Chinese Literature I. INTRODUCTION Two distinct traditions exist in Chinese literature: the literary and the vernacular, or colloquial. The latter can be traced back more than a thousand years before the Christian era and has existed almost continuously until modern times. Consisting originally of poetry and later of drama and fiction, it grew to include histories and popular stories and tales, as well. Folk, or vernacular, literature was long considered beneath the notice of members of the scholar-official class, who were the arbiters of literary taste. Their own polished and highly stylized writings set the standards for the orthodox literary tradition that began about 2000 years ago. Not until the 20th century did colloquial literature gain the support and esteem of the intellectual class. Chinese literature may be divided into three major historical periods that roughly correspond to those of Western literary history: the classical period, from the 6th 1
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Chinese Literature
I. INTRODUCTION
Two distinct traditions exist in Chinese literature: the literary and the vernacular,
or colloquial. The latter can be traced back more than a thousand years before the
Christian era and has existed almost continuously until modern times. Consisting
originally of poetry and later of drama and fiction, it grew to include histories and
popular stories and tales, as well. Folk, or vernacular, literature was long considered
beneath the notice of members of the scholar-official class, who were the arbiters of
literary taste. Their own polished and highly stylized writings set the standards for the
orthodox literary tradition that began about 2000 years ago. Not until the 20th century did
colloquial literature gain the support and esteem of the intellectual class.
Chinese literature may be divided into three major historical periods that roughly
correspond to those of Western literary history: the classical period, from the 6th century
BC through the 2nd century AD; the medieval period, from the 3rd century to the late
12th century; and the modern period, from the 13th century to the present.
II. CLASSICAL PERIOD
The oldest examples of Chinese writing are inscriptions on bones and tortoise-
shells, dating probably from the 14th century BC. The inscriptions represent divinations
performed for the kings of the Shang dynasty (1766?-1027? BC), the earliest confirmed
dynasty. Although not literature in the strictest sense, they represent the earliest
specimens of Chinese script, which became the vehicle for all subsequent Chinese
literature.
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The classical period in Chinese literature corresponds to the same period in Greek
and Roman literature. The formative stages took place during the 6th to the 4th century
BC, at the time of the Zhou (Chou) dynasty (1027?-256 BC). This period encompassed
the work of Confucius (Kongfuzi, or K'ung Fu-tzu), Mencius (Mengzi, or Meng-tzu),
Laozi (Lao-tzu), Zhuangzi (Chuang-tzu ), and many other great Chinese philosophers. It
culminated in the compilation of the Five Classics, or Confucian Classics, and other
philosophical treatises. In the following centuries of the classical period, the Confucian
canon was fixed, and Confucianism became the orthodox teaching, establishing a
classical tradition that was to last until the present century.
A. Poetry
The most important poetic work produced during the classical period was the Shi
Jing (Shih Ching, Book of Poetry), an anthology of ancient poems written in four-word
verses and composed mostly between the 10th and the 7th centuries BC. The Shi Jing is
classified as the third of the Five Classics; legend has it that Confucius himself selected
and edited the 305 poems that constitute the work. Instead of glorifying gods and heroes,
as was the custom of other cultures, many of these poems sing of the daily life of the
peasants, their sorrows and joys, their occupations and festivities. These poems mark the
beginning of the vernacular tradition in Chinese poetry and are characterized by
simplicity of language and emotion. They make up about one-half of the book. The other
half of the Shi Jing is made up of dynastic songs and court poems. These songs and
poems give a colorful picture of the life and manners of the Chinese feudal nobility, just
as the folk poems depict the simple and yet bountiful life of the peasantry. The court
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poems were originally sung to music and accompanied by dance; Chinese poetry and
music were closely linked from earliest times.
The aristocratic, or court, style finds its best expression, however, in a group of
poems known as the elegies of Chu (Ch'u). A feudal state in south-central China, Chu
was the home of Qu Yuan (Ch' Yan), the first great Chinese poet. A noble by birth, Qu
Yuan wrote Li Sao (On Encountering Sorrow), a long, autobiographical poem full of
historical allusions, allegories, and similes, lyrically expressed and concerned with the
intimate revelation of a poetic soul tormented because it has failed in its search for a
beautiful ideal. Other poems by Qu Yuan are equally rich in images and sentiment, and
they form a body of romantic poetry entirely different from the simple, realistic poetry of
the Shi Jing.
During the 400 years of the Han dynasty (206BC-AD220) the romantic and
realistic modes developed into schools of poetry with many followers. The verses of Qu,
which were irregular in form, initiated a new literary genre, the fu, or prose poem.
Chinese poetry was further enriched by the folk songs collected by the Music Bureau
(Yuefu, or Yeh-fu), an institution founded about the 2nd century BC.
