbs, Riddles, legends
 Religious Narratives and Literature-
Buddhist Codes and verses, Jataka
Tales
 Narrative Poetry - Epic Stories

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 Non-narrative Poetry - songs, love
poems etc.
 Historical Novels
 Contemporary Literature - novels,
short stories, poems,

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Themes
 Animals and Forest
 Supernatural/Mythical Beings and
their journeys
 Gender Roles

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 Strong Familial Relationship,
loyalty and Identity, Ethnocentricity
 Prostitution
 Rural vs. Urban

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 Poignancy of Love Relationship
 Wheels of Fate
 Importance of Reciprocity
 Struggles between humanity and
poverty

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 Strength of Human Character
 Political Corruption
 Nationalism and anti-colonialism

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Other themes
 Fortune Telling
 Karma, Justice, Responsibility and
Retribution
 Nature, Society, and Humanity
uniting together

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 Sadness of life
 River is life and society
 the will to love

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Philippines
 Literature based on expressive
Culture
epics
myths
legends, tales
riddles, proverbs and rituals
balagtasan

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Philippine Epics
 Cultural Values and Universal
Themes of Epic Poetry
 Miraculous birth of the hero
 his precocious strength
 magical powers

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 herculean deeds
 extraterestial journeys to the
underworld and sky world
 his death and resuscitation

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 Epic of Romance
 Epic of Migration

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Vietnam Literature
 Rich, varied expressing over the
centuries.
 Depicts humor, realism, and irony
of the Vietnamese people

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Themes
 Oriental Philosophy - a system that
harmonizes the natural and social
world that includes humanity in the
center uniting with nature and
society.

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 Oriental Philosophy discovered not
only the three directions of time
(past, present, future) but also a
4th direction - the direction of
spiritual life.

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Oriental Philosophy that
Influence Vn Literature
 Buddhism
 Confucianism
 Taoism - that is mainly a
combination of folk beliefs and high
regard of nature
 Animism (10th Century - where
strong winds, the waters, and the
mountain were worshipped

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Principal Tenets of this 4
Oriental Philosophy
 “Nature and society and humanity
unite with one another in a
harmony of beauty. The link of
human generations and thousands
of living creatures never ends.
(Phuc Cu De, 1999)

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 NONE turns HAVE - NONE means
endless, boundless, immense,
infinite, numberless in moving and
changing movements and the
developing process of everything.

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 HAVE is not simply possessive in
meaning but it means the limitation
of changing and the developing
process ofeverything. (Phuc Cu
De, 1999)

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 Man = Great Universe = Great
Nature and Society
 “Nature, Society, and Humanity
Unite with one Another in a
harmony of beauty.”
 “The link of human generations
and thousand of living creatures
never ends.”

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Genres
 Anonymous Literature (Oral)
 Legends
 Proverbs
 Songs that depicts aspects of
traditional society

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 Folk Literature (17th and 18th
century)
 Fables
 Satirical
and narrative poems
 Verse Novels

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 Verse Novels
 firstverse has 6 feet
 2nd verse has 8 feet

 6th character of the second verse

rhymes with the last character of
the first verse
 these novels are recited and sung
from village to village

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 Texts indicate chinese influence,
chinese characters (Tom language)
and chinese conception of literary
style

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 Modern Literature - texts are evidence of
realism as a repurcussion of 30+ of war
it also shows a literary dichotomy
created by the partition of Vietnam in
1954.
 “Through literature, writers hoped to
bring the spirit of reform into all spheres
of Vietnamese life.”

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Thailand
 Religion
 Jataka Tales a.k.a Aesops Fables
 Fate and Karma
 Buddhist Concepts of Merit and
Demerit
 The Theme of Rice - gather as
much as you need for one day

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Indonesian
 Ramayana - The Journey of Rama
 Purpose: To conquer evil with
good
 Important Notions: Meditation,
Power of Language,
Hierarchy/caste

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 Laos
 Secular texts - much richer than
religious texts
 popular and classical lietrature are
well known at all levels of society
although authors names are
unknown and texts are undated
and undatable
 1. Stories, legends and poem of
oral tradition are satirical in tone
 Stories called sysva have strong
moral and education content
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 3. Tales that comment on the naivety of the
peasantry, the greediness of the wealthy and
the demands of the royalty
 4. Judicial stories which include
commentaries on ancient Lao codes
 5. Historical Legends - e.g. History of Khun
Purom which recount the legendary migration
of the Tai Peoples from China to Luang
Prabang

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 6. Poetry that are predominantly Buddhist
and inspired to the licentious
 7. Classical Lao Literature - written in prose
and verse form, lenghty and not original.
Themes include handsome priest, the
heroin is a beautiful princess and the
antagonist a demon. There is also a Lao
version of the Ramayana

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Burma
 Buddhism
 Anti-government, expose’ of
government corruption

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