ENGLISH 175

Syllabus

Course Title : Survey of Asian Literature

Credits : 3 units

Course Description

The course is an historical-critical survey of Asian Literature, through a sampling

of representative major works or landmarks of the literatures of Japan, China, India and
of Southeast Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Special emphasis is
given to developments and trends in more recent times e.g., Meiji Restoration and the
forces of Westernization and modernization in Japan to the present time, Maoist China
and the Cultural Revolution, and Indian and Singaporean literature in English
particularly the impact of these on the native or local traditions.

Course Objectives

The course shall be taught with the end in view of cultivating in the student
appreciation of Asian literature for its own distinctiveness, and as part of the literary
heritage of the world. It has the following specific objectives:

1. To provide the student with the historical perspective the native traditions in
which Asian literature is rooted and its development under the impact of West-
ern influence essential to a fuller apprehension of past and contemporary
achievements.

2. To guide the student toward an acquaintance with the thoughts (worldview),

lifeways, aesthetic principles and value systems of Asians through a study of
select works of major writers in which these are vividly portrayed or
exemplified, with special focus on what is enduring, and continues to exert
influence on contemporary thought and expression.

3. To develop critical reading and appreciation of Asian literatures across time

and culture, and a cross-cultural perspective through exposure to the best ever
thought and written by Asians.

Methods/Classroom Activities

1. Lectures on select topics or themes

2. Film-viewing
3. Reports on assigned topics
4. Projects (group work)
5. Whole-class discussion or analysis of select works
6. Research

Course Outline

The course, due to limited time, is organized by country, and not rigidly by
genre. Not all the genres are allotted equal attention or emphasis, since the
advances made in these were not uniform. For some countries, only genres where
creditable achievements are recognized and materials are available, are taken into
account.
 Japan

I. Major Influences on Japanese Literature

1. Culture, Religion and Literature

1.1. Shintoism and the indigenous Japanese worldview

1.2. Buddhism (Zen Buddhism)
1.3. Confucianism

2. Aesthetic Principles

2.1. sabi and wabi in Japanese poetry

2.2. yugen and miyabi in the Noh
2.3. mono no aware, yubi and en in Genji Monogatari

3. Periods of Japanese Literature

3.1. Heian Period (794-1185 A.D.): Courtly Life Depicted in Literature

3.1.1. The Romantic Novel

Genji Monogatari by Murasaki Shikibu

3.1.2. Diaries (nikki) as samples of nyobo bungaku

Murasaki Diary
Kagero Nikki
The Sarashina Diary
The Tosa Diary by Ki no Tsurayaki
The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon

3.1.3. Poetry : In Chinese

Kokinshu

3.1.4. War Tales (Rekishi Monogatari) and Others

Eiga Monogatari
Ukagami
The Tales of Ise

3.1.5. Popular Literature (Outside the Court) : Setsuwa

Nihon Ryoki
Konjaku Monogatari

3.2. Kamakura Period (1185-1333 A.D.): The Decay of the Rule by

Aristocracy System and the Dawn of Feudal Japan

3.2.1. The Bakufu, Kamakura Buddhism and the new worldview

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 (mappo)
3.2.2. The response of the aristocracy to the collapse of the old order

a. flowering of waka
b. popularity of recluse literature
c. a fresh consciousness of culture as separate from the
social system
d. a renewed consciousness of history : Gonjaku

3.2.3. The Gozan temples and their contribution to the growth and
spread of literature

Heike Monogatari
Shinkokinshu
An Account of my Hut by Kamo no Chomei
Tales from the Uji Collection
Essays in Idleness by Yoshido Kenko

3.2. Muromachi Period (1333-1600)

The Art of the No and the Kyogen : Zeami Motokiyo

Atsumori
Birds of Sorrow

Three Poets at Minase

The Three Priests
The Exile of Godaigo

3.3. Tokugawa Period (1600-1868)

3.4.1. Neo-Confucianism as the dominant philosophy

3.4.2. bushido
3.4.3. ukijo (search for enjoyment)
3.4.4. Literary types or forms