B. Prose
The seminal works of Chinese prose are those that, with the Shi Jing, constitute
the Five Classics. These are the Yi Jing (I Ching, Book of Changes), a divination text; the
Shu Jing (Shu Ching, Book of History), a collection of ancient state documents; the Li Ji
(Li Chi, Book of Rites), a collection of ritual and governmental codes; and the Chunqiu
(Spring and Autumn Annals), a history of the state of Lu from 722 to 481BC. From the
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6th to the 3rd century BC, the first great works of Chinese philosophy appeared.
Foremost are the Analects of Confucius, aphoristic sayings compiled by his disciples; the
eloquent disputations of Mencius, a Confucian scholar; the Daode Jing (Tao-te Ching,
Classic of the Way and Its Virtue), attributed to Laozi, the founder of Daoism; and the
high-spirited essays of Zhuangzi, the other great Daoist philosopher. Also important, for
their prose style as well as their philosophic import, are the essays of Mozi (Mo-tzu),
Xunzi (Hsn-tzu) and Han Fei (Han Fei-tzu). The Shi Ji (Shih Chi, Records of the
Historian) of Sima Qian (Ssu-ma Ch'ien), a monumental work dealing with all Chinese
history up to the Han dynasty, provided the pattern for a long series of dynastic histories
compiled over a period of about 2000 years. In political and moral philosophy, the
Confucian scholars also set the precedent for the literary tradition in Chinese prose, and a
standard literary language was adopted, which gradually became divorced from the
spoken language. In this period of the Han rulers, the scholars were incorporated into the
state bureaucracy. Appointments to all important official positions were based on mastery
of the Confucian Classics. This practice continued with few interruptions until the 20th
century AD and hardened the literary tradition into a national cult.
III. MEDIEVAL PERIOD
From the beginning of the medieval period in the 3rd century AD until the 7th
century, China was not only divided into warring states but suffered invasions by Tatar
tribes as well. Nevertheless, these centuries in China were by no means as barren of
literary production as was the corresponding period in the history of western Europe
known as the Dark Ages. The spread of Buddhism from India, the invention of printing,
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and the flowering of poetry and prose illuminated the entire period and made it one of the
most brilliant in Chinese literary history.
A. Poetry
During periods of social and political upheaval, from the 3rd to the 7th century,
poets found refuge and consolation in nature. Some were hermits who created a so-called
field-and-garden school of poetry; others produced some of the best Chinese folk lyrics,
such as the love poems attributed to Ziye (Tzu-yeh), a woman poet who wrote the Ballad
of Mulan, celebrating the adventures of a woman soldier disguised as a man; and The
Peacock Flew to the Southeast, a long narrative of tragic family love, written in plain but
vivid language. The greatest poet of these troubled centuries was Tao Qian (T'ao Ch'ien,
also known as Tao Yuanming, or T'ao Yan-ming), who excelled in writing of the joys of
nature and the solitary life. His Peach Blossom Fountain became the classic expression of
the poet's search for a utopia.
The greatest Chinese poetry was created during the Tang (Tang) dynasty (618-
907), a period of general peace and prosperity ending in a decline. Despite the passage of
more than ten centuries, as many as 49,000 Tang poems by 2200 poets have survived.
The three most famous poets were Wang Wei, Li Bo (Li Po), and Du Fu (Tu Fu). They
started their lives in the early splendor of the Tang era but lived through the subsequent
troubled years of war and rebellion. Wang Wei, a meditative philosopher and painter with
Buddhist inclinations, depicted the serenity of nature's beauty; it has been said that poetry
is in his pictures and pictures are in his poems. Li Bo, a leader of the romantic school,
rebelled against poetic conventions, as he did against society in general. Passionate and
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unruly, he embraced the realm of the immortals, whence, he claimed, he had been exiled
to this world. Li Bo was at his best when he sang of love and friendship; of the delights of
wine; and of the strange, majestic, and awe-inspiring aspects of nature. His friend and
rival Du Fu, on the other hand, was conscientious and painstaking in his efforts to
achieve startling realism. A humanitarian and historian, Du Fu recorded faithfully and
intimately his worldly attachments, his family affections, and an infinite love for
humanity, as well as the injustices of the age. The realism of Du Fu's work influenced
another Tang poet, Bo Juyi (Po Ch-i), who viewed poetry as a vehicle for criticism and
satire. This moralistic tendency, developed in succeeding centuries by other poets, was
broadened to include didactic and philosophical disquisitions. In general, however,
Chinese poetry was essentially lyrical.
Rhyme had always been an essential part of Chinese poetry, but verse forms did
not become well established until the Tang poets. The typical poem of the Tang period
was in the so-called shi form, characterized by the five-word or seven-word line, with the
rhyme usually falling on the even lines. The shi verse form evolved from the four-word
verse of the Shi Jing.
