The Development of World Literature:

The Power of Anonymous Literature

Writing words on a piece of paper can never be an easy
task even for the pros. It always depends on the storm of
inspirations and perhaps a spoon of skill. One of the most
inspirational woman in the world ever said that There is no greater
agony than bearing an untold story inside you 1 As for that reason, respecting
peoples writings is always necessary.
One of the forms in writing is literature. Since long ago in the past
centuries until now, people have started to write everything in the world. Myths,
legends, folklores and fairytales are only few examples of literatures. Some of
them are inspirational, rich with information, powerful enough to change the
world, amusing or even scary. As the worlds changing so goes the same with
literature. Almost every part of the world has its own literature and thus resulting
in the development of world literature.

Anonymous literature
Among those literatures in the world, there is this anonymous literature.
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, anonymous means not named or
identified; made or done by someone unknown. From that definition, we assume
that one anonymous literary work theoretically belongs to someone but either
history has failed to record it or the writer himself has refused to be published.
These facts bring those literatures labeled as no name literary works.
As for the reason of history, we may leave it untouched because nothing
we can do about that but, on the other hand, the reason of writers choices for
staying in the dark with their literatures have us wonder on whys and hows. The

1 Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: 1970

(http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/writing)

quote No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money 2 explains to us that
without their names on their works, there wont be any fame, glory or money for
them. Basically, there is no credit for them. Their literary works will only remain
as a part of world literature, it can be famous or even worse, unknown like their
writers and finally forgotten. It is all depends on what those literatures bring.
Then what will happen to the writers? Well, first of all, of course they
dont have to worry about their responsibilities over their literary works, either the
works perhaps wound other peoples feeling or even inspire them, the writers will
be kept silent and can do nothing about that. The other consequence is that they
will not suffer from the lure of fame and the bad judgment from people. This
works well if the writer truly wants to explore his own writing without any
interruptions from the outside. But how can they survive without being credited
for their works? Well, some of them are not fully writers, they write only to
express their ideas. As for life, they do something else.

The Power of Anonymous literature

Despite of being anonymous, this literature also has a great contribution to
the world especially to its change.
Dream of the Red Chamber3 that is one of the four greatest literatures in China.
Then, The Farce of Master Pierre Pathelin4 that because of its strong criticism
to social manipulation and dishonesty over France newly emerging state structure,
it became popular and proved to be a huge influence on France Theater especially
around the medieval age. There is also, Democracy5 that parodies the
2 Dr. Johnson told Boswell (http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/by-

anonymous-can-a-writer-escape-vulnerability)
3 China: 1759
4 France: 1465
5 America: 1880

acquisition and abuse of political power through the story of a fictionalized US

administration which later on becomes popular.

The Sorrows of Yamba6 which was even widely reprinted as an anti-slavery

poem throughout the 19th century. Back to even older, even the world greatest
literary works from Shakespeare are still under discussed in a never ending debate
from all around the world about who exactly responsible for his writings, plays
and poems is. Thats because of the lack evidence and data about Shakespeares
life. But still, people use the name of Shakespeare when they want to refer to his
great literary works instead.
In conclusion, it is important to respect and grace all literary works even
the anonymous ones. No matter who write that or from where they emerge, as
long as they carry a great message and loved by people, one should always glorify
them. Names will only be great if there are great works behind them.

Bibliography
1. Bustillos, Maria. By Anonymous: Can a Writer Escape
Vulnerability? www.newyorker.com. [Online] November 18, 2003.
[Cited: June 17, 2015.] http://www.newyorker.com/books/pageturner/by-anonymous-can-a-writer-escape-vulnerability.
2. Bauch, Chelsea. 10 Anonymous Works of Fiction That Changed
Society. www.flavorwire.com. [Online] January 31, 2011. [Cited: June
17, 2015.] http://flavorwire.com/147048/10-anonymous-works-offiction-that-changed-society/view-all.
3. Angelou, Maya. Quotes about writing. www.goodreads.com.
[Online] 1970. [Cited: June 17, 2015.]
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/writing.
4. Johnson, Samuel. Quotes about writing. www.goodreads.com.
[Online] [Cited: June 17, 2015.] http://www.goodreads.com/search?
utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=samuel+johnson+money&search_type=quotes.
5. Hechinger, Paul. Did Shakespeare Really Write His Plays? A Few
Theories Examined. www.bbcamerica.com. [Online] October 24, 2011.
[Cited: June 17, 2015.]
6

Yamba, Australia: 1975

http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2011/10/did-shakespearereally-write-his-plays-a-few-theories-examined/.