HANDOUT NO.

1 WORLD LITERATURE

ASIAN LITERATURE
Asia is the largest continent in the world and it is further subdivided into East, Central, West, and South East regions.
Each region has its prevailing beliefs, traditions, and feelings which make Asian literature rich in thousands of stories and
poetry about its heritage. The most influential set of literary traditions in Asia are Chinese, Japanese and Indian literatures.
Chinese Literature
Rather than dealing with grand themes, this body of Asian literature puts a spotlight on the meander, simple everyday
issues of the people in society. Philosophical books explicate the expected “duties, behavior, and actions a person must do
in order to belong harmoniously to his society” (Mendoza & Silva, 2016).
Moreover, Chinese literary works include fiction, philosophical and religious works, poetry, and scientific writings. The
eras of each dynasty shaped the literary traditions of China.
A. Four Great Classic Novels:
• The Novel of the Three Kingdoms Sānguó Yǎnyì. Luo
Guanzhong’s novel recounts the real events that occurred during the period when China was composed of three kingdoms:
Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Wu. While children read this book like a fairytale or as a bedtime story, politicians consider this
as a handguide for strategies.
• Journey to the West – Xī Yóu Jì. Wu Cheng’en’s novel is also known as “Monkey” since it features,
Sun Wukong, a monkey who set out on a journey with his companions to search for Chinese people’s
sacred scroll. Journey to the West has influenced many adventure stories and dramas, as well as the famous
Son Goku in Dragon Ball series.
• Dream of the Red Chamber – Hónglóu Mèng by Cao Xuequin.
• This novel is a lovestory “celebrated for its realism, psychological depth and the richness of the plot”
(Buzelli, 2019).
• Water Margin – Shuǐhǔ Zhuàn is a novel by Shi Nai’an that narrates plight of 108 brigands from
Mount Liang who challenged the emperor. The story was set during the Song dynasty. Other titles of this
book are “Outlaws of the Marsh,” and “All Men are Brothers.”
B. Chinese poetry has been one of the favorite literary genres for a thousand years. Their poetry may be divided into 5,
namely 1)Shi, which are couplets, 2)Ci, which seem like songs due to its syllabic and tonal patterns, 3)Ge, means song,
4)Qu has a freer poetic form and is usually used in theater plays, and 5)Fu which are descriptive poems composed of both
prose and couplets.
• Dufu followed a structured form of poetry and observed realistic poems whose themes include
difficulties living in a war, poverty, and rural life.
• Li Bai is a romantic poet who wrote poetry as he traveled widely across the provinces of China.
He used free form poetry.
• Su Tungpo, also called Su Shi, was a prolific poet of the northern Song era and he has produced
over 2000 poems.
Japanese Literature
Japanese literature finds its appeal in the use of great variety of words to convey feelings and emotions. It is rather
emotional and subjective than intellectual.
A. Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji in the 11th century retells of the life of prince Hikaru Genji, his
romances and aristocratic society. Lady Murasaki lived during the Heian Period, an era of remarkable growth of
poetry, diaries, and fiction produced by court ladies.
B. Sei Shonagon’s The Pillow Book is a genre bending miscellany of short, largely unrelated pieces which
can be classified as narratives, thoughts and opinions and famous lists. Sei Shonagon is a contemporary and rival
or Lady Murasaki.
C. Matsuo Basho – He was known as the supreme Japanese haiku poet. Although haiku existed before him,
he made this poetic form an accepted artistic expression throughout the world.
D. “I” novel – (Watakushi-shôsetu) is a colloquial fiction where the author describes the world from his
perspective and also reveals his own mental states.
E. Yasunari Kawabata – is Japan’s first recipient of Nobel Prize for Literature and he is also known as the
master of psychological fiction. Among his famous works are Snow Country (a novel) and The Izu Dancer (a
short story).

Indian Literature
Majority of Indian literature are written in Sanskrit. Classic Indian literature revolves around its predominant faith –
Hinduism, while modern literature focuses on issues of their nation.
Three distinct characteristics of Indian literature are a) based on piety, a deep religious spirit, b) written in epic form, and
c) designed to advance some unorthodox regional beliefs.
1. Panchatantra – is a compilation of tales in prose and poetry, featuring five books of fables and magical
tales.
 2. Bhagavad Gita (The Name of the Lord) – an ancient text that became an important work of Hindu
tradition in terms of both literature and philosophy.
3. Mahabharata – is the longest epic in the world. It recounts the dynastic struggle and civil wars between
the Pandavas and Kauravas in the kingdom of Kuruksheta about the 9th century BC.
4. Ramayana – is the second longest epic in the world and it had a great impact in shaping the nature of
Indian civilization. The story tells of how Rama went on a journey to find and save his wife Sita. Along the way,
he learns Hindu life lessons.

