Asian Literature II

Asian Literature

body of literature created in Asia

Chinese Literature

body of work written in China

Du Fu and Li Bai

two greatest poets in Chinese Literature

Li Ch’ing-chao

China’s greatest woman poet

Wen Chang

God of Literature

Wen Chang

she is also known as Wendi, Wen Ti

Fu Genre

Chinese literary form combining elements of poetry and prose

Qu Yuan

one of the greatest poets of ancient China and the earliest known by name

Qu Yuan

highly original and imaginative verse had an enormous influence over early Chinese poetry.

Tian Wen (Asking Questions of Heaven), Jiu Ge (Nine Songs), and Huai Sha (Embracing the Sand)

literary works of Qu Yuan

Yuan Dynasty

first foreign ruled dynasty in Chinese History

Tang Dynasty

considered as the Golden Age of Poetry

Luo Ben

better known by his courtesy name Guanzhong

Luo Guanzhong

Chinese writer who lived during the Ming dynasty

Luo Ben

He is also known by his pseudonym Huhai Sanren

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese Literature

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

work of Luo Ben-Luo Guanzhong

“The Journey to the West” or Xi You Ji

a book that belongs to the “four most wondrous classical novels” of China

The Journey to the West

written by Wu Cheng’en

Lushi

a literary work that has eight lines, which has five or seven syllables following a strict pattern

Li Sao

an allegorical poem

Li Sao

the first work of the large Chinese tradition of landscape and travel literature

Japanese Literature

body of written work made in Japan

Classical Period

golden age of Japanese Literature

Haiku

5-7-5 syllables

Sedoka

5-7-7

Tanka

5/7/5/7/7

Haiku, Tanka, Sedoka

major forms of literary works in Japan

The Tale of Genji

considered the first novel in history

The Tale of Heike

one of the great classics of Medieval Japanese literature

Matsuo Basho

most famous poet in Edo period

The Narrow Road to the Deep North

most famous haiku collection in Japan

The Narrow Road to the Deep North

collection of travel essays by the great Japanese poet Matsuo Basho

The Narrow Road to the Deep North

considered one of the major texts of Japanese literature of the Edo period

Kakinomoto Hitomaro

Japan's first literary figure, known for his tanka and choka

Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves

oldest extant collection of poems, compiled from the latter half of the seventh century to the latter half of the eighth century

Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves

first and largest of Japan’s anthologies of native poetry

Indian Literature

refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter

Indian Literature

one of the oldest and richest literature in the world

22

India’s no. of officially recognized language

Vedic Period

The Vedas were composed in this period and this gives this age the name

Vedas

earliest Indian texts composed orally in archaic Sanskrit during the late Bronze and early Iron Ages (c. 1400–400 BCE)

Vedas

consist of religious poetry and ritual formulas, followed by text layers of explanatory prose, early philosophy, and, finally, voluminous ritual manuals

Vedas

considered a sacred texts in Hinduism

Upanishads

late Vedic Sanskrit texts that supplied the basis of later Hindu philosophy

Upanishads

the oldest scriptures of Hinduism

Mahabharata and Ramayana

two Sanskrit epic poems of Ancient India

Mahabharata

the struggle for sovereignty between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas

Ramayana

ancient Sanskrit epic which follows Prince Rama's quest to rescue his beloved wife Sita from the clutches of Ravana with the help of an army of monkeys

Panchatantra

ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story