AFRO-ASIAN LITERATURE

Prepared by: Prof. Ruth A. Alido

Competencies:

1. be familiar with the literary history, philosophy, religious beliefs, and culture of
the Afro-Asian nations
2. Point out the universal themes, issues, and subject matter that dominate Afro-
Asian literature
3. interpret the significance and meaning of selected literary pieces
4. identify outstanding writers and their major works

PART I-CONTENT UPDATE

A. INDIA

1. Literary Periods. The Indus Valley civilization flourished in northern India between
2500 and 1500 B.C. The Aryans, a group of nomadic warriors and herders, were the
earliest known migrants into India. They brought with them a well-developed
language and literature and a set of religious beliefs.

a. Vedic Period (1500 B.C.-500 B.C.). This period is named for the Vedas, a set of
hymns that formed the cornerstone of Aryan culture. Hindus consider the Vedas,
which were transmitted orally by priests, to be the most sacred of all literature
for they believe these to have been revealed to humans directly by the gods.
• The Rigveda which has come to mean "hymns of supreme sacred knowledge,"
is the foremost collection or Samhita made up of 1,028 hymns. The oldest of
the Vedas, it contains strong, energetic, non-speculative hymns, often
comparable to the psalms in the Old Testament: The Hindus regard these
hymns as divinely inspired or 'heard' directly from the gods.

b. Epic and Buddhist Age (500 B.C.-A.D.). The period of composition of the two
great epics, Mahabharata and the Ramayana. This time was also the growth of
later Vedic literature, new Sanskrit literature, and Buddhist literature in Pali.
The Dhammapada was also probably composed during this period. The Maurya
Empire (322-230 B.C.) ruled by Ashoka promoted Buddhism and preached
goodness, nonviolence, and 'righteousness' although this period was known for
warfare and iron-fisted rule. The Gupta Dynasty (320-467 B.C.) was the next
great political power. During this time, Hinduism reached a full flowering and
was evident in culture and the arts.
 • The Mahabharata, traditionally ascribed to the sage Vyasa, consists of a
mass of legendary and didactic material that teils of the struggle for
supremacy between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas
set sometime 3102 BC. The poem is made up of almost 100,000 couplets
divided into 18 parvans or sections. It is an exposition on dharma (codes of
conduct), including the proper conduct of a king, of a warrior, of a man living
in times of calamity, and of a person seeking to attain emancipation from
rebirth.

• The Bhagavad Gita (The Blessed Lord's Song) is one of the greatest and most
beautiful of the Hindu scriptures. It is regarded by the Hindus in somewhat
the same way as the Gospels are by Christians. It forms part of Book IV and
is written in the form of a dialogue between the warrior Prince Arjuna and
his friend and charioteer, Krishna, who is also an earthly incarnation of the
god Vishnu.

• The Ramayana was composed in Sanskrit, probably not before 300 BC, by
the poet Valmiki and consists of some 24,000 couplets divided into seven
books. It reflects the Hindu values and forms of social organization, the
theory of karma, the ideals of wifehood, and feelings about caste, honor, and
promises.
The poem describes the royal birth of Rama, his tutelage under the sage
Visvamitra, and his success in bending Siva's mighty bow, thus winning Sita,
the daughter of King Janaka, for his wife. After Rama is banished from his
position as heir by an intrigue, he retreats to the forest with his wife and his
half brother, Laksmana. There Ravana, the demon-king of Lanka, carries off
Sita, who resolutely rejects his attentions. After numerous adventures Rama
slays Ravana and rescues Sita. When they return to his kingdom, however,
Rama learns that the people question the queen's chastity, and he banishes
her to the forest where she gives birth to Rama's two sons. The family is
reunited when the sons come of age, but Sita, after again protesting her
innocence, asks to be received by the earth, which swallows her up.

c. Classical Period (A.D. - 1000 A.D.). The main literary language of northern India
during this period was Sanskrit, in contrast with the Dravidian languages of
southern India. Sanskrit, which means 'perfect speech is considered a sacred
language, the language spoken by the gods and goddesses. As such, Sanskrit was
seen as the only appropriate language for the noblest literary works. Poetry and
drama peaked during this period. Beast fables such as the Panchatantra were
popular and often used by religious teachers to illustrate moral points.
 • The Panchatantra is a collection of Indian beast fables originally written in
Sanskrit. In Europe, the work was known under the title The Fables of
Bidpai after the narrator, and Indian sage named Bidpai, (called Vidyapati
in Sanskrit). It is intended as a textbook of artha (worldly wisdom); the
aphorisms tend to glorify shrewdness and clevemess more than helping of
others. The original text is a mixture of Sanskrit prose and stanzas of verse,
with the stories contained within one of five frame stories. The introduction,
which acts as an enclosing frame for the entire work, attributes the stories
to a learned Brahman named Vishnusarman, who used the form of animal
fables to instruct the three dull-witted sons of a king.

• Sakuntala, a Sanskrit drama by Kalidasa, tells of the love between

Sakuntala and King Dushyanta. What begins as a physical attraction for
both of them becomes spiritual in the end as their love endures and
surpasses all difficulties. King Dushyanta is a noble and pious king who
upholds his duties above personal desire. Sakuntala, on the other hand, is
a young girl who matures beautifully because of her kindness, courage, and
strength of will. After a period of suffering, the two are eventually reunited.
Emotion or rasa dominates every scene in Sanskrit drama. These emotions
vary from love to anger, heroism to cowardice, joy to terror and allows the
audience to take part in the play and be one with the characters.

• The Little Clay Cart (Mrcchakatika) is attributed to Shudraka, a king. The

characters in this play include a Brahman merchant who has lost his
money through liberality, a rich courtesan in love with a poor young man,
much description of resplendent palaces, and both comic and tragic or
near-tragic emotional situations.

1. Medieval and Modern Age (A.D. 1000- present). Persian influence on literature was
considerable during this period. Persian was the court language of the Moslem
rulers. In the 18th century India was directly under the British Crown and
remained so until its Independence in 1947. British influence was strong and
modern-day Indians are primarily educated in English. Many have been brought
into the world of Western learning at the expense of learning about their own
culture.

• Gitanjali: Song Offerings was originally published in India in 1910 and it

s translation followed in 1912. In these prose translations, Rabindranath
Tagore uses imagery from nature to express the themes of love and the
internal conflict between spiritual longings and earthly desires.

• The Taj Mahal, a poem by Sahir Ludhianvi, is about the mausoleum in

North India built by the Mogul emperor Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz-
 i-Mahal. The façade of this grandiose structure is made of white marble,
and is surrounded by water gardens, gateways, and walks. The tomb at
the center of the dome stands on a square block with towers at each
corner. The construction of the building took twenty years to complete
involving some 20,000 workers.

• On Learning to be an Indian an essay by Santha Rama Rau illustrates the

telling effects of colonization on the lives of the people particularly the
younger generation. The writer humorously narrates the conflicts that
arise between her grandmother's traditional Indian values and the
author's own British upbringing.

2. Religions. Indian creativity is evident in religion as the country is the birthplace

of two important faiths: Hinduism, the dominant religion, and Buddhism, which
ironically became extinct in india but spread throughout Asia.
a. Hinduism, literally "the belief of the people of India," is the predominant
faith of India and of no other nation. The Hindus are deeply absorbed
with God and the creation of the universe.
The Purusarthas are the three ends of map: dharma - virtue, duty,
righteousness, moral law; artha - wealth; and kama - love or pleasure. A
fourth end is moksha - the renunciation of duty, wealth and love in order to
seek spiritual perfection. It is achieved after the release from samsara, the
cycle of births and deaths. The Hindus believe that all reality is one and
spiritual, and that each individual soul is identical with this reality and
shares its characteristics: pure being, intelligence, and bliss. Everything that
seems to divide the soul from this reality is maya or illusion.

