Transcript Southeast Asian Literature - Northern Illinois University

Southeast Asian Literature
Philippines, Vietnamese,
Indonesian, Thailand, Burma,
Laos
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Introductions
Role of Literature in the community
that reads them
Different Genres
Themes
Highlights from the different
countries
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Topics of Discussion
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Roles
 Literature
is Education
 Literature is Hope
 Literature is a subversive act
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Literature is Hope
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“Even in hopelessness there is
hope” (Prof. Grant Olson)
 Poem
(Burma) “Let’s Go to Tahiti”
 Short Story (Vietnamese) To Live
 Novel (Philippines) Noli Me
Tangere
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“Writers hope to bring the spirit of
reform into all spheres of life”
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Literature is Education
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Living History
Gives a voice to the people
Conveys quality of life
Geography - Rural vs. Urban
Shows people land and relate to it
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Demonstrate in Culture
Shows how complex everything is
Pictures ethnic conflict
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Literature is Education
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Explores relationship between Men
and Women and identifies gender
role
Political Power and its corruption
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Literature is a
Subversive Act
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A medium for change
Writers and Readers alike join in
the act
Promotes Social Responsibility
and Social Consciousness
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Genres
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Traditional Oral Literature- Folktales,
Proverbs, Riddles, legends
Religious Narratives and LiteratureBuddhist Codes and verses, Jataka
Tales
Narrative Poetry - Epic Stories
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Non-narrative Poetry - songs, love
poems etc.
Historical Novels
Contemporary Literature - novels,
short stories, poems,
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Themes
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Animals and Forest
Supernatural/Mythical Beings and
their journeys
Gender Roles
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Strong Familial Relationship,
loyalty and Identity, Ethnocentricity
Prostitution
Rural vs. Urban
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Poignancy of Love Relationship
Wheels of Fate
Importance of Reciprocity
Struggles between humanity and
poverty
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Strength of Human Character
Political Corruption
Nationalism and anti-colonialism
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Other themes
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Fortune Telling
Karma, Justice, Responsibility and
Retribution
Nature, Society, and Humanity
uniting together
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Sadness of life
River is life and society
the will to love
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Philippines
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Literature based on expressive
Culture
epics
myths
legends,
tales
riddles, proverbs and rituals
balagtasan
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Philippine Epics
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Cultural Values and Universal
Themes of Epic Poetry
 Miraculous
birth of the hero
 his precocious strength
 magical powers
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 herculean
deeds
 extraterestial journeys to the
underworld and sky world
 his death and resuscitation
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Epic of Romance
Epic of Migration
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Vietnam Literature
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Rich, varied expressing over the
centuries.
Depicts humor, realism, and irony
of the Vietnamese people
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Themes
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Oriental Philosophy - a system that
harmonizes the natural and social
world that includes humanity in the
center uniting with nature and
society.
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Oriental Philosophy discovered not
only the three directions of time
(past, present, future) but also a
4th direction - the direction of
spiritual life.
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Oriental Philosophy that
Influence Vn Literature
 Buddhism
 Confucianism
 Taoism
- that is mainly a
combination of folk beliefs and high
regard of nature
 Animism (10th Century - where
strong winds, the waters, and the
mountain were worshipped
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Principal Tenets of this 4
Oriental Philosophy
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“Nature and society and humanity
unite with one another in a
harmony of beauty. The link of
human generations and thousands
of living creatures never ends.
(Phuc Cu De, 1999)
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NONE turns HAVE - NONE means
endless, boundless, immense,
infinite, numberless in moving and
changing movements and the
developing process of everything.
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HAVE is not simply possessive in
meaning but it means the limitation
of changing and the developing
process ofeverything. (Phuc Cu
De, 1999)
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Man = Great Universe = Great
Nature and Society
“Nature, Society, and Humanity
Unite with one Another in a
harmony of beauty.”
“The link of human generations
and thousand of living creatures
never ends.”
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Genres
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Anonymous Literature (Oral)
 Legends
 Proverbs
 Songs
that depicts aspects of
traditional society
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Folk Literature (17th and 18th
century)
 Fables
 Satirical
and narrative poems
 Verse Novels
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 Verse
Novels
 first
verse has 6 feet
 2nd verse has 8 feet
 6th character of the second verse
rhymes with the last character of
the first verse
 these novels are recited and sung
from village to village
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 Texts
indicate chinese influence,
chinese characters (Tom language)
and chinese conception of literary
style
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Modern Literature - texts are evidence of
realism as a repurcussion of 30+ of war
it also shows a literary dichotomy
created by the partition of Vietnam in
1954.
“Through literature, writers hoped to
bring the spirit of reform into all spheres
of Vietnamese life.”
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Thailand
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Religion
 Jataka
Tales a.k.a Aesops Fables
 Fate and Karma
 Buddhist Concepts of Merit and
Demerit
 The Theme of Rice - gather as
much as you need for one day
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Indonesian
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Ramayana - The Journey of Rama
 Purpose:
To conquer evil with
good
 Important Notions: Meditation,
Power of Language,
Hierarchy/caste
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Laos
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Secular texts - much richer than
religious texts
 popular
and classical lietrature are
well known at all levels of society
although authors names are
unknown and texts are undated
and undatable
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Stories, legends and poem of
oral tradition are satirical in tone
 Stories called sysva have strong
moral and education content
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 3.
Tales that comment on the naivety of the
peasantry, the greediness of the wealthy and
the demands of the royalty
 4. Judicial stories which include
commentaries on ancient Lao codes
 5. Historical Legends - e.g. History of Khun
Purom which recount the legendary migration
of the Tai Peoples from China to Luang
Prabang
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 6.
Poetry that are predominantly Buddhist
and inspired to the licentious
 7. Classical Lao Literature - written in prose
and verse form, lenghty and not original.
Themes include handsome priest, the
heroin is a beautiful princess and the
antagonist a demon. There is also a Lao
version of the Ramayana
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Burma
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Buddhism
Anti-government, expose’ of
government corruption
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