AFRICAN LITERATURE (MARU PALABAY’S GROUP)

Two great colonizing movements have made an impact on the literary traditions of Africa. These movements are that of
Islamic Arabs in the 7th century and of Christian Europeans in the 19th century. Oral tradition in African dialects have been
the prevailing form until the Swahilis (Kenya and Tanzania) transcribed their stories and folk literature. African
literature may simply be categorized into two – ORAL TRADITION and WRITTEN TRADITION

Oral Tradition. Included in this category are African myths, stories, poems, folktales and riddles.
• Myths – each tribe has its own version of how the world and everything in it came to be. What was
common among the versions is the story that a “god first agreed to give man eternal life, but his message
was perverted through the stupidity or malice of the messenger.”
• Poetry – purposes of on-the-spot oral poems include “praising a chief, mourning the dead, making fun of
an unfriendly town, and get favors from the gods to cure a disease.” Priests are also required to study the Ifa
oracle which is a massive poem about pleasing the gods.
• Folktales, proverbs and riddles – Folktales are usually heard in the evening for family’s entertainment.
Dilemma tales are also popular where the ending
is up to the listeners to find the best solution to a conflict in the story. African proverbs are known to be amusing because
of the surprising way they put ideas into words. For example, instead of saying “Be careful,” they say “The housefly does
not play a sticky drum.” Or when they say “The staring frogs do not prevent cattle from drinking,” they mean “Do not
worry about other people’s opinions.” African riddles are often “intended to display the questioner’s imagination rather
than to test the cleverness of the audience.” (Smith, n.d.)

Written Tradition. Since African languages are only spoken, they owe their writing traditions to the influence of Muslim
Arabs in Africa. East African writing were first written in the Arabic script and later adopted the Roman Alphabet.
• Swahili Literature – shairi poems are non-religious poems which have grown out of poetry contests where
the first poet comes up with two lines and other poets must continue adding two lines each with the same
rhyme and rhythm. Uhuru wa Watumwa (Freedom for the Slaves, 1934) was the first Swahili novella by
James Mbotela.
• Hausa Literature – Islamic scholars living among the locals in northern Africa wrote the first poems in
Hausa using Arabic alphabets. They call these religious poems as ajami. Eventually, themes of poems from
this region are conflicts between Islamic ways and European culture and beliefs.
• Yoruba Literature – The fantasy Igbo Olodumare (The Forest of the Lord, 1947) made Chief D.O.
Fagunawa one of Nigeria’s most popular writers. Yoruba has also produced social and political satires by
Hubert Ogunde as well as tragedies by Duro Lapido.
• Other African-language Literature – Christian texts became models for most African provinces which did
not have an earlier written tradition. Spiritual books such as the Bible, John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress,
and Christian hymns were translated to African languages, while natives were taught by converted Africans
the English language.
In 1906, Thomas Mokopu Mofolo of Lesotho published the first Christian inspired novel Moeti oa Bochabela (Traveller
of the East). His book was originally produced in a missionary printing press. However, his third novel which came out in
1925 (Chaka) written in the Sotho language had to be revised upon the advice of the missionaries. Chaka contained war
and witchcraft themes which were strongly disapproved by the publishers. From then on, African writers had to adjust
their writings to suit not only their local readers but also their religious influences.
• French-language literature – French colonizers imposed their culture and language on the natives and
brought African scholars to their universities in France. However, scholars realized that no culture could
ever replace their own. So, they began to write poems about their longings for Africa and their anger
toward losing their identity as a nation. This became a movement and it was recognized in 1930s as
“negritude” or a celebration of their blackness and the African traditions. In 1960, a poet turned the first
president of Senegal used the color black as a symbol of magical life rather than of death.
• Portuguese-language literature – Among the writers during this period were Caetano da Costa Alegre of
Sao Tome who wrote about his loneliness in the midst of a white society while living in Portugal as a
medical student; Agostinha Neto and Mario de Andrade of Angola who were both political poets who
thrived in the Angolan liberation movement; Valente Malangatana and Jose Craveirinha of Mozambique,
who were tortured and imprisoned by Portuguese because of their writings that exposed the problems of
racial discrimination and the difficulties of black laborers.
 • English-language literature – Around the 18 th century, freed slaves who have settled in England and
America wrote in the English language. Since then, writers expressed through poetry their love for their
race and country while at the same time commemorated the European and Christian values. In 1911, the
first African novel in English, Ethiopia Unbound by Joseph Ephraim Casley-Hayford of Ghana was
published. Onitsha novels, which are short popular fiction, became in demand especially in western African
night markets.
 Amos Tutuola – was the first Nigerian who was recognized internationally by reinventing
Yoruban folklore in the English language. Because he lacked formal language education, he often
relied on Yoruba’s orality rather than on standard English (goodreads.com)
 Chinua Achebe – He was the most widely read African novelist and has one of the biggest
contributions in letting the world enter into an understanding of African literature (Brucker, 1992).
New York Times described him as
▪ Wole Soyinka – is known to be Africa’s most famous and versatile playwright which earned him a
Nobel prize for literature in 1986. He “merged Western plot structure with Yoruba characters and
themes, symbolism and irony, and traditional European forms with African mime, dance, and music.