The Tang period also produced a new poetic form called the ci (tz'u). Although
each ci may have lines of varying length, the number of lines, as well as their length, is
fixed according to a definite rhyming and tonal pattern. The writing of ci, which is
somewhat analogous to putting new words to popular melodies, requires a great deal of
skill. The melodies employed were usually of foreign origin.
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During the Song (Sung) dynasty (960-1279) the ci reached its greatest popularity.
Initially the trend was toward longer ci, written to be sung to popular tunes and
commonly dealing with themes of love, courtesans, or music. Su Dongpo (Su Tung-po,),
the best-known ci poet of China, liberated the ci from the rigid forms that music had
imposed on it and introduced more virile subjects. In the 11th century more and more
nonmusical ci were written, that is, ci written with no intention that they would be sung.
In the late 11th to the 13th century, however, the tradition of writing musical ci was
revived. The great Chinese poet Li Qingzhao (Li Ch'ing-chao) is renowned for ci
concerning her widowhood.
B. Prose
Chinese prose also prospered in the Tang dynasty. Chief among the Tang prose
masters was Han Yu, who advocated a return to simple and straightforward writing in the
classical style, as a reaction to the artificial prose of his time. As a result of Han Yu's
efforts, political and philosophical treatises, informal essays, and tales of the marvelous
were all written in the neoclassical style. The latter represent some of the early specimens
of Chinese literary fiction.
The first group of tales written in the vernacular tradition appeared in the Tang
period. In an attempt to spread their religion, Buddhist preachers wrote stories for the
common people in colloquial language and evolved a form of narrative known as
bianwen, sometimes translated as "popularization," which marked the beginning of
popular fiction in China.
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In the 11th century, although few examples of the ancient tradition of storytelling
had been preserved, a revival of interest in the art took place, and it was practiced with
much skill during the Song dynasty (960-1279), a period of spectacular literary
achievement. During this medieval period, storytelling became a popular form of
entertainment. The stories told by the professional entertainers, each of whom specialized
in a certain type, not only were written down but also were printed in storybooks, called
huaben, which later inspired the longer novels of China.
In the literary tradition, the revival of the terse classical style initiated by Han Yu
was carried on during the Song dynasty by Ouyang Xiu (Ou-yang Hsiu) and Su Xun (Su
Hsn), among others. The former is distinguished for his essays on Confucian philosophy,
politics, and history, but he is better known for his breathtaking descriptions of the
landscapes of China. Su Xun's witty essays were generally regarded as the ultimate in
classical stylistic accomplishment.
Miming, singing, and dancing had existed from ancient times, but the drama
proper did not develop until the later Middle Ages. As early as the Tang period, however,
actors had been prominent among the popular entertainers and were organized into
professional companies that performed in theaters built to accommodate as many as
several thousand people.
IV. MODERN PERIOD
The modern period began in the 13th century and continues in the present.
Initially, it was characterized by a vigorous vernacular literature that preceded by several
centuries the appearance of modern colloquial literatures in the West. The growth of
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Chinese fiction and drama during the Yuan (Yan or Mongol) dynasty (1279-1368) may
have been the result of the refusal of many scholars to serve the Mongol regime; instead
they turned their talents to new fields, such as fiction and drama. Vernacular literature
continued to develop through the modern period, until it finally coalesced with a new and
more inclusive literary movement in the early years of the 20th century.
Since the 13th century Chinese drama has followed a pattern of local
development, with the most popular of local dramas acquiring national importance. The
Yuan drama, a creation of northern China, relies on northern dialect in dialogue and song.
The lute is the chief instrument used, and the songs, which constitute the poetic portion of
the play and are generally considered more important than the dialogues, are written in
the qu (ch'), a new poetic form more flexible and expressive than the previously
mentioned shi of the Han period and the ci of the Tang period. A Yuan play has four
parts, corresponding to the four acts of a Western play; often an additional short act that
serves as a prelude and sometimes as an interlude is added.
In the 14th century the art of vernacular fiction reached a new height in China.
Two of the earliest Chinese novels of this period, Sanguozhi Yanyi (San-Kuo-Chih Yen-i,
Romance of the Three Kingdoms), a historical novel of wars and warriors, and Shuihu
Zhuan (Shui-hu Chuan, Water Margin, known to the West as All Men Are Brothers), a
novel of the adventures of bandit-heroes, may be called the prose epics of the Chinese
people. As composite works of folk art created from oral tradition and bearing the stamp
of genius of a number of writers, they differ from the works of individual novelists.
Generally, Chinese novels of both types are immensely long, vast in scope, and vivid in
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characterization and description. All these characteristics are found also in Hongloumeng
(Hung-lou Meng, Dream of the Red Chamber), a realistic novel by Cao Xueqin (Ts'ao
Hseh-ch'in), which vividly details the prosperity, decline, and redemption of a rich
official family.