Kabuki
Bunraku (puppet theatre): Chikamatsu
Haiku : Matsuo Basho, Kobayashi Issa, Yosa Buson
Fiction: Ihara Saikaku

3.4. Meiji Restoration (1868-1912)

3.5.1. Era of Westernization and Modernization: bummei kaika and

fokoku kyohei

3.5.2. The Rapid Turnover of Literary Schools/Movements

a. Realism and Naturalism

b. Shirakaba
c. Neo-Perceptionists
d. Haikai or Leisure School
e. Pure Estheticism
f. Proletarian or Marxist School

3.5.3. 20th Century Trends

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 a. New Burlesque Writers
b. Apres-Guerre Breed of Writers
c. Classification of Japanese into junbungaku (literature of
quality) and taishubungaku (popular literature)

Required Readings

Three Million Yen by Yukio Mishima

The Sea of Fertility Tetralogy by Yukio Mishima
After the Banquet by Yukio Mishima
The Spiders Thread by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
In a Grove by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
A View of the Sea by Yasuoka Shotaro
The Crazy Iris (edited by Kenzaboro Oe)
The Izu Dancer by Yasunari Kawabata
Lady Aoi by Yukio Mishima
The Hell Screen by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

China

I. Ancient Classics

1. Prose : Religion, Culture and Literature

1.1. Confucius : Analects and the Classics

1.2. Lao Tzu : Tao Te Ching
1.3. Sun Tzu : The Art of War

2. Chinese Poetry

2.1 Shih Poetry : Wang Wei, Li Po, To Fu

2.2 Tang Poetry : Po Chu-i

3. Chinese Drama

II. Chinese Literature in the 20th Century

A. Fiction

1. Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution : The Yenan Forum

2. Reportage as a Popular Genre : Zhang Xinxin and Sang Ye
( Popcorn, Second Try, Mr. Average, Land )
3. Post-Maoist Literature : Selections from Chairman Mao will not be
Amused
4. New Themes (Female Sexuality, Self-Disclosure, etc.) : Ding Ling

e.g. Miss Sophies Diary

The Sun Shines Over Sanggan River
Shanghai in the Spring of 1930

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 B. Poetry during the Maoist and Post-Maoist Regime

Gu Cheng : Capital I
Yang Lian: Banned Poetry
Shu Ting: from Masks
Ai Ching: Snow Falls on China
Pien Chih-Lin: from Leaves of Three Autumns

III. Diasporic Literature

1. The Contemporary Novel

The Monkey King by Timothy Mo

The Redundancy of Courage by Timothy Mo
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The Kitchen Gods Wife by Amy Tan

2. Contemporary Poetry

Bei Dao : from Ground Zero

India

I. Ancient Sacred Writings

The Vedas
Upanishads
Dhammapada

II. Indian Epics

Ramayana
Mahabharata (Bhagavad Gita)

III. Modern Poetry

From Gitanjali : Rabindranath Tagore

Poetry of sighs and thighs (Alphabet of Lust) : Kamala Das
Poems of the New Breed of Female Writers: Amrita Pritam, Gauri
Deshpande, Mamta Kalia

Specimen Texts:

The Weed by Amrita Pritam

Bread of Dreams by Amrita Pritam
The Dance of the Eunuchs by Kamala Das
On Reading a Love Poem by Kedarnath Singh
The Farewell Party by Anita Desai
The Management of Grief by Bharati Mukherjee
Breast-Giver by Mahasweta Devi
Love Poem for a Wife by A.K. Ramanijam
Small-scale Reflections on a Great House by A.K. Ramanijam

IV. Fiction (Novel and Short Story : Post-Colonial Indian Literature in English

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 The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
The Moors Last Sigh by Salman Rusdie
Midnights Children by Salman Rusdie
The Cabuliwallah by Rabindranath Tagore
The Homecoming by Rabindranath Tagore
Riot by Khushwant Singh

Southeast Asia

1. Singapore : Collision of Cultures (Quest for Identity)

Fiction : Philip Jeyaretnam, Catherine Lim. Christine Su-Chen Lim

Poetry : Edwin Thumboo, Wong May, Lee Tzu Pheng, Margaret Leong and
Wong Phui Nam