Life is viewed as an upward development through four stages of effort called

the four asramas. a) the student stage - applies to the rite of initiation into
the study of the Vedas; b) the householder stage -marries and fulfills the
duties as head of the family where he begets sons and earns a living; c) the
stage of the forest dweller – departs from home and renounces the social
world; and d) ascetic – stops performing any of the rituals or social duties of
life in the world and devotes time for reflection and meditation.
Kama refers to one of the proper pursuits of man in his role as householder,
that of pleasure and love. The Kama-sutra is a classic textbook on erotics and
other forms of pleasure and love, which is attributed to the sage Vatsyayana.
The Hindus regard Purusha, the Universal Spirit, as the soul and original
source of the universe. As the universal soul, Purusha is the life-giving
principle in all animated beings. As a personified human being, Purusha's
body is the source of all creation. The four Varnas serve as the theoretical
basis for the organization of the Hindu society The Upanishads form a highly
sophisticated commentary on the religious thought suggested by the poetic
 hymns of the Rigveda. The name implies, according to some traditions,
'sitting at the feet of the teacher." The most important philosophical doctrine
is the concept of a single supreme being, the Brahman, and knowledge is
directed toward reunion with it by the human soul, the Atman or Self. The
nature of eternal life is discussed and such themes as the transmigration of
souls and causality in creation.
b. Buddhism originated in India in the 6th century B.C. This religion is
based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, called Buddha, or the
'Enlightened One.' Much of Buddha's teaching is focused on self-
awareness and self-development in order to attain nirvana or
enlightenment.
According to Buddhist beliefs, human beings are bound to the wheel of life
which is a continual cycle of birth, death, and suffering. This cycle is an effect
of karma in which a person's present life and experiences are the result of
past thoughts and actions, and these present thoughts and actions likewise
create those of the future. The Buddhist scriptures uphold the Four Noble
Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. The Four Noble Truths are: 1) life is
suffering; 2) the cause of suffering is desire; 3) the removal of desire is the
removal of suffering; and 4) the Noble Eightfold Path leads to the end of
suffering. The Noble Eightfold Path consists of: 1) right understanding; 2)
right thought; 3) right speech; 4) right action; 5) right means of livelihood; 6)
right effort; 7) right concentration; and 8) right meditation. The Buddhist
truth states that bad actions and bad feelings such as selfishness, greed,
hostility, hate are evil not because they harm others but because of their
negative influence on the mental state of the doer. It is in this sense that evil
returns to punish the doer
• The Dhammapada (Way of Truth) is an anthology of basic Buddhist
teaching in a simple aphoristic style. One of the best known books of the
Pali Buddhist canon, it contains 423 stanzas arranged in 26 chapters.
These verses are compared with the Letters of St. Paul in the Bible or that
of Christ's Sermon on the Mount.

3. Major Writers
a. Kalidasa a Sanskrit poet and dramatist is probably the greatest Indian writer
of all time. As with most classical Indian authors, little is known about
Kalidasa's person or his historical relationships. His poems suggest that he
was a Brahman (priest). Many works are traditionally ascribed to the poet,
but scholars have identified only six as genuine.

b. Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). The son of a Great Sage, Tagore is a

Bengali poet and mystic who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913.
Tagore managed his father's estates and lived in close contact with the
villagers. His sympathy for their poverty and backwardness was later
 reflected in his works. The death of his wife and two children brought him
years of sadness but this also inspired some of his best poety. Tagore is also
a gifted composer and a painter.

c. Prem Chand pseudonym of Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (1880-1936). Indian

author of numerous novels and short stories in Hindi and Urdu who
pioneered in adapting Indian themes to Western literary styles. He worked as
a teacher before joining Mahatma Gandhi's anticolonial Noncooperation
Movement.
• Sevasadana (House of Service). His first major novel deals with the
problems of prostitution, and moral corruption among the Indian middle
class.
• Manasarovar (The Holy Lake). A collection of 250 or so short stories which
contains most of Prem Chand's best works.
• Godan (The Gift of a Cow). This last novel was Prem Chand's masterpiece
and it deals with his favorite theme - the hard and unrewarding life of the
village peasant.

d. Kamala Markandaya (1924). Her works concern the struggles of

contemporary Indians with conflicting Eastern and Western values. A
Brahman, she studied at Madras University then settled in England and
married an Englishman. In her fiction, Western values typically are viewed
as modern and materialistic, and Indian values as spiritual and traditional.

• Nectar in a Sieve. Her first novel and most popular work is about an Indian
peasant's narrative of her difficult life.

e. R. K. Narayan (1906). One of the finest Indian authors of his generation

writing in English. He briefly worked as a teacher before deciding to devote
himself full-time to writing. All of Narayan's works are set in the fictitious
South Indian town of Malgudi. They typically portray the peculiarities of
human relationships and the ironies of Indian daily life, ith which modern
urban existence clashes with ancient tradition. His style is graceful, marked
by genial humor, elegance, and simplicity.

• Swami and Friends. His first novel is an episodic narrative recounting the
adventures of a group of schoolboys.

• Novels: The English Teacher (1945), Waiting for the Mahatma (1955), The
Guide (1958), The Man-Eater of Malgudi (1961), The Vendor of Sweets
(1967), A Tiger for Malgudi (1983), and The World of Nagaraj (1990).
 • Collection of Short Stories: Lawley Road (1956), A Horse and Two Goats
and Other Stories (1970), Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories
(1985), and Grandmother's Tale (1992).

f. Anita Desai (1937). An English-language Indian novelist and author of

children's books, she is considered India's premier imagist writer. She
excelled in evoking character and mood through visual images. Most of her
works reflect Desei's tragic view of life.

• Cry, the Peacock. Her first novel addresses the theme of the suppression
and oppression of Indian women.

• Clear Light of Day. Considered the author's most successful work. this is
a highly evocative portrait of two sisters caught in the lassitude of Indian
life. This was shortlisted for the 1980 Booker Prize.

• Fire on the Mountain. This work was criticized as relying too heavily on
imagery at the expense of plot and characterization, but it was praised for
its poetic symbolism and use of sounds. This won for her the Royal Society
of Literature's Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize.

g. Vir Singh (1872-1957). A Sikh writer and theologian, he wrote at a time when
Sikh religion and politics and the Punjabi language were under heavy attack
by the English and Hindus. He extolled Sikh courage, philosophy, and ideals,
earning respect for the Punjabi language as a literary vehicle.
• Kalghi Dhar Chamatkar. This novel is about the life of the 17th : century
guru Gobind Singh.
• Other novels on Sikh philosophy and martial excellence include Sundri
(1898) and Bijai Singh (1899).
h. Arundhati Roy. A young female writer whose first book The God of Small
Things won for her a Booker Prize.

B. CHINA

1. Historical Background. Chinese literature reflects the political and social

history of China and the impact of powerful religions that came from within
and outside the country. Its tradition goes back thousand of years and has
often been inspired by philosophical questions about the meaning of life, how
to live ethically in society, and how to live in spiritual harmony with the
natural order of the universe.

a. Shang Dynasty (1600 B.C.). During this time, the people practiced a
religion based on the belief that nature was inhabited by many powerful
 gods and spirits. Among the significant advances of this period were
bronze working, decimal system, a twelve-month calendar and a system
of writing consisting of 3,000 characters.

b. Chou Dynasty (1100 B.C. - 221 B.C.). This was the longest of all the
dynasties and throughout most of this period China suffered from severe
political disunity and upheaval. This era was also known as the Hundred
Schools period because of the many competing philosophers and
teachers who emerged the most influential among then being Lao Tzu,
the proponent of Taoism, and Confucius, the founder of Confucianism.
Lao Tzu stressed freedom, simplicity, and the mystical contemplation of
nature whereas Confucius emphasized a code of social conduct and
stressed the importance of discipline, morality, and knowledge.

