Literary Themes from different Parts of the World

Aside from it allows us to express ourselves, Literature can also be a way of portraying ones culture and nation. When a story is circulated from its original country to other countries, it can now be considered as World Literature.

Can books cross borders? | Financial Times — “*Literature is diverse and universal*“

The different countries of the world and the different races of man share one common denominator: a distinct set of writings. The values, culture, nationalism, attitudes, beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and experiences of the different cultures are reflected in writings of different literary forms. The world’s literature consists of almost every genre. These works are expressly written and are designed and illustrated to capture the imagination of the readers. World Literature takes you to a journey around the world.

Irving, Lisa / Honors World Literature and Composition

Literary pieces from different continents showcase the lives and emotions of their people while offering the world a view of what happens in their society. It can also show us how information is shared between cultures and nations. The study of world literature is a powerful tool for global studies because it encompasses so many themes that are important to understanding globalization. In this blog, you will learn about the dominant themes from literature in different parts of the world. This blog will also contain some facts and history along the way.

Southeast Asian Literature

Asian Literature including the Southeast Asia mainly emerged from tradition and colonization. This includes the entire region of Southeast Asia with the exception of Thailand because it did not fell under the colonial rule.

Brunei
Burma (Myanmar)
Cambodia
Timor-Leste
Indonesia
Laos
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Vietnam

Southeast Asian Literature have diaspora as one of its focuses and main theme. Which means that the Literature of Southeast Asia is mostly about the experiences of people who have lived in other countries aside from their original countries. Some examples of Southeast Asian literary pieces are as follows:

The development of literature in Southeast Asia involves the influence of religion. The earliest historical influence came from India around the beginnings of the Christian era. At a later period, Buddhism reached mainland Southeast Asia. Its influence was a major source of traditional literature in the Buddhist countries of Southeast Asia. Vietnam, under Chinese rule, was influenced by Chinese and Indian literature. Indonesia and Malaysia were influenced by Islam and its literature. All of the countries, except for Thailand, underwent a colonial experience and each of the countries reflects in its literature and in other aspects of its culture the influence of the colonizing power, including the language of that power. Education in the foreign language was to bring with it an introduction to a foreign literature and this, in turn, was to have considerable impact upon their modern forms of literary expression. One finds, then, all the well-known literary genres of Western literature, the novel, the short story, the play, and the essay.

In Southeast Asia, literature is not bound by books. Early on, oral traditions, riddles, puns, proverbs, legends, and stories of cosmologies were etched into the minds of listeners. Only later were tales set in the form of stone inscriptions and bas-reliefs. Th e verses of historical charters or constitutions are oft en included in the very open definition of literature in Southeast Asia.

Poetry had been the most popular form of the traditional literature over the centuries but was rigid in form. However, through increased acquaintance with Western poetry, the poets of Southeast Asia broke the bonds of tradition and began to imitate various poetic types.

Genres

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

5 Essential Works of Southeast Asian Literature

The Ramayana (especially in any of its Southeast Asian incarnations).
The Tale of Khun Chang Khun Phaen. Translated and edited by Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. Chiang Mai: Silkworm, 2010.
The Malay Annals (c.15th–16th centuries), Sejarah Melayu.
The Tale of Lady Kieu (early 19th century),Nguyen Du.
This Earth of Mankind (1980), Pramoedya Ananta Toer.

East Asian Literature

East Asian Literature reached prominence in the Literary World with Chinese and Japanese literature as the most famous East Asian literature. East Asian literature includes:

Japanese Literature
Chinese Literature
Korean Literature
Mongolian Literature
Taiwanese Literature

A Radical Perspective to East Asian Security - The Geopolitics

Chinese Literature

Almost every form of writing is included in Chinese literature, making it extensive. These forms of writing include books of history, philosophical and political disquisitions,plays, tales of marvels, and other example of literary writings. Much of early Chinese Literature is influenced by three religions which are Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Over time, the nature of the language in which the literature of China was written diverged sharply, producing two main styles of writing, one composed in a specifically literary language and the other in the vernacular. Both strands produced their own very different styles of literature, and both styles reflected their own characteristic language.