Many important collections of short stories appeared in the 17th century,
consisting of compilations handed down from an earlier period or of works by
contemporary writers. Like the novels, the stories are colloquial in style and realistic in
presentation, giving an intimate picture of Chinese society. The most popular anthology
is Jingu Qiguan (Chin-ku Ch'i-kuan, Marvelous Tales of the Past and Present), which
consists of 40 stories.
As the modern age progressed, the vernacular tradition became ever larger and
richer. Conventional literature, on the other hand, was less fruitful, although it continued
to be cultivated by members of the scholarly gentry, some of whom were fine writers.
Literary orthodoxy was, however, no longer capable of producing more than stereotypes.
This decline in the literary tradition continued until the beginning of the 20th century,
when it became obvious to Chinese writers that they had to seek new inspiration.
Stimulated by the literature of the West, Chinese writers, led by Hu Shi, started a literary
revolution known as the Chinese Renaissance in an attempt to urge the written use of
colloquial language and to heighten its status as a means of scholarly expression.
After 50 years of experiment in this direction, contemporary Chinese literature
has come of age and shown considerable creative vitality. During the first half of the 20th
century Chinese writers used literature as a mirror to reflect the seamy side of life, as a
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weapon to combat the evils of society, and as a form of propaganda to spread the
message of class struggle. By using trenchant essays and stories to attack traditional
society, writers such as Lu Xun, whose real name was Zhou Shuren, helped advance the
socialist revolution. Although the spirit of Chinese literature changed, the background,
characters, and events depicted remained typically Chinese.
During the years of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), writers and artists were
expected to serve the needs of the people, and bourgeois Western influence was zealously
attacked. Since then, despite setbacks in 1981 and 1983 (the year of the campaign against
so-called spiritual pollution), more freedom of expression has been allowed and a new
interest in Western forms and ideas tolerated.
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Japanese Literature
Japanese Literature, literature written by Japanese in both the Japanese and
Chinese language. The present article is mainly concerned with works in the Japanese
language.
Japanese literature developed primarily in the forms of fiction, poetry, the essay,
and the drama. This development is usually divided into the Yamato, Heian, Kamakura-
Muromachi, Edo, and modern periods; the first four are each named after the site of the
main administrative center of Japan at the time.
Yamato Period
(archaic times to late 8th century AD). Although no written literature existed
before the 8th century, a large number of ballads, ritual prayers, myths, and legends were
composed in the previous centuries. These compositions subsequently were recorded and
are included in the Koji-ki (Records of Ancient Matters, 712), written largely in Japanese
with Chinese characters, and the Nihon shoki (History Book of Ancient Japan, 720),
written almost exclusively in Chinese. The earliest extant histories of Japan, these works
explain the origin of the Japanese people, the formation of the Japanese state, and the
essence of the national polity. Although both works contain much the same mythical and
historical material, the Koji-ki is clearly intended for exclusive use by the Japanese,
whereas the Nihon shoki, showing the influence of Chinese thought, is broader in scope.
A lyric poetry developed from the early ballads included in these works that was
collected in the first great Japanese anthology, the Manyo-shu (Anthology of a Myriad
Leaves), compiled by the poet Otomo no Yakamochi after 759. In this anthology a
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primitive syllabary is used, known as manyo-gana, in which Chinese characters serve as
phonetic symbols of syllables rather than of words. The two most important poetic forms
in the anthology are the choka (long poem), consisting of alternate lines of five and seven
syllables, followed by a final line of seven syllables to which is appended one or more
hanka (envoys); and the tanka (short poem), consisting of 31 syllables, written in five
lines according to a pattern of five, seven, five, seven, and seven syllables. The tanka
became the preeminent Japanese verse form, maintaining its vitality until the modern
period, whereas the choka soon waned in popularity. The foremost poet of the Manyo-
shu is Kakinomoto Hitomaro (flourished about 680-710), who handled freely all forms of
verse. The prevailing mood of the anthology is makoto (truth or sincerity), the full
involvement of the person.
Heian Period
(late 8th-late 12th cent.). In the late 8th century the seat of government was
shifted to Heian-kyo (present-day Kyoto), and a new type of literature emerged among
the aristocratic court society. The creation of the Japanese syllabaries in this century
aided the development of prose fiction as well as of poetry. The Kokin-shu (Anthology of
Ancient and Modern Poems, 905) clearly reflects the change in mood from that of
personal sincerity, which characterized the previous period, to one of mono no aware, or
empathy with the essence of things, a bond linking nature and human beings. The chief
compiler, Ki Tsurayuki (died about 945), who provided the basis for Japanese poetics in
his preface, was himself a poet of note, and his poems are included in the anthology.