The Book of Songs, (Shih Ching) first compiled in the 6th century B.C.,
is the oldest collection of Chinese poetry and is considered a model of
poetic expression and moral insight. The poems include court songs that
entertained the aristocracy, story songs that recounted Chou dynasty
legends, hymns that were sung in the temples accompanied by dance
and brief folk songs and ballads. Although these poems were originally
meant to be sung, their melodies have long been lost. The Parables of the
Ancient Philosophers illustrate the Taoist belief and the humanism of the
Chinese thought. In them can be seen the relativity of all things as they
pass through man's judgment, the virtues of flexibility, and the
drawbacks of material progress.

c. Ch'in Dynasty (221 B.C. - 207 B.C.). This period saw the unification of
China and the strengthening of central government, Roads connecting
all parts of the empire were built and the existing walls on the northern
borders were connected to form the Great Wall of China.

d. Han Dynasty (207 B.C.-A.D. 220). This period was one of the most
glorious eras of Chinese history and was marked by the introduction of
Buddhism from India.

e. T'ang Dynasty (A.D. 618-960). Fine arts and literature flourished during
this era which is viewed as the Golden Age of Chinese civilization. Among
the technological advances of this time were the invention of gunpowder
and the block printing.
The T'ang Poets. Chinese lyrical poetry reached its height during the
T'ang Dynasty. Inspired by scenes of natural beauty, T'ang poets wrote
about the fragile blossoms in spring, the falling of leaves in autumn, or
the changing shape of the moon.
 f. Sung Dynasty (A.D. 960-1279). This period was characterized by delicacy
and refinement although inferior in terms of literary arts but great in
learning. Professional poets were replaced by amateur writers. The
practice of Neo-Confucianism grew.

g. Later Dynasties (A.D. 1260-1912).. During the late 12th and early 13th
centuries, northern China was overrun by Mongol invaders led by
Genghis Khan whose grandson Kublai Khan completed the Mongol
conquest of China and established the Yuan dynasty, the first foreign
dynasty in China's history. It was during this time that Marco Polo visited
China. Chinese rule was reestablished after the Mongols were driven out
of China and the Ming dynasty was established. There was a growth of
drama in colloquial language and a decline of the language of learning.
A second foreign dynasty, the Ch'ing was established and China
prospered as its population rapidly increased causing major problems
for its government.

h. Traditional Chinese Government. The imperial rule lasted in China for

over 2,000 years leading to a pyramid-shaped hierarchy in the
government. The emperor, known as the Son of Heaven, was a hereditary
ruler and beneath him were bureaucratic officials. An official government
career was considered prestigious and the selection was by means of
government examinations. The civil service examinations tested on the
major Chinese works of philosophy and poetry requiring the composition
for verse. Most government officials were well-versed in literature and
philosophy and many famous Chinese poets also served in the
government.

2. Philosophy and Religion. Chinese literature and all of Chinese culture has
been profoundly influenced by three great schools of thought: Confucianism,
Taoism, and Buddhism. Unlike Western religions, Chinese religions are based
on the perception of life as a process of continual change in which opposing
forces, such as heaven and earth or light and dark, balance one another.
These opposites are symbolized by the Yin and Yang. Yin, the passive and
feminine force, counterbalances yang, the active and masculine force, each
contains a 'seed' of the other, as represented in the traditional yin-yang
symbol.

a. Confucianism provides the Chinese with both a moral order and an order
for the universe. It is not a religion but it makes individuals aware of their
place in the world and the behavior appropriate to it. It also provides a
political and social philosophy.
 Confucian ethics is humanist. The following are Confucian tenets: a) jen
or human heartedness are qualities or forms of behavior that set men
above the rest of the life on earth. It is the unique goodness of man which
animals cannot aspire to. Also known as ren, it is the measure of individual
character and such, is the goal of self-cultivation. The ideal individual
results from acting according to li, b) li refers to ritual, custom, propriety,
and manner. Li is thought to be the means by which life should be
regulated. A person of li is a good person and a state ordered by li is a
harmonious and peaceful state. Li or de as a virtue is best understood as
a sacred power inherent in the very presence of the sage. The sage was the
inspiration for proper conduct and the model of behavior.

The Analects (Lun Yu) is one of the four Confucian texts. The sayings range
from brief statements to more extended dialogues between Confucius and
his students. Confucius believes that people should cultivate the inherent
goodness within themselves -unselfishness, courage, and honor as an
ideal of universal moral and social harmony. The Analects instructs on
moderation in all things through moral education, the building of a
harmonious family life, and the development of virtues such as loyalty,
obedience, and a sense of justice. It also emphasizes filial piety and
concern with social and religious rituals. To Confucius, a person's inner
virtues can be fully realized only through concrete acts of 'ritual propriety
or proper behavior toward other human beings.

The Book of Changes (I Ching) is one of the Five Classics of Confucian

philosophy and has been primarily used for divination. This book is based
on the concept of change the one constant of the universe. Although
change is never-ending, it too proceeds according to certain universal and
observable patterns.

b. Taoism, was expounded by Lao Tzu during the Chou Dynasty. Taoist
beliefs and influences are an important part of classical Chinese culture.
"The Tao" or "The Way" means the natural course that the world follows.
To follow the tao of to "go with the flow" is both wisdom and happiness.
For the Taoist, unhappiness comes from parting from the tao or from trying
to flout it.

The Taoist political ideas are very passive: the good king does nothing, and
by this everything is done naturally. This idea presents an interesting foil
to Confucian theories of state, although the Taoists never represented any
political threat to the Confucianists. Whereas Confucianism stressed
conformity and reason in solving human problems, Taoism stressed the
 individual and the need for human beings to conform to nature rather than
to society.

Lao-tzu. Known as the "old philosopher", Lao-zi is credited as the founder

of Taoism and an elder contemporary of Confucius who once consulted
with him. He was more pessimistic than Confucius was about what can
be accomplished in the world by human action. He counseled a far more
passive approach to the world and one's fellows: one must be cautious and
let things speak for themselves. He favored a more direct relationship
between the individual self and the dao.
The Tao-Te Ching (Classic of the Way of Power) is believed to have been
written between the 8th and 3rd centuries B.C. The basic concept of the
dao is wu-wei or "non-action" which means no unnatural action, rather
than complete passivity. It implies spontaneity, non-interference, letting
things take their natural course i.e., "Do nothing and everything else is
done." Chaos ceases, quarrels end, and self-righteous feuding disappears
because the dao is allowed to flow unchallenged.

c. Buddhism was imported from India during the Han dynasty. Buddhist
thought stresses the importance of ridding oneself of earthly desires and
of seeking ultimate peace and enlightenment through detachment. With
its stress on living ethically and its de-emphasis on material concerns,
Buddhism appealed to both Confucians and Taoists.

3. Genres in Chinese Poetry has always been highly valued in Chinese culture
and was considered superior to prose. Chief among its characteristics are
lucidity, brevity, subtlety, suggestiveness or understatement, and its three-
fold appeal to intellect, emotion, and calligraphy.