EUROPEAN LITERATURE 1 – NETH PATRICA BUENO’S GROUP

European literature, also known as Western Literature, is the largest body of literature in the world. It includes literature in
the Indo-European languages such as Latin, Greek, Romance languages and Russian.
Latin Literature
A. Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BCE – 43 BCE) was the greatest Roman orator. Using Latin as a literary medium, he was
able to express abstract and complicated thoughts clearly in his speeches. One of his well- known speeches is Pro
Cluentio. B. Virgil (70BCE – 19 BCE), the greatest Roman poet, known for Aeneid, an epic poem. Aeneas, the
protagonist went on a journey to search for the land he was destined to build which will one day become the great Roman
Empire.

Greek Literature
A. Homer is known for the Iliad and the Odyssey. These epics are the heroic achievements of Achilles and
Odysseus, respectively.
B. Sophocles (496 BC – 406 BC) was a tragic playwright known for Oedipus the King, which marks the
highest level of achievement of Greek drama.
Italian Literature
A. Francesco Petrarch (1304 -1374) perfected the Italian sonnet, a major influence in European poetry.
Written in the vernacular, his sonnets were published in the Canzoniere.
B. Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 – 1375) is known for Decameron, a classic Italian masterpiece, written in the
vernacular.
Spanish Literature
Two well-known Spanish writers of Siglo de Oro (1500 – 1681) are Miguel de Cervantes and Lope de Vega
A. Miguel de Cervantes was known for his novel Don Quixote, one of the most widely read works of
Western Literature. Its titular character’s name is the origin of the word quixotic meaning hopeful or romantic in
a way that it is not practical.
B. Lope de Vega, an outstanding dramatist, wrote as many as 1800 plays during his lifetime, including cloak
and sword drama, which are plays of the upper middleclass manners and intrigue.

EUROPEAN LITERATURE 2 -JOSEPH MURILLO’S GROUP

French Literature
A. Gustave Flaubert – a novelist, was a major influence on the realist school. His masterpiece, Madame
Bovary (1857), marked the beginning of a new age of realism.
B. Guy de Maupassant – is considered as the greatest French short story writer. A naturalist, he wrote
objective stories which represent a real “slice of life.” He was known for his short story, “The Necklace.”
Russian Literature
A. Leo Tolstoy is known for his novels of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, and his short story, God Sees
the Truth but Waits. A master of realistic fiction, he is considered as one of the world’s greatest novelist.
B. Anton Chekov is a master of the modern short story and a Russian playwright. His works such as The Bet
and The Misfortune reveal his clinical approach to ordinary life.
English Literature refers to the body of written works produced in the English language by inhabitants of British Isles
and Ireland from the 7th century to the present day.
A. Beowulf is an epic poetry that tells the story of the hero Beowulf who saved the Danes from the monster
and his mother. Later on, he succeeded the kingship back in their kingdom and died protecting his people from
the firebreathing dragon.
B. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a novel that compiles the stories of pilgrims, which
consisted of people from all walks of life – knight, prioress, monk, merchant, man of law, franklin, scholarly
 clerk, miller, reeve, pardoner, wife of Bath, and many others. The story depicted a common practice in the
Medieval era where pilgrimages are done for religious purposes, while at the same time benefitting a vacation.
C. William Shakespeare (Bard of Avon) is considered as the English national poet and the greatest
dramatists of all time. He published at least 154 sonnets, a poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of
formal rhyme schemes, in English typically having ten syllables per line (Oxford dictionary). Among his many
famous tragedies are Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, King Lear, and Othello. And his comedies
include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Twelfth Night, The Tempest, and the Taming of the Shrew, and
more.
D. How Do I Love Thee by Elizabeth Barret Browning is one of the most quoted English love poem. It is
usually interpreted to be dedicated to her husband Robert Browning.

