L

I
A
T
F
R E
O
R
-
A A
S
T
I
English Communication Arts and Skills
A U
N
R Voyages
E In
 Afro-Asian Introduction

Literature
What is Literature?

As man started to walk the earth, he developed a system of recording down things around him and
interpreting them according to his own perception. This act of documenting may have been the start of the
medium. Not all written material may be considered literature. Only those that closely emulate the human
experience, emotion and thought are regarded as literature.
Countries and Literature, most generically, is any body of written works. More restrictively,
Continents that literature refers to writing considered to be an art form or any single writing
provided Afro- deemed to have artistic or intellectual value, often due to deploying language in
ways that differ from ordinary usage.
Asian Literature
Its Latin root literatura/litteratura (derived itself from littera: letter or
handwriting) was used to refer to all written accounts. The concept has
changed meaning over time to include texts that are spoken or sung (oral
literature), and non-written verbal art forms. Developments in print technology
have allowed an ever-growing distribution and proliferation of written works,
South Korea culminating in electronic literature.
North Korea
Japan Why do we always need to consider the culture of the people when we study
Saudi Arabia literature?
Vietnam
China In modern times, part of the World literature, Afro-Asian literature is a separate
Indonesia segment of writing of experiences in Africa and Asia for further cultural
India understanding and world peace. Afro-Asian Literature mirrors not only the
Egypt customs and traditions of African and Asian countries but also their philosophy of
Malaysia life which on the whole are deeply and predominantly contemplative and
Israel hauntingly sweet. Afro-Asian Literature is the reflection of the storm and the stress
Africa of developing nations seeking a place under the sun which every student must
Thailand understand so he may know how this literature affects the history and culture of a
Philippines nation.

The background of Afro-Asian literature dates to the very beginning when the first
Examples of Afro-Asian
Literature Works: mixed race individual began writing.
“Dreams in a Time of • Earlier written documents were based on stories passed by word of mouth.
War” and “Petals on • Literary works were handed by mouth from generation to generation to
Blood” by Ngugi wa entertain, educate and remind the people about their past, heroic deeds of their
Thiong'o. people, ancestry and culture.
• Afro-Asian literature is a sign of new and modern times. It also teaches people
“Within Myself” and and allow them to learn about different experiences and cultures from all over the
“Brave Faces: The Daring world.
Stand Against Cancer” by
Nasra Al Adawi.

“Things Fall Apart” and

“Arrow of God” by Chinua
Achebe.
 Lesson 2
The Soul of the Great Bell by Lafcadio
Hearn (1850-1904)
The water-clock marks the hour in the Tachungsz’, in the Tower of the Great Bell: now the mallet is
lifted to smite the lips of the metal monster—the vast lips inscribed with Buddhist texts from the sacred
Fa-hwa-King, from the chapters of the holy Ling-yen-King! Hear the great
bell responding!—how mighty her voice, though tongue less! KO-NGAI!
All the little dragons on the high-tilted eaves of the green roofs shiver to
the tips of their gilded tails under that deep wave of sound; all the
porcelain gargoyles tremble on their carven perches; all the hundred little
bells of the pagodas quiver with desire to speak. KO-NGAI—all the
green-and-gold tiles of the temple are vibrating; the wooden goldfish
above them are writhing against the sky; the uplifted finger of Fo shakes high over the heads of the
worshippers through the blue fog of incense! KO-NGAI!—what a thunder tone was that! All the
lacquered goblins on the palace cornices wriggle their fire-coloured tongues! And after each huge
shock, how wondrous the multiple echo and the great golden moan, and, at last, the sudden sibilant
sobbing in the ears when the immense tone faints away in broken whispers of silver, as though a
woman should whisper, “Hiai!” Even so the great bell hath sounded every day for well-nigh five hundred
years—Ko-Ngai: first with stupendous clang, then with immeasurable moan of gold, then with silver
murmuring of “Hiai!” And there is not a child in all the many-coloured ways of the old Chinese city who
does not know the story of the great bell, who cannot tell you why the great bell says Ko-Ngai and Hiai!
Now this is the story of the great bell in the Tachungsz’, as the same is related in the Pe-HiaoTou-
Choue, written by the learned Yu-Pao-Tchen, of the City of Kwang-tchau-fu.