4. Conventions of Chinese Theater. Chinese drama may be traced to the song

and dances of the chi (wizards) and the wu (witches) whom the people
consulted to exercise evil spirits, to bring rain, to insure bountiful harvest,
etc., an origin in worship or in some sacred ritual.

a. There are four principal roles: sheng, tau, ching, and chao.
• The sheng is the prerogative of the leading actor, usually a male
character, a scholar, a statesman, a warrior patriot and the like.

• The tau plays all the women's roles. At least six principal characters
are played by the female impersonator who has taken over the role
after women were banned from the Chinese stage as they were looked
down upon as courtesen.
 • The ching roles usually assigned the roles of brave warriors, bandits,
crafty and evil ministers, upright judges, loyal statesmen, at times
god-like and supernatural beings. Conventionally, the ching must
have broad faces and forehead suitable for the make- up patters
suggestive of his behavior.

• The chau is the clown or jester who is not necessarily a fool and may
also do serious or evil character. He is easily recognized for the white
patch around his eyes and nose, his use of colloquial language and
adeptness in combining mimicry and acrobatics.

b. Unlike Greek plays, classical Chinese plays do not follow the unities of
time, place, and action. The plot may be set in two or more places, the
time element sometimes taking years to develop or end, and action
containing many other sub-plots.

c. Chinese drama conveys an ethical lesson in the guise of art in order to

impress a moral truth or a Confucian tenet. Dramas uphold virtue,
condemn vice, praise fidelity, and filial piety. Vice is represented on the
stage not for its own sake but as contrast to virtue.

d. There are two types of speeches - the dialogue, usually in prose, and the
monologues. While the dialogue carries forward the action of the day, the
monologue is the means for each character to introduce him/herself at
the beginning of the first scene of every scene as well as to outline the
plot.

e. Chinese plays are long-six or seven hours if performed completely. The

average length is about four acts with a prologue and an epilogue. The
Chinese play is a total theater. There is singing, recitation of verses,
acrobats, dancing, and playing of traditional musical instruments.

f. Music is an integral part of the classical drama. It has recitatives, (arias,

and musical accompaniment. Chinese music is based on movement and
rhythm that harmonized perfectly with the sentiments being conveyed
by a character.

g. The poetic dialogue, hsieh tzu (wedge), is placed at the beginning or in

between acts and is an integral part of the play.
The stage is bare of props except a table and a pair of chairs may be
converted to a battlefield or a court scene, a bedroom, even a prison
through vivid acting and poetry. Property conventions are rich in
 symbolism table with a chair at the side, both placed at the side of the
stage, represents a hill or a high wall.

h. Dramatic conventions that serve to identify the nature and function of

each character. Make-up identifies the characters and personalities.
Costumes help reveal types and different colors signify ranks and status.

i. Action reflects highly stylized movements. Hand movements may

indicate embarrassment or helplessness or anguish or anger.

5. Major Chinese Writers.

• Chuang Tzu (4th century B.C.) was the most important early
interpreter of the philosophy of Taoism. Very little is known about his life
except that the served as a minor court official. In his stories, he appears
as a quirky character who cares little for either public approval or
material possessions.
• Lieh Tzu (4th century B.C.) was a Taoist teacher who had many
philosophical differences with his forebears Lao-Tzu and Chuan Tzu. He
argued that a sequence of causes predetermines everything that
happens, including one's choice of action.
• Lui An (172-122 B.C.) was not only a Taoist scholar but the grandson
of the founder of the founder of the Han dynasty. His royal title was the
Prince of Haui-nan. Together with philosophers and under his patronage,
he produced a collection of essays on metaphysics, cosmology, politics,
and conduct.
• Ssu-ma Chien (145-90 B.C.) was the greatest of China's 'Grand
Historians' who dedicated himself to completing the first history of China
the Records of the Historian. His work covers almost three thousand
years of Chinese history in more than half a million written characters
etched onto bamboo tablets.
The T'ang Poets:
• Li Po (701-762) was Wang Wei's contemporary and he spent a short
time in courts, but seems to have bee too much of a romantic and too
give to drink to carry out responsibilities. He was a Taoist, drawing
sustenance from nature and his poetry was often other-wordly and
ecstatic. He had no great regard for his poems himself. He is said to
have mad thousands of them into paper boats which he sailed along
streams.
• Tu Fu (712-770) is the Confucian moralist, realist, and humanitarian.
He was public-spirited, and his poetry helped chronicle the history of
the age: the deterioration
• Wang Wei (796?-761?) was an 8th century government official who
spent the later years of his life in the country, reading and discussing
 Buddhism with scholars and monks. He is known for the pictorial
quality of his poetry and for its economy. His word-pictures parallel
Chinese brush artistry in which a few strokes are all suggestive of
authority, the disasters of war, and official extravagance.
• Po Chu-1 (772-846) was born two years after Tu Fu died, at a time
when China was still in turmoil from foreign invasion and internal
strife. He wrote many poems speaking bitterly against the social and
economic problems that were plaguing China.
• Li Ching-chao (A.D. 1084 - 1151) is regarded as China's greatest
woman poet and was also one of the most liberated women of her day.
She was brought up in court society and was trained in the arts and
classical literature quite an unusual upbringing for a woman of the
Sung dynasty. Many of her poems composed in the tz'u form celebrate
her happy marriage or express her loneliness when her husband was
away.
• Chou-Shu-jen (1881-1936) has been called the father of the modern
Chinese short story because of his introduction of Western techniques.
He is also known as Lu Hsun whose stories deal with themes of social
concern, the problems of the poor, women, and intellectuals

C. JAPAN

1. Historical Background. Early Japan borrowed much from Chinese culture but
evolved its own character over time. Early Japan's political structure was based
on clan, or family. Each clan developed a hierarchy of classes with aristocrats,
warriors, and priests at the top and peasants and workers at the bottom. During
the 4th century A.D. the Yamato grew to be most powerful and imposed the
Chinese imperial system on Japan creating an emperor, an imperial bureaucracy,
and a grand capital city.

a. The Heian Age was the period of peace and prosperity, of aesthetic
refinement and artificial manners. The emperor began to diminish in
power but continued to be a respected figure. Since the Japanese court
had few official responsibilities, they were able to turn their attention to
art, music, and literature.
The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon, represents a unique form of the diary
genre. It contains vivid sketches of people and place, shy anecdotes and
witticisms, snatches of poetry, and 164 lists on court life during the Heian
period. Primarily intended to be a private journal, it was discovered and
eventually printed. Shōnagon served as a lady- in-waiting to the Empress
Sadako in the late 10th century.
 b. The Feudal Era was dominated by the samurai class which included the
militaristic lords, the daimyo and the band of warriors, the samurai who
adhered to a strict code of conduct the emphasized bravery, loyalty, and
honor. In 1192 Yorimoto became the shogun or chief general one of a series
of shoguns who ruled Japan for over 500 years.

c. The Tokugawa Shogonate in the late 1500s crushed the warring feudal
lords and controlled all of Japan from a new capital at Edo, now Tokyo. By
1630 and for two centuries, Japan was a closed society: all foreigners were
expelled, Japanese Christians were persecuted, and foreign travel was
forbidden under penalty of death. The shogonate was ended in 1868 when
Japan began to trade with the Western powers. Under a more powerful
emperor, Japan rapidly acquired the latest technological knowledge,
introduced universal education, and created an impressive industrial
economy.