Latin American Literature -YVONNE OLPINDO’S GROUP

Latin American literature refers to all works of literature in Latin American culture like Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Cuba,
Guatemala, Colombia and Peru.
THE VANGUARDIA
The Vanguardia (avant-garde) took place in Latin America between approximately 1916 and 1935. It collectively referred
to different literary movements. Four of those were the following:
A. Creacionismo – founded by Vicente Huidebro, a Chilean poet
B. Ultraismo- introduced by Jorge Luis Borges, an Argentinian writer
C. Estredintismo – founded in Mexico City by Manuel Maples Acre, a Mexican writer D. Surrealism –
started in Argentina when the Argentenian poet Aldo Pellegrini launched the first Surrealist magazine
SURREALISM, an art form that combines unrelated images or events in a very strange and dreamlike way, became a
major influence in Latin American Literature throughout the 20th century
A. Pablo Neruda – a Chilean poet wrote Residence on Earth, a collection of poetry inspired by surrealism
B. Octavio Paz – a Mexican poet, wrote poems with surrealist imagery. His major works were published in
Freedom Under Parole
C. Jorge Luis Borges – was known for his fantastic stories, published later as a collection entitled Ficciones
D. Alejo Carpentier – a Cuban writer, wrote The Kingdom of This World, a novel of the magic realism
genre, in which elements of fantasy or myth are included matter-of-factly in seemingly realistic fiction.
E. Miguel Angel Asturias – a Guatemalan writer, wrote the novel The President. This novel along with
Carpentier’s novel introduced magic realism
BOOM NOVELS
These were essentially modernist novels, which appeared in the second half of the 20 th century. They had features that
were different or absent from the works of the regionalist writers of the past. (Regionalist writers were those that used
local color, which refers to interesting information about a particular place or its people).
• The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes, a Mexican writer
• Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar, an Argentine fictionist
• The Time of the Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa, a Peruvian writer
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a Colombian fictionist
POST-BOOM
These writers included a host of women who published works in the last twenty years of the 20 th century. Three of them
were Isabel Allende, a Chilean writer who wrote The House of Spirits; Diamella Eltit, a Chilean writer who wrote E.
Luminata; and Luisa Valenzuela, an Argentinian writer who wrote Black Novel with Argentines.

North American Literature -SHARAH CRIS MEDIANA’S GROUP

American literature is a rich body of literature. It refers to all works of literature in English published in the United States,
which has produced many great writers through the centuries.
19th Century
A. Edgar Allan Poe became famous for his macabre stories like “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The
Cask of Amontillado.” He also wrote poems such as Annabel Lee and Raven which both gained instant fame.
B. Nathaniel Hawthorne became known for his symbolical tales “The Hollow of the Three Hills” and Young
Goodman Brown. Also, he wrote the gothic romance The Scarlet Letter.
C. Emily Dickinson wrote odd poems. She mostly used the imperfect rhyme and avoided regular rhythms. A
collection of her poems, Poems by Emily Dickinson came out in 1890.
20th Century
A. Robert Frost wrote poems with traditional stanzas and a blank verse, a verse in iambic pentameter with no
rhyme. His poems portray ordinary people in everyday situations like Mending Wall, The Road Not Taken, and
After ApplePicking.
B. Harper Lee published his enormously popular novel To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960. It’s a story of a girl
was awakened to the issue of prejudice and racism. The protagonist learned from her father not to kill a
mockingbird alluding to the fact that they are innocent and harmless. This novel has already been translated to
40 languages.
C. Ezra Pound was a leader of the Imagists, who emphasized the use of direct and sparse language and
precise images in writing poetry. His works include Ripostes (1912) and Lustra (1916).
D. Anne Sexton became known for her confessional poetry, a kind of poetry that deals with the private
experiences of the speaker. Her work, Live or Die (1966) won a Pulitzer prize. Wanting to Die is an example of
a confessional poetry.