Asian Literature ENG S211

Read Asian!
A Survey on Asian Literature

With 48 countries in total according to the data from the United Nations, Asia, is the largest continent in
the earth. It has long been the home of most of the human’s population. It was a cradle of civilization. It
has witnessed events, recorded or not. It has watched people’s lives and heard of their stories. A continent
as big as Asia is not only rich in its population and natural resources. It is also wealthy in stories—real,
fictional, poetic. It’s a crossroad of literature.
One thing is for sure—Asian literature is diverse and vast. It’s as diverse as the people that live in
it and the selections are as vast as the 48 countries under its territory. As we already know by now,
literature reflects the life, times, culture, and tradition of the people where it came from. So we find traces
of a people’s identity in their literary pieces.
But what is Asian literature? Where do we draw the line, you ask? How do we identify it? Or
what are its characteristics? Thing is, even when Asia is a one big continent, it’s kind of hard to pin point
what exactly is Asian literature. By the name itself, of course, Asian literature refers to the big body of
literary texts produced from Asia, by Asians, for Asians and for anyone else in the world. There is no
single quality that would encompass all of Asian literature—from the past to the present, especially
considering that there are 48 countries and each of these countries have their own stories to tell.
However, it’s also good to take note that the study and survey of Asian literature remind us of the
authentic identity the east has before the westerners conquered parts it. Moreover, it is also a good to
point out that most of their post-colonial works were also about finding one’s identity and how
colonialism has impacted the authenticity of their identity.
When it comes to looking at Asian literature, some look at it into portions rather than the whole.
Asian literature could be grouped and divided based on its territory: East Asian literature (Chinese
literature, Japanese literature, Korean literature, and Mongolian literature); South Asian literature
(Indian literature, Pakistani literature, Bangladeshi folk literature, Sri Lankan literature, Bhutanese
literature); Southeast Asian literature (Thai literature, Philippine literature, Malaysian literature,
Indonesian literature, Burmese literature, Vietnamese literature, Cambodian literature, Laosian
literature); Central Asian literature (Kazakh literature, Tajik literature, Uzbek literature, Kyrgyz
literature); West Asian literature (Persian literature, Arabic literature, Jewish literature, Turkish
literature).
Despite Asia being rich in literature, we cannot deny that the literature of the west still remains
dominant and more popularly known and recognized. With this, it’s also quite interesting to take note of
how the west views the east, and how this view affected the ‘image’ of the east, as well as its literature,
and people’s general perception of the east.
Edward Said, a Palestinian-American professor of literature in Columbia University, published a
book called ‘Orientalism’ in 1978, which elaborated the concept of Orientalism that depicts how the west
views the east, most specifically the Middle East, but also includes the Asian and African societies, as
exotic, barbaric, backward, and inferior, and therefore needed saving and help from the more advanced
people of the west. This idea was what westerners used to rationalize their colonialism.
ENG S211: 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World
MLCGR
So Lit: Podcast for Literature
Asian Literature ENG S211

Orientalism is an idea that could be seen on paintings, photographs, and literary pieces that
present the east as having a backward culture, sometimes to a point of being savage and dangerous. For
example, the paintings of European artists in the 19 th and early 20th century show the Middle East as a
“mysterious place of sand, harems, and belly dancers”—an image that stayed until our contemporary
times (Arab National Museum, 2011). In literature, for example, Western writers tend to portray the east
as magically dangerous and exotic. Thing is, these representations thwarted the image of the Orientals to
people in general.
Speaking about dominance, there are also various literature in Asia that are probably more well-
known to the world than the others. For example, when we talk about Asia, China would always be on the
top of the countries that would occur in your mind. Perhaps, what made Chinese literature also influential
were the teachings of Confucius. Confucius could be referred to as one of the world’s greatest
philosophers. “The Analects of Confucius” is a book that is composed of the sayings and teachings of
Confucius gathered by his followers. These teachings emphasized the importance of morality.
Indian literature is also quite a popular area of study when it comes to Asian literature. Their
widely known literary pieces center on their beliefs and religion. Some of their earlier literary pieces also
took in different forms and genres such as erotic and devotional lyrics, court poetry, plays, and narrative
folktales. Their early literature was also written mostly in Sanskrit, the language which they believed was
used by gods. Two of their most important and popular literary pieces are the epics “Ramayana” and
“Mahabharata,” which were both reflections of the ancient Indian background and Hinduism.
Japanese literature is also widely known. Most popular literary form from Japan would probably
its poetry, most specifically the Haiku. As you probably know, Haiku is a Japanese poetry that is only
composed of three lines having 5-7-5 syllables respectively. Another popular form of the Japanese poetry
is Tanka, which is a little longer compared to a Haiku as it has 5 lines, with its first and third line having
five syllables and the rest having seven.
Japanese literature is also known because of its drama as it is considered as the most favorite way
of entertainment of the Japanese in the ancient times. One popular form of drama in Japan is the Noh
theater. It’s a kind of drama that relies on music and dance, with its language greatly poetic. What’s also
distinct with Noh is that all characters are portrayed by male actors and that the main character in the
story wears a mask which suggests the audience the kind of character being portrayed. Another popular
drama in ancient Japan is the Kabuki play, which was originally acted only by women. However, after
women were banned from joining theatrical plays, it became a drama enacted by men. Kabuki is known
to be a stage play that is highly stylized as it includes elaborate costumes and makeup. Even the actors’
acting should be elaborate and exaggerated.
If we are to study Asian literature carefully, the whole semester might not even be enough to
tackle all the literature coming from the 48 countries under the Asian continent. This is looking at the
Asian literature in a general perspective and there’s more to the little details that have to be looked at if
one is interested in this area of study.

ENG S211: 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World
MLCGR
So Lit: Podcast for Literature
Asian Literature ENG S211

References:

Bersola, G. (2013, September 17). Asian literature. Retrieved November 04, 2020, from
https://www.slideshare.net/kazumaki/asian-literature

Indian literature. (n.d.). Retrieved November 04, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/art/Indian-

Kabuki. (n.d.). Retrieved November 04, 2020, from https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2090.html

Noh Theater. (n.d.). Retrieved November 04, 2020, from https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2091.html

What is Orientalism? (n.d.). Retrieved November 04, 2020, from http://arabstereotypes.org/why-

ENG S211: 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World
MLCGR
So Lit: Podcast for Literature