2. Religious Traditions. Two major faiths were essential elements in the cultural
foundations of Japanese society.
a. Shintoism or ‘the way of the gods,' is the ancient religion that reveres in
dwelling divine spirits called kami, found in natural places and objects.
For this reason natural scenes, such as waterfall, a gnarled tree, or a full
moon, inspired reverence in the Japanese people. The Shinto legends have
been accepted as historical fact although in postwar-times they were once
again regarded as myths. These legends from the Records of Ancient
Matters, or Kokiji, A.D. 712, and the Chronicles of Japan, or Nihongi, A.D.
720 form the earliest writings of ancient Japan. Both collections have been
considerably influenced by Chinese thought.

b. Zen Buddhism emphasized the importance of meditation, concentration,

and self-discipline as the way to enlightenment. Zen rejects the notion that
salvation is attained outside of this life and this world. Instead, Zen
disciples believe that one can attain personal tranquility and insights into
the true meaning of life through rigorous physical and mental discipline.

3. Socio-political concepts. Japan has integrated Confucian ethics and Buddhist

morality which India implanted in China. The concepts of giri and on explain why
the average Japanese is patriotic, sometimes ultra- nationalistic, law-abiding.
Even seppuku or ritual disembowelment exemplify to what extent these two socio-
political concepts could be morally followed.
a. Giri connotes duty, justice, honor, face, decency, respectability, courtesy,
charity, humanity, love, gratitude, claim. Its sanctions are found in mores,
customs, folkways. For example, in feudal Japan 'loss of face' is saved by
suicide or vendetta, if not renouncing the world in the monastery.
 b. On suggests a sense of obligation or indebtedness which propels a
Japanese to act, as it binds the person perpetually to other individuals to
the group, to parents, teachers, superiors, and the emperor.

4. Poetry is one of the oldest and most popular means of expression and
communication in the Japanese culture. It was an integral part of daily life in
ancient Japanese society, serving as a means through which anyone could
chronicle experiences and express emotions
a) The Manyoshu or 'Book of Ten Thousand Leaves is an anthology by
poets from a wide range of social classes, including the peasantry, the
clergy, and the ruling class.

b) There are different poems according to set forms or structures:

• choka are poems that consist of alternate lines of five and seven syllables
with an additional seven-syllable tine at the end. There is no limit to the
number of lines which end with envoys, or pithy summations. These
envoys consist of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables that elaborate on or summarize the
theme or central idea of the main poem.
• tanka is the most prevalent verse form in traditional Japanese literature.
It consists of five lines of 5-7-5-7-7, syllables including at least one
caesura, or pause. Used as a means of communication in ancient
Japanese society, the tanka often tell a brief story or express a single
thought or insight and the common subjects are Jove and nature.
• renga is a chain of interlocking tanka. Each tanka within a renga was
divided into verses of 17 and 14 syllables composed by different poets as
it was fashionable for groups of poets to work together during the age of
Japanese feudalism.
• hokku was the opening verse of a renga which developed into a distinct
literary form known as the haiku. The haiku consist of 3 lines of 5-7-5
syllable characterized by precision, simplicity, and suggestiveness. Almost
all haiku include a kigo or seasonal words such as snow or cherry
blossoms that indicates the time of year being described.

5. Prose appeared in the early part of the 8th century focusing on Japanese history.
During the Heian Age, the members of the Imperial court, having few
administrative or political duties, kept lengthy diaries and experimented with
writing fiction.
• The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki Shikibu, a work of tremendous length
and complexity, is considered to be the world's first true novel. It traces
the life of a gifted and charming prince. Lady Murasaki was an
extraordinary woman far more educated than most upper-class men of her
generation. She was appointed to serve in the royal court of the emperor.
 • The Tale of Haike written by an anonymous author during the 13th
century was the most famous early Japanese novel, it presents a striking
portrait of war-torn Japan during the early stages of the age of feudalism.
• Essays in Idleness by Yoshida Kenko was written during the age of
feudalism. It is a loosely organized collection of insights, reflections, and
observations, written during the 14th century. Kenko was born into a
high-ranking Shinto family and became a Buddhist priest.
• In the Grove by Ryunusuke Akutagawa is the author's most famous story
made into the film Rashomon. The story asks these questions: What is the
truth? Who tells the truth? How is the truth falsified? Six narrators tell
their own testimonies about the death of a husband and the violation of
his wife in the woods. The narrators include a woodcutter, a monk, an old
woman, the mother-in-law of the slain man, the wife, and finally, the dead
man whose story is spoken through the mouth of a shamaness.
Akutagawa's ability to blend a feudal setting with deep psychological
insights gives this story an ageless quality.

6. Drama
a) No plays emerge during the 14th century as the earliest form of Japanese
drama. The plays are performed on an almost bare stage by a small but
elaborately costumed cast of actors wearing masks. The actors are
accompanied by a chorus and the plays are written either in verse or in
highly poetic prose. The dramas reflect many Shinto and Buddhist beliefs,
along with a number of dominant Japanese artistic preferences. The No
performers' subtle expressions of inner strength, along with the beauty of
the costumes, the eloquence of the dancing, the mesmerizing quality of the
singing, and the mystical, almost supernatural, atmosphere of the
performances, has enabled the No theater to retain its popularity.
Atsumori by Seami Motokiyo is drawn from an episode of The Tale of
the Heike, a medieval Japanese epic based on historical fact that tells the
story of the rise and fall of the Taira family, otherwise known as the Heike.
The play takes place by the sea of Ichi no tanl. A priest named Rensei, who
was once a warrior with the Genji clan, has decided to return to the scene
of the battle to pray for a sixteen-year-old named Atsumori, whom he killed
on the beach during the battle. Rensei had taken pity on Atsumori and
had almost refrained from killing him. He realized though that if he did
not kill the boy, his fellow warriors would. He explained to Atsumori that
he must kill him, and promised to pray for his soul. On his return, he
meets two peasants who are returning home from their fields and Rensai
makes an astonishing discovery about one of them.

b) Kabuki involves lively, melodramatic acting and is staged using elaborate

and colorful costumes and sets. It is performed with the accompaniment of
 an orchestra and generally focus on the lives of common people rather than
aristocrats.
c) Jorori (now called Bunraku) is staged using puppets and was a great
influence on the development of the Kabuki.
d) Kyogen is a farce traditionally performed between the Nō tragedies.

7. Novels and Short Stories

• Snow Country by Kawabata tells of love denied by a Tokyo dilettante,
Shimamura, to Komako, a geisha who feels 'used' much as she wants to think
and feel that she is drawn sincerely, purely to a man of the world. She has
befriended Yoko to whom Shimamura is equally and passionately drawn
because of her virginity, her naivete, as he is to Komako who loses it, after her
affair with him earlier. In the end, Yoko dies in the cocoon-warehouse in a fire
notwithstanding Komako's attempt to rescue her. Komako embraces the
virgin Yoko in her arms while Shimamura senses the Milky Way 'flowing down
inside him with a roar.' Kawabata makes use of contrasting thematic symbols
in the title: death and purification amidst physical decay and corruption.
• The House of Sleeping Beauties by Kawabata tells of the escapades of a dirty
old man, Eguchi, to a resort near the sea where young women are given drugs
before they are made to sleep sky-clad. Decorum rules it that these sleeping
beauties should not be touched, lest the customers be driven away by the
management. The book lets the reader bare the deeper recesses of the
septuagenarian's mind. Ironically, this old man who senses beauty and youth
is incapable of expressing, much less having it. Thus, the themes of old age
and loneliness and coping become inseparable.
• The Makioka Sisters by Tanizaki is the story of four sisters whose chief
concern is finding a suitable husband for the third sister, Yukiko, a woman
of traditional beliefs who has rejected several suitors. Until Yukiko marries,
Taeko, the youngest, most independent, and most Westernized of the sisters,
must remain unmarried. More important than the plot, the novel tells of
middle-class daily life in prewar Osaka. It also delves into such topics as the
intrusion of modernity and its effect on the psyche of the contemporary
Japanese, the place of kinship in the daily life of the people, and the passage
of the old order and the coming of the new.
• The Sea of Fertility by Mishima is the four-part epic including Spring Snow,
Runaway Horses, The Temple of Dawn, and The Decay of the Angel. The novels
are set in Japan from about 1912 to the 1960s. Each of them depicts a
different reincarnation of the same being: as a young aristocrat in 1912, as a
political fanatic in the 1930s, as a Thai princess before the end of WWII, and
as an evil young orphan in the 1960s. Taken together the novels are a clear
indication of Mishima's increasing obsession with blood, death, and suicide,
his interest in self- destructive personalities, and his rejection of the sterility
of modern life.
 • The Setting Sun by Ozamu is a tragic, vividly painted story of life in postwar
Japan. The narrator is Kazuko, a young woman born to gentility but now
impoverished. Though she wears Western clothes, her outlook is Japanese;
her life is static, and she recognizes that she is spiritually empty. In the course
of the novel, she survives the deaths of her aristocratic mother and her
sensitive, drug-addicted brother Naoji, an intellectual ravage by his own and
society’s spiritual failures. She also spends a sad, sordid night with the writer
Uehara, and she conceives a child in the hope that it will be the first step in
a moral revolution