The literary style was exceedingly concise and was unmatched for its vigor, richness, and symmetry. Historical and literary allusions abounded, and finally special dictionaries were required for their elucidation. In poetry the relatively simple prosody of the Chou period was followed by systems of more minutely prescribed forms. The lines, which rhymed, had to be matched syllable by syllable in both part of speech and intonation.

The Four Classic Novels of Chinese Literature — The five classics

Japanese Literature

Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, and were often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the spread of Buddhism in Japan. Eventually, Japanese literature developed into a separate style, although the influence of Chinese literature and Classical Chinese remained. Following Japan’s reopening of its ports to Western trading and diplomacy in the 19th century, Western literature has influenced the development of modern Japanese writers, while they have in turn been more recognized outside Japan, with two Nobel Prizes so far, as of 2020.

Before the introduction of kanji from China to Japan, Japan had no writing system; it is believed that Chinese characters came to Japan at the very beginning of the fifth century, brought by immigrants from the mainland of Korean and Chinese descent. Early Japanese texts first followed the Chinese model, before gradually transitioning to a hybrid of Chinese characters used in Japanese syntactical formats, resulting in sentences written with Chinese characters but read phonetically in Japanese.

Japanese Literature comprises a number of genres, including novels, poetry, and drama, travelogues, personal diaries and collections of random thoughts and impressions. From the early seventh century until the present there has never been a period when literature was not being produced by Japanese authors. The rich emotional vocabulary of the Japanese language gave rise to a refined sensitivity of expression, while Chinese was often used to write about more intellectual and abstract concepts such as morality and justice.

**“Vagabonds” by Hao Jingfang (translator: Ken Liu)**

South and West Asian Literature

South and Southeast Asian Literature is a text-based collection that showcases the literary imagination and linguistic inventiveness of Asian writers as they negotiate their varied cultural identities. 21st Century Middle Eastern literature encompasses rich variety of genres and addresses human experience often through a realist approach. A number of South Asian writers have emerged on the global literary scene and offered substantial contribution to world literature.

South Asian Literature refers to the literary works of writers from the Indian subcontinent and its diaspora. Countries to which South Asian literature’s writers are linked include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Works from Bhutan, Myanmar, Tibet, and the Maldives are sometimes also included. South Asian Literature presents writers’ observations of topics such as:

The legacy of the British Empire
Struggles for independence
The 1947 partition of India and Pakistan and the unprecedented accompanying violence
The migration of Hindus and Muslims across new borders
Indo Pakistan War of 1971
The conflict between Sri Lankan government and the Tamil minority
Racism and the caste system
The experience of plantation laborers
The experience of the new immigrant

The literature examines notion of:

Nationalism and transnationalism
Identity and language
The individual and collective Authenticity and hybridity
Home and homeland
The collision of ancient and the modern

As a result of British colonization, India has developed its own unique dialect of English. India are more into educative type of literature. Hence we see more essay papers or academic summaries or books made by Indians.

Arab Literature is the most prominent literature in the west Asia. Arabic literature is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is “Adab”, which is derived from a meaning of etiquette, and which implies politeness, culture and enrichment.

Arabic literature emerged in the 5th century with only fragments of the written language appearing before then. The Qur’an, widely regarded as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language, would have the greatest lasting effect on Arabic culture and its literature. Arabic literature flourished during the Islamic Golden Age, but has remained vibrant to the present day, with poets and prose-writers across the Arab world, as well as in the Arab diaspora, achieving increasing success.

Anglo-American Literature

Anglo-American Literature Anglo-American Literature of the 17th-20th Centuries The Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections has considerable holdings in Anglo-American literature from the 17th century onward, with notable strengths in the 18th century, Romanticism, and the Victorian and modern periods. The United States was one a colony of Britain, as such, its early literature was closely linked to traditional English Literature.

