Southeast Asian Literature PDF

## Southeast Asian Literature **Discussion Questions** 1. Was the short activity difficult? How many of the festivities were you able to answer correctly? What clues helped you figure out which country the festivity originated in? 2. Basing on the given short description for each festivity or y...

## Southeast Asian Literature **Discussion Questions** 1. Was the short activity difficult? How many of the festivities were you able to answer correctly? What clues helped you figure out which country the festivity originated in? 2. Basing on the given short description for each festivity or your further research about each festival, what common denominator can you observe? 3. In your opinion, what greatly influences these Asian festivities? Can we observe these same influences in Asian literature? Expound on your answer by citing an Asian literature text showcasing any of the similar traditions. 4. What do you think is the connection of a country's culture and tradition to its literature? And vice versa, how does literature affect a country's culture and traditions? **Southeast Asian Literature** Asian literature can be dated back to times even before human developed the ability to read and write. Although an exact date is harder to come by given the wide nature of this topic. Like most other literature, earlier transcribed documents were based on stories that were passed down by word of mouth. In Southeast Asia, literature exist not only through the written text. At the beginning oral traditions, riddles, puns, proverbs, legends, and stories of origins and myths were etched into the minds of listeners. Only later tales were attempted to be immortalized by having them in some crude form of "printing/writing". Early means of "printing" the oral text included etching on palm leaf or bamboo. A sharp pointed knife-like tool was used to carve the surface, and then dark ashes were rubbed on to make the cuts stand out. Other forms of recording include writing on animal skins and etching on hammered sheets of metal. Because such forms were often subject to the changes of nature, recopying was an ongoing process. The multiplication of these copies became a license for creativity and revision. Some early scholars characterized Southeast Asian literature as naive and predictable love stories and heroic epics; but this tends to express a Western bias. Often the beauty of a tale did not reside in the uniqueness of the theme, but rather in how well it was embellished. Early documents describe Southeast Asia as the "Land of Gold". Its vast resources served as a meeting point for early Indian, Chinese, Arab, and Persian traders. Such interests left a complex of cultural legacies in their wake. The region now comprising Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines is viewed as a major crossroads of commerce, ideas, and ideals. Interest in the trade route and resources of Southeast Asia has continued into the modern era: the Portuguese in Malaysia and Indonesia, the Dutch and the British in Myanmar and India, the French in Laos and Vietnam, as well as the Spanish in the Philippines. In the postcolonial Southeast Asia, the origins of the people, the integrity of languages and literatures can quickly become a matter of national pride. In this lesson, we will look at some Southeast Asian literature to see how the duality of colonial influence and the organic nature of each conquered country can be unique and interconnected, as well as its quest for identity in the face of said influence. ### Vietnam The history of Vietnamese literature is closely linked to the country's ongoing political struggles. Voices and sentiments in literature in Vietnam can cut across regional divides, ranging from North Vietnam's former President Ho Chi Minh's declaration that the writer should be a soldier for the communist cause, to the post-reunification disappointment of writers in the former South Vietnam. Resistance against French and American forces sets the tone for a good deal of modern literature. In addition, part of the modern literature of Vietnam includes works of writers in exile in France or the United States. In the early 1930s, Vietnamese literature took a great leap forward, which involved breaking out of the constraints of classical Chinese styles. In 1932, a movement called The New Poetry was born. A reaction against the strict style of Chinese T’ang poetry, the New Poetry moved to more open expression and an elastic prose style. Incorporating desirable aspects of a foreign influence, this time French Romanticism, the New Poetry expressed more personal emotion and subjectivity. Prior to French influence, fiction in Vietnam was largely composed of courtly romances. French influence can also be found in the advent of the short story form. In the early 1930s, debates over ancient versus modern, "art for art's sake," and "art for life" also emerged. About 1935, a strain of Realism emerged in relation to documentary writing, which included features portraying the real lives of rickshaw drivers, prostitutes, and others. Nguyen Cong Hoan (1903-1977), from North Vietnam, was one of the more prolific advocates of critical realism. The pathos of a good deal of Vietnamese fiction is evident in his portrayal of Tu Ben the (actor torn between duties to his craft and his (filial) concerns for a passing father. The birth of the novel in Vietnam also stems from the early 1930s. Three main types of novels evolved: the romantic, socialist, realist, and a more scholarly type that seeks to keep Vietnam's ancient cultural heritage alive. At the turn of the 21st century, the second generation of writers had emerged abroad, especially in the United States, including Nguyen Qui Duc (Where the Ashes Are, 1994); Andrew Lam (1995) of Once upon a Time; Monique Truong (The Vietnamese-American Experience (1995); Monique Truong (The Book of Salt (2003); and Le Thi Diem Thuy, The Gangster We Are All Looking for (2003). There remained in Vietnamese literature, where one found it, traces of French Symbolism and of a renovated Socialist Realism. In poetry, frequent use of free verse occurred. Postmodernist and even magic realism had become available literary strategies. All these blended into the ancient streams of Vietnamese literary habit, which had by no means disappeared. ### Malaysia The literature of Malaysia is infused with folk tales, Indian and Javanese influences, and Muslim (Persian-Arab) influence. These influences brought on a dynamic process of selective adaptation resulting in localized literary styles, which include the "hikayat" (grand stories that contain elements of chronicles, romance and epic heroism), "syair", and "pantun" (four-line poetic verses of a