Most of the poems, however, are taken from earlier periods. Tsurayuki is noted also as
the author of the Tosa-Diary (935; trans. 1912), the first example of an important
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Japanese genre, the literary diary. The work recounts his journey home to Kyoto from
Tosa Province and includes moving references to his daughter's death there.
The literature of the early 10th century was either in the form of fairy tales such as
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (trans. 1956), or of poem-tales such as the Ise monogatari
(The Tales of Ise, c. 980). The greatest works of Heian literature appeared in the late 10th
and early 11th centuries, notably Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji, c. 1010) by
Murasaki Shikibu and Makura-no-soshi (The Pillow-Book) by Sei Shonagon, another
woman of the court. The Tale of Genji, a detailed panoramic picture of Heian court life,
may be considered the first important novel in world literature. It also includes many
tanka written by the characters in various situations. The novel traces in 54 long chapters
the life and loves of Prince Genji and Kaoru, his presumed son. It becomes increasingly
profound toward the end, probably an indication that the author had perfected her mastery
of the craft of fiction. The work of Murasaki Shikibu has frequently been translated into
English; a translation by the American scholar Edward Seidensticker appeared in 1976.
The Pillow-Book, the earlier of the two classic works, is a witty, often brilliant, collection
of sketches revealing the more wordly aspect of the same court society. It was first
translated by the English scholar Arthur Waley in 1928.
Kamakura-Muromachi Period
(late 12th-16th cent.). The collapse of the manorial system in Japan culminated in
the defeat of the Taira clan by the Minamoto clan, who established the government in
Kamakura in 1192. From the end of the 12th until the early 17th century Japan was in an
almost constant state of warfare and turmoil. The dominant figures in Japanese society
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were the samurai, or warrior, who engaged in a life of action, and the Buddhist priest,
who devoted his life primarily to contemplation. The finest of several imperial
anthologies of poetry, the Shin kokin-shu (New Collection of Ancient and Modern
Poems, 1205?), commissioned by former emperor Go-Toba and compiled by a committee
that included Fujiwara Teika, reflects the change in national and literary mood to one of
gloom and solitude. Japanese scholars use the term yugen (mystery and depth), which has
definite religious overtones, to characterize the entire literature of this period. One of the
major poets of this anthology is, significantly, a religious figure, the priest Saigyo. The
defeat of the Taira by the Minamoto clan became the subject of the most famous prose
piece of the period, the Heike monogatari (The Tales of the Taira Clan, c. 1220), by an
anonymous author. The Ten Foot Square Hut (1212; trans. 1928) by another priest, Kamo
Chomei, contrasts the vanity of the world with the virtues of Buddhist contemplation.
Diary of the Waning Moon (1277; trans. 1951) is a literary diary compiled by a nun,
Abutsu, consisting of prose and poetry, the latter sections being of greater importance.
Essays in Idleness (1340; trans. 1967) by Kenko Yoshida is reminiscent of The Pillow-
Book but more melancholy in mood, undoubtedly reflecting regret at the disturbances of
the times. The major type of fiction of this era was the otogizoshi, collections of popular
short stories by unknown authors.
The foremost poetic development in the period after the early 14th century was
the creation of the renga, or linked verse, a form circumscribed by many regulations.
Three or more poets would cooperate in composing one long poem, consisting of
alternate verses, one containing lines of seven, five, and seven syllables and the other two
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lines of seven syllables each. The greatest masters of this form, Sogi, Shohaku, and
Socho, together composed the famous Minase sangin (Three Poets at Minase) in 1488.
Edo Period
(1603-1867). With the establishment of peace in 1603 under the Tokugawa clan,
which had its seat of government in Edo (present-day Tokyo), commerce flourished and
towns developed, producing a merchant class that soon created its own literature, a
bawdy, worldly fiction radically different in character from the literature of the preceding
period. The most important figure of the period was Ihara Saikaku, whose Life of an
Amorous Man (1682; trans. 1964) is a brilliant work of fiction full of humor and wit,
presenting a panoramic view of the sensual life of mercantile society. Many writers
imitated Saikaku in the 18th century, but none equaled his achievements. The 19th
century brought into prominence an important, if somewhat limited, writer of fiction,
Jippensha Ikku (circa 1765-1831). He is the author of Hizakurige (1802-22; trans. 1929),
which is a delightful picaresque work that relates the misadventures of two scamps.
The haiku, a poem in 17 syllables, was perfected in this period. Possibly the
greatest Japanese aesthetic achievement in literature, it can be described as the distilled
essence of poetry and it reflects the influence of Zen, a form of Buddhism that prevailed
in Japan at this time. Three poets are preeminent for their haiku. The first is the Zen
Buddhist lay-priest Basho, who took excursions to remote regions, composing as the
mood struck him, so that his poetry is set within travel accounts, the prose sections of
which are also significant. He is revered as the greatest of Japanese poets for his
sensitivity and profundity and is particularly noted for his Narrow Road Through the
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Deep North (1964; trans. 1966). The second is Yosa Buson, whose haiku express his
experience as a painter. The third is Kobayashi Issa, a poet of humble origin, who drew
his material from village life. Comic poetry, in a variety of forms, also flourished during
the Edo period.