• In the Grove by Akutagawa is the author’s most famous story made into the
film Rashomon. The story asks these questions: What is the truth? Who tells
the truth? How is the truth falsified? Six narrators tell their own testimonies
about the death of a husband and the violation of his wife in the woods. The
narrators include a woodcutter, a monk, an old woman, the mother-in-law of
the slain man, the wife, and finally, the dead man whose story is spoken
through the mouth of a shamaness. Akutagawa’s ability to blend a feudal
setting with deep psychological insights gives this story an ageless quality.

• The Wild Geese by Oagi is a melodramatic novel set in Tokyo at the threshold
of the 20th century. The novel explores the blighted life of Otama, daughter of
a cake vendor. Because of extreme poverty, she becomes the mistress of a
policeman, and later on of a money-lender, Shazo. In her desire to rise from
the pitfall of shame and deprivation, she tries to befriend Okada, a medical
student who she greets everyday by the window as he passes by on his way
to the campus. She is disillusioned however, as Okada, in the end, prepares
for further medical studies in Germany. Ogai’s novel follows the traditio of the
watakushi-shosetsu or the confessional I-novel where the storyteller is the
main character.

• The Buddha Tree by Fumio alludes to the awakening of Buddha under the bo
tree when he gets enlightened after fasting 40 days and nights. Similarly, the
hero of the novel , Soshu, attains self-illumination after freeing himself from
the way of all flesh. The author was inspired by personal tragedies that befell
their family and this novel makes him transcend his personal agony into
artistic achievement.

8. Major Writers
• Seami Motokiyo had acting in his blood for his father kanami, a priest, was
one of the finest performers of his day. At age 20 not long after his father’s
death, he took over his father’s acting school and began to write plays. Some
say he became a Zen priest late in life; other say he had two sons, both of
 them actors. According to legend, he died alone at the age of 81 in a Buddist
temple near Kyoto.
• The Haiku Poets
Matsuo Basho(1644-1694) is regarded as the greatest haiku poet.
He was born into a samurai family and began writing poetry at an early age.
After becoming a Zen Buddhist, he moved into an isolated hut on the outskirts
of Edo (Tokyo) where he lived the life of a hermit supporting himself by
teaching and judging poetry. Basho means banana plant a gift given him to
which he became deeply attached. Over time his hut became known as the
Basho Hut until he assumed the name. Yosa Buson (1716-1783) is regarded
as the second-greatest haiku poet. He lived in Kyoto throughout most of his
life and was one of the finest painters of his time. Buson presents a romantic
view of the Japanese landscape, vividly capturing the wonder and mystery of
nature.
Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827) is ranked with Basho and Buson although his
talent was not widely recognized until after his death. Issa’s poems capture
the essence of daily life in Japan and convey his compassion for the less
fortunate.
• Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972) won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968.
The sense of loneliness and preoccupation with death that permeates much
of his mature writing possibly derives from the loneliness of his childhood
having been orphaned early. Three of his best novels are: Snow Country,
Thousand Cranes, and Sound of the Mountains. He committed suicide shortly
after the suicide of his friend Mishima.
• Junichiro Tanizaki (1886-1965) is a major novelist whose writing is
characterized by eroticism and ironic wit. His earliest stories were like those
of Edgar Allan Poe’s but he later turned toward the exploration of more
traditional Japanese ideals of beauty. Among his works are Some Prefer
Nettles, The Makioka Sisters, Diary of a Mad Old Man.
• Yukio Mishima (1925-1970) is the pen name of Kimitake Hiraoka, a prolific
writer who is regarded by many writers as the most important Japanese
novelist of the 20th century. His highly acclaimed first novel, Confessions of a
Mask is partly autobiographical work that describes with stylistic brilliance a
homosexual who must mask his sexual orientation. Many of his novels have
main characters who, for physical or psychological reasons, are unable to find
happiness. Deeply attracted to the austere patriotism and marital spirit of
Japan's past, Mishima was contemptuous of the materialistic Westernized
society of Japan in the postwar era. Mishima committed seppuku (ritual
disembowelment).
• Dazai Ozamu (1909-1948) just like Mishima, and Kawabata committed
suicide, not unusual, but so traditional among Japanese intellectuals. It is
believed that Ozamu had psychological conflicts arising from his inability to
draw a red line between his Japaneseness clashing with his embracing the
 Catholic faith, if not the demands of creativity. The Setting Sun is one of his
works.
• Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) is a prolific writer of stories, plays, and
poetry, noted for his stylistic virtuosity. He is one of the most widely translated
of all Japanese writers, and a number of his stories have been made into films.
Many of his short stories are Japanese tales retold in the light of modern
psychology in a highly individual style of feverish intensity that is well-suited
to their macabre themes. Among his works are Rashomon, and Kappa. He
also committed suicide.
• Oe Kenzaburo (1935- ) a novelist whose rough prose style, at time nearly
violating the natural rhythms of the Japanese language, epitomizes the
rebellion of the post-WWII generation which he writes. He was awarded the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994. Among his works are: Lavish are the Dead,
The Catch, Our Generation, A Personal Matter, The Silent Cry, and Awake,
New Man!.

D. AFRICA

1. The Rise of Africa's Great Civilization. Between 751 and 664 B.C. the kingdom
of Kush at the southern end of the Nile River gained strength and prominence
succeeding the New Kingdom of Egyptian civilization. Smaller civilizations around
the edges of the Sahara also existed among them the Fasa of the northern Sudan,
whose deeds are recalled by the Soninka oral epic, The Daust.
• Aksum (3rd century A.D.), a rich kingdom in eastern Africa arose in what
is now Ethiopia. It served as the center of a trade route and developed its
own writing system. The Kingdom of Old Ghana (A.D. 300) the first of great
civilizations in western Africa succeeded by the empires of Old Mali and
Songhai. The legendary city of Timbuktu was a center of trade and culture
in both the Mali and Songhai empires. New cultures sprang up throughout
the South: Luba and Malawi empires in central Africa, the two Congo
kingdoms, the Swahili culture of eastern Africa, the kingdom of Old
Zimbabwe, and the Zulu nation near the southern tip of the continent.
• Africa's Golden Age (between A.D. 300 and A.D. 1600) marked the time
when sculpture, music, metalwork, textiles, and oral literature flourished.
• Foreign influences came in the 4th century. The Roman Empire had
proclaimed Christianity as its state religion and taken control of the entire
northern coast of Africa including Egypt. Around 700 A.D. Islam, the
religion of Mohammed, was introduced into Africa as well as the Arabic
writing system. Old Mali, Somali and other eastern African nations were
largely Muslim. Christianity and colonialism came to sub- Saharan Africa
towards the close of Africa's Golden Age. European powers created
colonized countries in the late 1800s. Social and political chaos reigned as
 traditional African nations were either split apart by European colonizers
or joined with incompatible neighbors.
• Mid-1900s marked the independence and rebirth of traditional cultures
written in African languages.