proverbial nature, often used in courtship). The beauty of these forms is meant to be heard, and so such works are recited as well as read. Most early hikayat were passed down from anonymous sources. One of the earliest works in Malay, dating from the 14th century (c.1350-c.1511), is the Hikayat Raja-Raja Pasai. Dealing with the first Malay-Islamic kingdom of Samudera Pasai, this hikayat explains how the protagonist, Merah Silu, meets Muhammad in a dream and the knowledge of Islam is magically transmitted to him via an exchange of saliva. The Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals, c.1536-c.1612) is a literary work with both literary and historical significance. The aim of this work is to laud the greatness of the sultans of Malacca and highlight the importance of this major trading crossroads. This work includes valuable information on matters of foreign relations as well as works of literature that were read to the Malay warriors before they went into battle, and suffered defeat at the hands of the Portuguese, in 1511. The work, however, omits portrayals of common, peasant life, a feature that will come to the forefront of themes in more modern Malaysian literature. Modern Malay literature is considered to have begun with the works of Abdullahbin Abdul Kadir Munsyi (1797-1856), a Malaccan Malay of Arab and Indian descent. While his style was not very experimental, his descriptions of contemporary life as well as his criticisms of Malay society and sense of individualism make him stand out as a writer ahead of his time. His more autobiographical Hikayat Abdullah is deemed a monumental work. Another major phase of the development of modern literature occurred between the 1920s and the advent of World War II. During this time there were an increasing number of novels and short stories dealing with the everyday life of Malay people. The first novel in Malay was published in 1926, Hikayat Faridah Hanum by Syed Sheikh Al-Hady, and it is actually an adaptation of an Egyptian work. While the novel follows the love themes of other hikayat, it is unique in its portrayal of human beings living in modern society. Abdul Rahim Kajai is viewed as the father of Malaysian short stories. Malaysian literature and fiction remains something of a mystery outside of Southeast Asia. But this is changing due to the success of Tan Twan Eng, a Malaysian novelist who in 2012 was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and in 2013 won the Man Asian Literary Prize for The Garden of Evening Mists. Eng's success has put the spotlight on older classics of Malaysian fiction such as Abdullah Hussain's Interlok, and the graphic novel The Kampung Boy. ### Indonesia The Indonesian national motto is itself an expression of mythological, mystical, and practical dimensions: bhinneka tunggal ika - "different are one or unit in diversity. This motto, expressed in Old Javanese, quotes from a kekawin, a form of poetry based on Sanskrit kavya. Kekawin poetry borrows most of its subject matter from Hindu sources. Indian influence is especially clear in Old Javanese, and many Sanskrit-inspired works appeared in this language from the latter part of the first century. As in many other parts of Southeast Asia, the division between religious and secular texts often is not very clear. The recitation of riddles may serve a religious function or carry a merely profane message. Folk tales derived from Indian influences abound. One example is the "mouse deer" cycle of allegorical tales, which is popular in Indonesia and Malaysia. The mouse deer, a small animal of prey, plays the role of a trickster offering advice about survival. It is difficult to discuss Indonesian literature without mentioning colonization and various other forces that have been brought to bear on Indonesian society. Modern writers attempt to make valuable aspects of precolonial literature stand in contrast to the models and ideals proposed by colonial forces. The study of literature is marked by "Generations" (angkatan) of writers who presented counterarguments to colonial domination and challenges to national identity in response to political pressures. Some of the styles of these Generations are characterized by experimentation with Romanticism, Realism, and socialism/communism. During periods of state suppression, literature can often function as thinly disguised critiques of political systems. One example of a short story incorporating traditional themes and genres is "Interview with Ravana" (1982) by Yudhistira Ardi Noegraha (pseudonym, Yudhistira ANM Massardi). Drawing on characters and epic notions of evil from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the wayang shadow-puppet theater, the story satirizes modern Indonesia and corruption within the Suharto regime. A literary generation Pujangga Baru, emerged in 1933 under the leadership of Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana and Armijn Pane. This generation based itself on the spirit of nationalism and formation of new culture in romantic style. This literary generation officially emerged in 1933 together with the publication of their magazine, Poedjangga Baroe, in May 1933. Actually, their activities already began a long time before that. Since 1922, several writers who joined this generation started publishing their own work. Most of the work of this generation were new poems that were different from the poems before, such as verses and rhymes. The writers who wrote long before 1933 were Muhammad Yamin (Tanah Air, 1922), Sanusi Pane (Pancaran Cinta, 1925), Rustam Effendi (Percikan Permenungan, 1926), A. Rvai Yogi (Puspa Aneka, 1931). Literature is taken very seriously, and authors can easily end up in jail. This was especially true after 1965, when an abortive communist coup was suppressed by Suharto (former president); in the wake of his fall in 1998, the literary scene opened up considerably. A prominent example of a writer jailed for his work is Pramoedya Ananta Toer. One of Pramoedya's most famous works is his novel *This Earth of Mankind* (volume one of his *Buru Quartet*). Written in the late 1970s while he was a prisoner on the island of Buru, Pramoedya's work is an important discourse on the colonial experience. His protagonist is a young elite Javanese man educated in Dutch schools in Surabaya. First entranced by how this education opens his world, he soon suffers the restrictions placed on his (and Indonesia's) autonomy by the same Dutch colonial power. His disillusionment, and impulse toward independence, echoes the life experience of Jose Rizal in the Philippines (and Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam), suggesting a certain amount of pan-Southeast Asian solidarity of political consciousness.