Modern Period
(1867 to the present). Throughout the modern period Japanese writers were
influenced by other literatures, primarily those of the West, and they refashioned many
foreign literary concepts and techniques in fiction and poetry.
19th Century
The humorist Kanagaki Robunis a transitional figure who attempted vainly to
adapt himself to the new age but basically adhered to the comic style of the Edo period.
Translations from Western literature, at first primarily from works of British authors,
gave impetus to the political novel, an interesting if not highly literary genre that
prevailed throughout the 1880s. Kajin no kigu (Chance Meeting with Two Beauties), by
Tokai Sanshi, is an extravagant and unintentionally humorous work tracing the travels
and fortunes of a young Japanese politician. The critical work Shosetsu shinzui (The
Essence of the Novel, 1885), by the writer Tsubouchi Shoyo, argues for a prose art
grounded in realism, on the Western model. The next step forward in modernization was
The Drifting Cloud (1887; trans. 1967) by Futabatei Shimei, the first serious novel in the
colloquial language.
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The Kenyusha (The Society of the Friends of the Inkstone), a student literary
society founded by the novelist and poet Ozaki Koyo, became important in Japanese
literary life after 1890. The society influenced the creation of a new literature that
maintained traditional aesthetic values while incorporating Western techniques. A young
writer so influenced, Higuchi Ichiyo, deftly traces the psychology of children and young
lovers in a number of short stories. Her Growing Up (1896; trans. 1956) is generally
considered her masterpiece.
20th Century
French naturalistic fiction attracted young Japanese authors, who soon developed
a naturalism of their own with less social content and far greater subjectivity. The leading
figure in this naturalistic style is Shimazaki Toson, whose Hakai (The Breaking of the
Commandment, 1906), describing the confession of an outcast youth, firmly established
the movement. Two exceedingly important figures, Mori Ogai and Natsume Soseki,
stood aloof from this dominating French tradition. Ogai drew his inspiration primarily
from German literature. He was active in writing poetry, drama, novels, and historical
biography. Perhaps his best work of fiction is The Wild Geese (1911-13; trans. 1959),
which examines with remarkable acuity the feelings of a girl who is forced to be the
mistress of a usurer. Soseki was a scholar of English literature before he turned to
imaginative writing. His monumental achievement in the psychological novel makes him
unquestionably one of the greatest writers Japan has produced in modern times. In his
works written between 1905 and his death in 1916 he created a fictional world that
constitutes a ruthless indictment of modern egoism. His incomplete last work, Meian
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(Light and Darkness), is perhaps the only modern Japanese novel that in scope and depth
resembles the achievement of the Russian masters.
In the period from 1910 to 1930 Akutagawa Ryunosuke, a disciple of Soseki,
created a highly structured, polished short-story form that, in English translation, has
found admirers throughout the world. "Rashomon" (1915), which was made into a
motion picture, is one of his tales that was translated in Rashomon and Other Stories
(1952).
The militarist domination of Japanese life in the 1930s largely stifled literature,
although a few writers retreated into an uncontroversial aestheticism. Kawabata Yasunari,
the recipient of the 1968 Nobel Prize for literature, and Tanizaki Junichiro are foremost
among the authors who emerged from World War II to continue perfecting their craft.
Their work is known to readers of English through the excellent translations by Edward
Seidensticker of Kawabata's Snow Country (1935-47; trans. 1956) and Tanizaki's Some
Prefer Nettles (1929; trans. 1955). Another of Japan's most highly regarded postwar
writers, Mishima Yukio, wrote a number of novels, plays, and short stories concerning
his despair over the Westernization of his country and his desire for a return to the nobler
Japan of earlier times. Among his haunting works are his first novel, the partly
autobiographical Confessions of a Mask (1949; trans. 1958), and his tetralogy, The Sea of
Fertility (1970; trans. 1972-75), an epic story of modern Japan. The death-obsessed
Mishima died by committing ritual hara-kiri.
Although poetry has been less important than fiction throughout the modern
period, Masaoka Shiki deserves mention as the creator of modern forms of the tanka and
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haiku. Since the end of the 19th century a vigorous movement for the writing of poetry in
the Western style has arisen, and several prominent poets have emerged in this genre.
In the period after World War II Japanese literature received a careful and
sympathetic appraisal by several American scholars, foremost among them Donald
Keene. Through their work of criticism and translation, Japanese literature has become
recognized as a vital part of world literature.