2. Literary Forms.
a. Orature is the tradition of African oral literature which includes praise poems,
love poems, tales, ritual dramas, and moral instructions in the form of
proverbs and fables, it also includes epics and poems and narratives.
b. Griots, the keepers of oral literature in West Africa, may be a professional
storyteller, singer, or entertainer and were skilled at creating and transmitting
the many forms of African oral literature. Bards, storytellers, town criers, and
oral historians also preserved and continued the oral tradition.
c. Features of African oral literature:
• repetition and parallel structure - served foremost as memory aids for
griots and other storytellers. Repetition also creates rhythm, builds
suspense, and adds emphasis to parts of the poem or narrative.
Repeated lines or refrains often mark places where an audience can
join in the oral performance.
• Repeat-and-vary technique-in which lines or phrases are repeated with
slight variations, sometimes by changing a single word.
• Tonal assonance - the tones in which syllables are spoken determine
the meanings of words like many Asian languages.
• call-and-response format-includes spirited audience participation in
which the leader calls out a line or phrase and the audience responds
with an answering-line or phrase becoming performers themselves.
d. Lyric Poems do not tell a story but instead, like songs, create a vivid,
expressive testament to a speaker's thoughts or emotional state. Love lyrics
were an influence of the New Kingdom and were written to be sung with the
accompaniment of a harp or a set of reed pipes.
e. Hymns of Praise Songs were offered to the sun god Aten. The Great Hymn to
Aten is the longest of several New Kingdom hymns. This hymn was found on
the wall of a tomb built for a royal scribe named Ay and his wife. In was
intended to assure their safety in the afterlife.

f. African Proverbs are much more than quaint old sayings. Instead, they
represent a poetic form that uses few words but achieves great depth of
meaning and they function as the essence of people's values and knowledge:
• They are used to settle legal disputes, resolve ethical problems, and
teach children the philosophy of their people.
• Often contain puns, rhymes, and clever allusions, they also provide
entertainment.
 • Mark power and eloquence of speakers in the community who know
and use them. Their ability to apply the proverbs to appropriate
situations demonstrates an understanding of social and political
realities.
g. Dilemma or Enigma Tale is an important kind of African moral tale intended
for listeners to discuss and debate. It is an open-ended story that concludes
with a question the asks the audience to choose from among several
alternatives. By encouraging animated discussion, a dilemma tale invites its
audience to think about right and wrong behavior and how to best live within
society.
h. Ashanti Tale comes from Ashanti, whose traditional homeland is the dense
and hilly forest beyond the city of Kumasi in south-central Ghana which was
colonized by the British in the mid-19th century. But the Ashanti, protected
in their geographical stronghold, were able to maintain their ancient culture.
The tale exemplifies common occupations of the Ashanti such as farming,
fishing, and weaving. It combines such realistic elements with fantasy
elements like talking objects and animals.
i. Folk Tales have been handed down in the oral tradition from ancient times.
The stories represent a wide and colorful variety that embodies the African
people's most cherished religious and social beliefs. The tales are used to
entertain, to teach, and to explain. Nature and the close bond that Africans
share with the natural world are emphasized. The mystical importance of the
forest, sometimes called the bush, is often featured.
j. Origin stories include creation stories and stories explaining the origin of
death.
k. Trickster Tale is an enormously popular type. The best known African
trickster figure is Anansi the Spider, both the hero and villain from the West
African origin to the Caribbean and other parts of the Western Hemisphere as
a result of the slave trade.
l. Moral Stories attempt to teach a lesson.
m. Humorous Stories is primarily intended to amuse.
n. Epics of vanished heroes - partly human, partly superhuman, who embody
the highest values of a society - carry with them a culture's history, values,
and traditions. The African literary traditions boasts of several oral epics.
• The Dausi from the Soninke
• Monzon and the King of Kore from the Bambara of western Africa
• The epic of Askia the Great, medieval ruler of the Songhai empire in
western Africa
• The epic of the Zulu Empire of southern Africa
• Sundiata from the Mandingo peoples of West Africa is the best-
preserved and the best-known African epic which is a blend of fact
and legend. Sundiata Keita, the story's hero really existed as a
powerful leader who in 1235 defeated the Sosso nation of western
 Africa and reestablished the Mandingo Empire of Old Mali.
Supernatural powers are attributed to Sundiata and he is involved
in a mighty conflict between good and evil. It was first recorded in
Guinea in the 1950s and was told by the griot Djeli Mamoudou
Kouyate.
3. Negritude, which means literally 'blackness,' is the literary movement of the
1930s - 1950s that began among French-speaking African and Caribbean writers
living in Paris as a protest against French colonial rule and the policy of
assimilation. Its leading figure was Leopold Sedar Senghor (1st president of the
Republic of Senegal in 1960), who along with Aime Cesaire from Martinique and
Leo Damas from French Guina, began to examine Western values critically and
to reassess African culture. The movement largely faded in the early 1960s when
its political and cultural objectives had been achieved in most African countries.
The basic ideas behind Negritude include:
• Africans must lock to their own cultural heritage to determine the values
and traditions that are most useful in the modern world.
• Committed writers should use African subject matter and poetic
traditions and should excite a desire for political freedom.
• Negritude itself encompasses the whole of African cultural, economic,
social, and political values.