For almost a century and a half, America was merely a group of colonies scattered along the eastern seaboard of the North American continent—colonies from which a few hardy souls tentatively ventured westward. After a successful rebellion against the motherland, America became the United States, a nation. By the end of the 19th century this nation extended southward to the Gulf of Mexico, northward to the 49th parallel, and westward to the Pacific. By the end of the 19th century, too, it had taken its place among the powers of the world—its fortunes so interrelated with those of other nations that inevitably it became involved in two world wars and, following these conflicts, with the problems of Europe and East Asia. Meanwhile, the rise of science and industry, as well as changes in ways of thinking and feeling, wrought many modifications in people’s lives. All these factors in the development of the United States molded the literature of the country. This history of American literature begins with the arrival of English-speaking Europeans in what would become the United States. All 17th-century American writings were in the manner of British writings of the same period.

The core values of Anglo-American literature can be seen such as values of loyalty, bravery, and generosity. The overall idea is that the characters are all going on a path pre-made by the wryd, and they must learn to accept it.

Latin American Literature

Latin American literature is characterized by mysticism, magic, uniqueness, raw creativity, and wonder. One of its dominant styles is Magic Realism. Magical realism is one of the most unique literary movements of the last century. While most commonly associated with Latin American authors, writers from all over the world have made big contributions to the genre. Magical realism is a genre of literature that depicts the real world as having an undercurrent of magic or fantasy. Magical realism is a part of the realism genre of fiction. Within a work of magical realism, the world is still grounded in the real world, but fantastical elements are considered normal in this world. Like fairy tales, magical realism novels and short stories blur the line between fantasy and reality.

Other than Magical Realism, some of its dominant themes are Romanticism, Naturalism, and Emerging Literary Trends. The Latin American wars of Independence that occurred in the early nineteenth century in Latin America led to literary themes of identity, resistance, and human rights. Since 1940, when Latin American literature has become an important reference in universal literature. Nowadays it continues to grow thanks to its various movements such as realism, antinovel and magical realism. Literature is an important part of Hispanic culture.

African Literature

African Literature oftentimes refers back to its colonial past, and it is in this reference that its literature becomes unique, subersive, and expressive. African Literature is as varied as the continent it represents. It consists of a body of work in different languages and various genres, ranging from oral literature to literature written in colonial languages (French, Portuguese, and English). The oral and written literature of Africa not only conveys an imaginative view of the continent,but also serves as social, religious, and educational functions.

Oral literature, including stories, dramas, riddles, histories, myths, songs, proverbs, and other expressions, is frequently employed to educate and entertain children. Oral histories, myths, and proverbs additionally serve to remind whole communities of their ancestors’ heroic deeds, their past, and the precedents for their customs and traditions. Essential to oral literature is a concern for presentation and oratory. Folktale tellers use call-response techniques. A griot (praise singer) will accompany a narrative with music.

Some of the first African writings to gain attention in the West were the poignant slave narratives, such as The Interesting Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African (1789), which described vividly the horrors of slavery and the slave trade. As Africans became literate in their own languages, they often reacted against colonial repression in their writings. Others looked to their own past for subjects. Thomas Mofolo, for example, wrote Chaka (tr. 1931), about the famous Zulu military leader, in Susuto.

Some of the themes in African literature includes colonialism, liberation, nationalism, tradition, displacement and rootlessness.

African literature is not important only because of its relevant setting and relatable story lines. It also increases our social consciousness, and raises awareness of social, political, and economic crises that the African continent is facing.

With liberation and increased literacy since most African nations gained their independence in the 1950s and 1960s, African literature has grown dramatically in quantity and in recognition, with numerous African works appearing in Western academic curricula and on “best of” lists compiled since the end of the 20th century. African writers in this period wrote both in Western languages and in traditional African languages such as Hausa.

And that is all for this blog. Thank you so much for reading! 🙂
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