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Indian Literature
The Indian literary tradition is primarily one of verse and is also essentially oral.
The earliest works were composed to be sung or recited and were so transmitted for many
generations before being written down. As a result, the earliest records of a text may be
later by several centuries than the conjectured date of its composition. Furthermore,
perhaps because so much Indian literature is either religious or a reworking of familiar
stories from the Sanskrit epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and the
mythological writings known as Puranas, the authors often remain anonymous.
Biographical details of the lives of most of the earlier Indian writers exist only in much
later stories and legends.
Other Themes
In medieval Indian literature the earliest works in many of the languages were
sectarian, designed to advance or to celebrate some unorthodox regional belief. Examples
are the Caryapadas in Bengali, Tantric verses of the 12th century, and the Lilacaritra
(circa 1280), in Marathi. In Kannada (Kanarese) from the 10th century, and later in
Gujarati from the 13th century, the first truly indigenous works are Jain romances;
ostensibly the lives of Jain saints, these are actually popular tales based on Sanskrit and
Pali themes. Other example was in Rajasthani of the bardic tales of chivalry and heroic
resistance to the first Muslim invasions - such as the 12th-century epic poem Prithiraja-
raso by Chand Bardai of Lahore.
Most important of all for later Indian literature were the first traces in the
vernacular languages of the northern Indian cults of Krishna and of Rama. Included are
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the 12th-century poems by Jaydev, called the Gitagovinda (The Cowherd's Song); and
about 1400, a group of religious love poems written in Maithili (eastern Hindi of Bihar)
by the poet Vidyapati were a seminal influence on the cult of Radha-Krishna in Bengal.
The Bhakti Tradition
The full flowering of the Radha-Krishna cult, under the Hindu mystics Chaitanya
in Bengal and Vallabhacharya at Mathura, involved bhakti (a personal devotion to a god).
Although earlier traces of this attitude are found in the work of the Tamil Alvars (mystics
who wrote ecstatic hymns to Vishnu between the 7th and 10th centuries), a later surge of
bhakti flooded every channel of Indian intellectual and religious life beginning in the late
15th century. Bhakti was also addressed to Rama (an avatar of Vishnu), most notably in
the Avadhi (eastern Hindi) works of Tulsi Das; his Ramcharitmanas (Lake of the Acts of
Rama, 1574-77; trans. 1952) has become the authoritative. The early gurus or founders of
the Sikh religion, especially Nanak and Arjun, composed bhakti hymns to their concepts
of deity. These are the first written documents in Punjabi (Panjabi) and form part of the
Adi Granth (First, or Original, Book), the sacred scripture of the Sikhs, which was first
compiled by Arjun in 1604.
In the 16th century, the Rajaasthani princess and poet Mira Bai addressed her
bhakti lyric verse to Krishna, as did the Gujarati poet Narsimh Mehta.
Traditional Material
In the 16th century, Jagannath Das wrote an Oriya version of the Bhagavata and
Tuncattu Eruttacchan, the so-called father of Malayalam literature, wrote recensions of
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traditional literature. Added, in the 18th century, was a deliberate imitation of Sanskritic
forms and vocabulary by pandits. In 18th-century evolved Assamese and Marathi prose
chronicles, ballads, and folk drama involving much dance and song.
The Tamil Tradition
The only Indian writings that incontestably predate the influence of classical
Sanskrit are those in the Tamil language. Anthologies of secular lyrics on the themes of
love and war, together with the grammatical-stylistic work Tolkappiyam (Old
Composition), are thought to be very ancient. Later, between the 6th and 9th centuries,
Tamil sectarian devotional poems were composed, often claimed as the first examples of
the Indian bhakti tradition. At some indeterminate date between the 2nd and 5th
centuries, two long Tamil verse romances (sometimes called epics) were written:
Cilappatikaram (The Jeweled Anklet) by Ilanko Atikal, which has been translated into
English (1939 and 1965); and its sequel Manimekalai (The Girdle of Gems), a Buddhist
work by Cattanar.
Linguistic and Cultural Influences
Much traditional Indian literature is derived in theme and form not only from
Sanskrit literature but from the Buddhist and Jain texts written in the Pali language and
the other Prakrits (medieval dialects of Sanskrit). This applies to literature in the
Dravidian languages of the south as well as to literature in the Indo-Iranian languages of
the north. Invasions of Persians and Turks, beginning in the 14th century, resulted in the
influence of Persian and Islamic culture in Urdu, although important Islamic strands can
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be found in other literatures as well, especially those written in Bengali, Gujarati, and
Kashmiri. After 1817, entirely new literary values were established that remain dominant
today.
The Urdu poets almost always wrote in Persian forms, using the ghazal for love
poetry in addition to an Islamic form of bhakti, the masnavi for narrative verse, and the
marsiya for elegies. Urdu then gained use as a literary language in Delhi and Lucknow.