• The value and dignity of African traditions and peoples must be asserted.
4. African Poetry is more eloquent in its expression of Negritude since it is the poets
who first articulated their thoughts and feelings about the inhumanity suffered
by their own people.
• Paris in the Snow swings between assimilation of French, European.
culture or negritude, intensified by the poet's catholic piety.
• Totem by Leopold Senghor shows the eternal linkage of the living with
the dead.
• Letters to Martha by Dennis Brutus is the poet's most famous collection
that speaks of the humiliation, the despondency, the indignity of prison
life.
• Train Journey by Dennis Brutus reflects the poet's social commitment,
as he reacts to the poverty around him amidst material progress
especially and acutely felt by the innocent victims, the children
• Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka is the poet's most anthologized
p poem that reflects Negritude. It is a satirical poem between a Black
man seeking the landlady's permission to accommodate him in her
lodging house. The poetic dialogue reveals the landlady's deep- rooted
prejudice against the colored people as the caller plays up on it.
• Africa by David Diop is a poem that achieves its impact by a series of
climactic sentences and rhetorical questions.
 • Song of Lawino by Okot P'Bitek is a sequence of poems about the clash
between African and Western values and is regarded as the first
important poem in "English to emerge from Eastern Africa. Lawino's song
is a plea for the Ugandans to look back to traditional village life and
recapture African values.
5. Novels
• The Houseboy by Ferdinand Oyono points out the disillusionment of
Toundi, a boy who leaves his parents maltreatment to enlist his services
as an acolyte to a foreign missionary. After the priest's death, he becomes
a helper of a white plantation owner, discovers the liaison of his master's
wife, and gets murdered later in the woods as they catch up with him.
Toundi symbolizes the disenchantment, the coming of age, and utter
despondency of the Camerooninans over the corruption and immortality
of the whites. The novel is developed in the form of a recit, the French style
of a diary-like confessional work.
• Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe depict a vivid picture of Africa before
the colonization by the British. The title is an epigraph from Yeats' The
Second Coming: 'things fall apart/ the center cannot hold/ mere anarchy
is loosed upon the world. The novel laments over the disintegration of
Nigerian society, represented in the story by Okwonko, once a respected
chieftain who looses his leadership and falls from grace after the coming
of the whites. Cultural values are woven, around the plot to mark its
authenticity: polygamy since the character is Muslim; tribal law is held
supreme by the gwugwu, respected elders in the community; a man's
social status is determined by the people's esteem and by possession of
fields of yams and physical prowess; community life is shown in drinking
sprees, funeral wakes, and sports festivals.
• No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe is a sequel to Things Fall Apart and
the title of which is alluded to Eliot's The Journey of the Magi. ‘We returned
to our places, these kingdoms, / But no longer at ease here, in the old
dispensation.' The returning hero fails to cope with disgrace and social
pressure. Okwonko's son has to live up to the expectations of the
Umuofians, after winning a scholarship in London, where he reads
literature, not law as is expected of him, he has to dress up, he must have
a car, he has to maintain his social standing, and he should not marry an
Ozu, an outcast. In the end, the tragic hero succumgs to temptation, he,
too receives bribes, and therefore is 'no longer at ease.’
• The Poor Christ of Bombay by Mongo Beti begins en medias res and
exposes the inhumanity of colonialism. The novel tells of Fr. Drumont's
disillusionment after the discovery of the degradation of the native women,
betrothed, but forced to work like slaves in the sixa. The government steps
into the picture as syphilis spreads out in the priest's compound. It turns
out that the native whose weakness is wine, women, and song has been
 made overseer of the sixa when the Belgian priest goes out to attend to his
other mission work. Developed through recite or diary entries, the novel is
a satire on the failure of religion to integrate to national psychology without
first understanding the natives' culture.
• The River Between by James Ngugi show the clash of traditional values
and contemporary ethics and mores. The Honia River is symbolically taken
as a metaphor of tribal and Christian unity - the Makuyu tribe conducts
Christian rites while the Kamenos hold circumcision rituals. Muthoni, the
heroine, although a new-born Christian, desires the pagan ritual. She dies
in the end but Waiyaki, the teacher, does not teach vengeance against
Joshua, the leader of the Kamenos, but unity with them. Ngugi poses co-
existence of religion with people's lifestyle at the same time stressing the
influence of education to enlighten people about their socio-political
responsibilities.
• Heirs to the Past by Driss Chraili is an allegorical, parable-like novel. After
16 years of absence, the anti-hero Driss Ferdi returns to Morocco for his
father's funeral. The Signeur leaves his legacy via a tape recorder in which
he tells the family members his last will and testament. Each chapter in
the novel reveals his relationship with them, and at the same time lays
bare the psychology of these people. His older brother Jaad who was born
once and had ided several times' because of his childishness and
irresponsibility. His idiotic brother, Nagib, has become a total burden to
the family. His mother feels betrayed, after doing her roles as wife and
mother for 30 years, as she yearns for her freedom. Driss flies back to
Europe completely alienated for his people, religion, and civilization.
• A Few Days and Few Nights by Mbella Sonne Dipoko deals with racial
prejudice. In the novel originally written in French, a Cameroonian scholar
studying in France is torn between the love of a Swedish girl and a
Parisienne show father owns a business establishment in Africa. The
father rules out the possibility of marriage. Therese, their daughter
commits suicide and Doumbe, the Cameroonian, thinks only of the future
o Bibi, the Swedish who is expecting his child. Doumbe's remark that the
African is like a turtle which carries it home wherever it goes implies the
racial pride and love for the native grounds.
• The Interpreters by Wole Soyinka is about a group of young intellectuals
who function as artists in their talks with one another as they try to place
themselves in the context of the world about them.

6. Major Writers
• Leor old Sedar Senghor (1906) is a poet and statesman who was cofo inder
of the Negritude movement in African art and literature. He went to Paris
on a scholarship and later taught in the French school system. During
these years Senghor discovered the unmistakable imprint of African art on
 modem painting, sculpture, and music, which confirmed his belief in
Africa's contribution to modern culture. Drafted during WWII, he was
captured and spent two years in Nazi concentration camp where he wrote
some of his finest poems. He became president of Senegal in 1960. His
works include: Songs of Shadow, Black Offerings, Major Elegies, Poetical
Work. He became Negritude's foremost spokesman and edited an
anthology of French- language poetry by black African that became a
seminal text of the Negritude movement.
• Okot P'Bitek (1930-1982) was born in Uganda during the British
domination and was embodied in a contrast of cultures. He attended
English-speaking schools but never lost touch with traditional African
values and used his wide array of talents to pursue his interests in both
African and Western cultures. Among his works are: Song of Lawino, Song
of Ocol, African Religions and Western Scholarship, Religion of the Central
Luo, Horn of My Love.
• Wole Soyinka (1934) is a Nigerian playwright, poet, novelist, and critic who
was the first black African to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in
1986. He wrote of modern West Africa in a satirical style and with a tragic
sense of the obstacles to human progress. He taught literature and drama
and headed theater groups at various Nigerian universities. Among his
works are: plays - A Dance of the Forests, The Lion and the Jewel, The
Trials of Brother Jero; novels - The Interpreters, Season of Anomy; poems
- Idanre and Other Poems, Poems from Prison, A Shuttle in the Crypt,
Mandela's Earth and Other Poems.
• Chinua Achebe (1930) is a prominent Igbo novelist acclaimed for his
unsentimental depictions of the social and psychological disorientation
accompanying the imposition of Western customs and values upon
traditional African society. His particular concern was with emergent
Africa at its moments of crisis. His works include, Things Fall Apart, Arrow
of God, No Longer at Ease, A Man of the People, Anthills of Savanah.
• Nadine Gordimer (1923) is a South African novelist and short story writer
whose major theme was exile and alienation. She received the Nobel Prize
for Literature in 1991. Gordimer was writing by age 9 and published her
first story in a magazine at 15. Her works exhibit a clear, controlled, and
unsentimental technique that became her hallmark. She examines how
public events affect individual lives, how the dreams of on's youth are
corrupted, and how innocence is lost. Among her works are: The Soft Voice
of the Serpent, Burger's Daughter, July's People, A Sport of Nature, My
Son's Story.
• Bessie Head (1937-1986) described the contradictions and shortcomings
of pre- and postcolonial African society in morally didactic novels and
stories. She suffered rejection and alienation from an early age being born
of an illegal union between her white mother and black father. Among her
 works are: When Rain Clouds Gather, A Question of Power, The Collector of
Treasures, Serowe.
• Barbara Kimenye (1940) wrote twelve books on children's stories known
as the Moses series which are now a standard reading fare for African
school children. She also worked for many years for His Highness the
Kabaka of Uganda, in the Ministry of Education and later served as
Kabaka's librarian. She was a journalist of The Uganda Nation and later a
columnist for a Nairobi newspaper. Among her works are: Kalasanda
Revisited; The Smugglers, The Money Game.

• Ousmane Sembene (1923) is a writer and filmmaker from Senegal. His

works reveal an intense commitment to political and social change. In the
words of one of his characters: "You will never be a good writer so long as
you don't defend a cause." Sembene tells his stories from out of Africa's
past and relates their relevance and meaning for contemporary society.
His works include, O My Country, My Beautiful People, God's Bits of Wood,
The Storm.