21st Century Asian Literature

East Asian Literature

• ancient literary traditions comprising China, Japan, and Korea.

Chinese literature

• has a profound influence on the literatures of other countries (such as japan and korea)

• has one of the oldest existing literatures which to date is 3,000 years old

• understandable for all due to the language used

• only written in china

• stepping stone of east asian literature

The end of the New Cultural movement

• closed the contemporary period of chinese literature

• assisted the start of the present age in Chinese literature

Present age of Chinese literature

• began with the inauguration of the communist people’s republic of china

• institutionalized every literary activity, putting the book distribution system, publishing industry, and the Writer’s Union under its firm control.

21st century chinese literature

• range from personal experiences to political convictions of writers

• the product of a diverse collection of works that are noted for the writers artistry and literary imagination

• explored genres such as novel, short story, essay, poetry, and play

• human problems, experiences, and issues that confound geographical and cultural concerns.

• deals with science fantasy

• censorship persists in this 21st century literature

Sinophone literature

• literature written in Chinese by Chinese-speaking writings in various parts of the world outside China

• the opposite of chinese literature (writings written from china)

Japanese literature

• considered one of the major literatures in the world

• had no writing system in the beginning, developed its own based on borrowed and modified chinese characters or script (kanji)

• heavily influenced by chinese literature

Ancient Era of Japanese Literature

• oral traditions

• absence of writing system

Kojiki

• the oldest extant chronicle in japan

• record of ancient matters

21st century Japanese literature

• dealt with social and moral issues especially after world war 2

• alienation, problems of nuclear age, and religious drama

• includes manga (comics) which led to a decrease in Japanese writing (scriptures etc.)

Korean literature

• developed under the shadow of chinese literature

• first writing system of this country (hanja) was influenced by chinese script and characters

• rooted in chinese philosophies (Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism)

• has two periods

  • classcial and modern

Classical period of Korean Literature

• written in Hanja (later replaced by hangul)

• literary forms of this period is hyangga and koryo koryo

• genres of this period were shijo and kasa

Hyangga

• poems of varying length of four, eight, and ten lines

• composed by Buddhist monks

Koryo Koryo

• songs categorized as either short form or extended form, which do not adhere to any Strict measure or rhyme.

Shijo

• poetry that breathes neo-confucianism

• classical korean literature genre

Kasa

• short verses that are repositories of personal sentiments and moral admonitions.

• classical korean literature genre

Modern Korean Literature

• used Hangul as the dominant language

  • however, at some point the language was Japanese due to the annexation of Japan in korea

• divided into two types of literature due to the separation of north korea and south korea

South Korean literature

• more open, loose, democratic, and Western oriented version of modern korean literature

North Korean Literature

• more conservative under the strict control of the Communist government version of modern korean literature