Ulysses by the Merlion by Edwin Thumboo

gods can die by Edwin Thumboo
Excluding Byzantium by Lee Tzu Pheng
Selections from Ways of Exile by Wong Phui Nam

2. Malaysia and Indonesia : Roman Nouveau Techniques and Magic Realism

Fiction : K.S. Maniam, Arena Wari, A. Samad Said and Keris Mas
(Malaysia); Pramoedya Toer (Indonesia)

In a Far Country by K.S. Maniam

The Return by K.S. Maniam
Child of the Nation by Pramoedya Toer

Poetry : Chairil Anwar, Shirley Geok-lin Lim, Rivai Api (Selections from
Monsoon History by Shirley Geoks-lin Lim)

Pantuns : Usman Awang, Salleh Ben Joned, Zarina Hassan, A. Ghafar

Ibrahim, and Mohammad Haji Salleh

Prose : Saleh Ben Joned

3. Vietnam

Fiction : Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong

Requirements

1. Class attendance
2. Twelve (12) short papers, including reaction papers
3. Reports on assigned topics
4. Written copies of reports (Note: the complete text, not an outline)
5. Paint a poem project (haigai) haiku or pantun (group work)

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 6. Participation in class discussion
7. Film-viewing
8. Quizzes and periodic examinations
9. Final examination
10. A team/group project i.e. compilation of contemporary Asian literary works
like a collection of Malaysian and Indonesian pantuns or Singaporean short
stories in English
11. One (1) scholarly term paper

References

Biddle, Arthur W., ed. Contemporary Literature of Asia. Upper Saddle River, NJ
07458: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1996.

Birch, Cyril. Change and Continuity in Chinese Fiction. In Modern Chinese

Literature in
The May Fourth Era. Merle Golman, ed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1977.

Geok-Lin Lim, Shirley. Against the Grain: Focus on Asian English Language
Literatures. Writing Southeast/Asia in English. London: Skoobs Books
Publishing, 1994.

H. Salleh, Muhammad, ed. Stories from Southeast Asia. Kuala Lumpur: Yayasan
Penataran Ilmu, 1997.

Hilton, Daniel L. and William Clifford, eds. A Treasury of Modern Asian Stories.
New York: The New American Library, 1961.

Janeira, Armando M. Japanese and Western Literature: A Comparative Study.

Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1970.

Kato, Shuichi. A History of Japanese Literature. Volume 1. Trans. by Don Sanderson.

Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1990.

____________. A History of Japanese Literature. Volume 2. Trans. by Don Sanderson.

Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1990.

____________. A History of Japanese Literature. Volume 3. Trans. by Don Sanderson.

Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1990.

Keene, Donald, ed. Modern Japanese Literature. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1960.

Mao Zedong. On Literature and Art: Talks at the Yenan Forum. New Edition.
London: Anglo Chinese Educational Institute, June 1966.

Napier, Susan .J. The Fantastic in Modern Japanese Literature: the subversion of
modernity. London: Routledge, 1996.

New Voices in Southeast Asia. Solidarity No. 129. Special Issue. Ed. F. Sionil Jose.
Manila, Philippines, 1991.

Ross, Nancy Wilson. The Ways of Asian Wisdom: Hinduism, Buddhism, Zen, and

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 their Significance for the West. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1966.

Skoob PACIFICA Anthology No.1. S.E. Asia Writes Back! London: Skoob Books
Publishing, 2001

Skoob PACIFICA Anthology No. 2: The Pen is Mightier than the Sword. London:
Skoob Books Publishing, 2001.

Shimer, Dorothy B., ed. The Mentor Book of Modern Asian Literature. New York:
The New American Library, 1969.

Sionil, Jose F., ed. Asian PEN Anthology. New York: Taplinger Publishing Company,
1967.

South East Asean Writers. Bangkok, Thailand: Editions Duang Kamci, 1986.

Tang, Tsou. The Cultural Revolution and Post-Mao Reforms. Chicago: University of
Chicago
Press, 1986.

Prepared by:

Prof. Rebekah M. Alawi, Ph.D.

Department of English