The ghazals of Mir and Ghalib mark the highest achievement of Urdu lyric verse. The
Urdu poets were mostly sophisticated, urban artists, but some adopted the idiom of folk
poetry, as is typical of the verses in Punjabi, Pushtu, Sindhi or other regional languages.
Regional Liiterature
Literary activities burst forth with the playwright Bharata’s (200 BC) Natya
Shastra, the Bible of dramatic criticism. The earliest plays were soon overshadowed by
Kalidasa’s Shakuntala, a heroic play, a model for ages. While Shudraka’s
Mrichchhakatika, was a play of the social class. Bhavabhuti (circa 700AD) was another
well-known figure, his best being Malatimadhava and Uttaramacharita (based on
Ramayana).
The great Sanskrit poems are five – Kalidasa’s Raghuvamsa and
Kumarasambhava, Kiratarjuniya of Bharavi (550AD), Sishupalavadha of Magha (7th
century AD) and Naishadhiyacharita of Sriharsha (12th century AD). All of them draw
from the Mahabharata. Shorter poems of great depth were composed on a single theme
like love, morality, detachment and sometimes of grave matters. The earliest and best
collections of such verses called Muktakas are those of Bhartrihari and Amaruka.
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Much of the early prose work in Sanskrit has not survived. Of the remaining,
some of the best are Vasavadatta of Subandhu, Kadambari and Harshacharita of Bana
(7th century AD) and Dasakumaracharita of Dandin (7th century AD). The Panchatantra
and Hitopadesha are collections of wit and wisdom in the Indian style, teaching polity
and proper conduct through animal fables and aphorisms.
With a glorious life of over 3000 years, Sanskrit continues to be a living language
even today, bobbing up during Hindu ceremonies when mantras (ritual verses) are
chanted. And though restricted, it’s still a medium of literary expression, but ‘great
works’ have long stopped being written.
The Modern Period
Poets such as Ghalib, lived and worked during the British era, when a literary
revolution occurred in all the Indian languages as a result of contact with Western
thought, when the printing press was introduced (by Christian missionaries), and when
the influence of Western educational institutions was strong. During the mid-19th century
in the great ports of Mumbai, Calcutta, and Chennai, a prose literary tradition arose—
encompassing the novel, short story, essay, and literary drama (this last incorporating
both classical Sanskrit and Western models)—that gradually engulfed the customary
Indian verse genres. Urdu poets remained faithful to the old forms while Bengalis were
imitating such English poets as Percy Bysshe Shelley or T.S. Eliot.
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Ram Mohan Roy's (1774-1833) campaign for introduction of scientific education
in India and Swami Vivekananda's work are considered to be great examples of the
English literature in India.
During the last 150 years many writers have contributed to the development of
modern Indian literature, writing in any of the 18 major languages (as well as in English).
Bengali has led the way and today has one of the most extensive literatures of any Indian
language. One of its greatest representatives is Sir Rabindranath Tagore, the first Indian
to win the Nobel Prize for literature (1913). Much of his prose and verse is available in
his own English translations.
Work by two other great 20th-century Indian leaders and writers is also widely
known: the verse of the Islamic leader and philosopher Sir Muhammad Iqbal, originally
written in Urdu and Persian; and the autobiography of Mohandas K. Gandhi, My
Experiments with Truth, originally written in Gujarati between 1927 and 1929, is now
considered a classic.
Several other writers are relatively well known to the West. They include
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) for his Glimpses of World History, Discovery of India and
An Autobiography (1936); Mulk Raj Anand, among whose many works the early
affectionate Untouchable (1935) and Coolie (1936) are novels of social protest; and R. K.
Narayan, writer of novels and tales of village life in southern India. The first of Narayan's
many works, Swami and Friends, appeared in 1935; among his more recent titles are The
English Teacher (1980), The Vendor of Sweets (1983), and Under the Banyan Tree
(1985). Among the younger authors writing of modern India with nostalgia for the past is
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Anita Desai—as in Clear Light of Day (1980). Her In Custody (1984) is the story of a
teacher's fatal enchantment with poetry. Ved Mehta, although long resident in the U.S.,
recalls his Indian roots in a series of memoirs of his family and of his education at
schools for the blind in India and America; among these works are Vedi (1982) and
Sound Shadows of the New World (1986).
The other well-known novelist/ writers are Dom Moraes (A Beginning), Nlissim
E Zekiel (The Unfurnished Man), P Lal, A.K.Ramanujan (whose translations of Tamil
classics are internationally known), Kamala Das, Arun Kolatkar and R. Parthasarathy;
Toru Dutt; Sarojini Naidu; Aurobindo; Raja Rao, GV Desani, M Ananthanarayanan,