Nearly five hundred years ago the Celestially August, the Son of
Heaven, Yong-Lo, of the “Illustrious” or Ming dynasty, commanded
the worthy official Kouan-Yu that he should have a bell made of such
size that the sound thereof might be heard for one hundred li. And
he further ordained that the voice of the bell should be strengthened
with brass, and deepened with gold, and sweetened with silver; and
that the face and the great lips of it should be graven with blessed
sayings from the sacred books, and that it should be suspended in
the centre of the imperial capital to sound through all the many-
coloured ways of the City of Pe-King. Therefore the worthy mandarin
Kouan-Yu assembled the master-moulders and the renowned bell
smiths of the empire, and all men of great repute and cunning in foundry work; and they measured the
materials for the alloy, and treated them skillfully, and prepared the moulds, the fires, the instruments,
and the monstrous melting-pot for fusing the metal. And they
laboured exceedingly, like giants neglecting only rest and
sleep and the comforts of life; toiling both night and day in
obedience to Kouan-Yu, and striving in all things to do the
behest of the Son of Heaven. But when the metal had been
cast, and the earthen mould separated from the glowing
casting, it was discovered that, despite their great labour and
ceaseless care, the result was void of worth; for the metals
had rebelled one against the other—the gold had scorned
alliance with the brass, the silver would not mingle with the
molten iron. Therefore the moulds had to be once more
prepared, and the fires rekindled, and the metal remelted, and
all the work tediously and toilsomely repeated. The Son of Heaven heard and was angry, but spoke
nothing. A second time the bell was cast, and the result was even worse. Still the metals obstinately
refused to blend one with the other; and there was no uniformity in the bell, and the sides of it were
cracked and fissured, and the lips of it were slagged and split asunder; so that all the labour had to be
repeated even a third time, to the great dismay of Kouan-Yu. And when the Son of Heaven heard these
things, he was angrier than before; and sent his messenger to Kouan-Yu with a letter, written upon
lemoncoloured silk and sealed with the seal of the dragon, containing these words:

“From the Mighty Young-Lo, the Sublime Tait-Sung, the Celestial

and August, whose reign is called ‘Ming,’ to Kouan-Yu the
Fuhyin: Twice thou hast betrayed the trust we have deigned
graciously to place in thee; if thou fail a third time in fulfilling our
command, thy head shall be severed from thy neck.Tremble, and
obey!” Now, Kouan-Yu had a daughter of dazzling loveliness
whose name—Ko-Ngai—was ever in the mouths of poets, and
whose heart was even more beautiful than her face. Ko-Ngai
loved her father with such love that she had refused a hundred
worthy suitors rather than make hishome desolate by her
absence; and when she had seen the awful yellow missive,
sealed with the Dragon-Seal, she fainted away with fear for her father’s sake. And when her senses
and her strength returned to her, she could not rest or sleep for thinking of her parent’s danger, until she
had secretly sold some of her jewels, and with the money so obtained had hastened to an astrologer,
and paid him a great price to advise her by what means her father might be saved from the peril
impending over him. So the astrologer made observations of the
heavens, and marked the aspect of the Silver Stream (which we
call the Milky Way), and examined the signs of the Zodiac—the
Hwang-tao, or Yellow Road—and consulted the table of the Five
Hin, or Principles of the Universe, and the mystical books of the
alchemists. And after a long silence, he made answer to her,
saying: “Gold and brass will never meet in wedlock, silver and iron
never will embrace, until the flesh of a maiden be melted in the
crucible; until the blood of a virgin be mixed with the metals in their
fusion.” So Ko-Ngai returned home sorrowful at heart; but she kept
secret all that she had heard, and told no one what she had done.
At last came the awful day when the third and last effort to cast the
great bell was to be made; and Ko-Ngai, together with her waiting-woman, accompanied her father to
the foundry, and they took their places upon a platform overlooking the toiling of the moulders and the
lava of liquefied metal. All the workmen wrought at their tasks in silence; there was no sound heard but
the muttering of the fires. And the muttering deepened into a roar like the roar of typhoons approaching,
and the blood-red lake of metal slowly brightened like the vermilion of a sunrise, and the vermilion was
transmuted into a radiant glow of gold, and the gold whitened blindingly, like the silver face of a full
moon. Then the workers ceased to feed the raving flame, and all fixed their eyes upon the eyes of
Kouan-Yu; and Kouan-Yu prepared to give the signal to cast. But ere ever he lifted his finger, a cry
caused him to turn his head and all heard the voice of Ko-Ngai sounding sharply sweet as a bird’s song
above the great thunder of the fires—“For thy sake, O my father!” And even as she cried, she leaped
into the white flood of metal; and the lava of the furnace roared to receive her, and spattered monstrous
flakes of flame to the roof, and burst over the verge of the earthen crater, and cast up a whirling fountain
of many-coloured fires, and subsided quakingly, with lightnings and with thunders and with mutterings.
Then the father of Ko-Ngai, wild with his grief, would have leaped in after her, but that strong men held
him back and kept firm grasp upon him until he had fainted away, and they could bear him like one dead
to his home. And the serving-woman of Ko-Ngai, dizzy and speechless for pain, stood before the
furnace, still holding in her hands a shoe, a tiny, dainty shoe, with embroidery of pearls and flowers—the
shoe of her beautiful mistress that was. For she had sought to grasp Ko-Ngai by the foot as she leaped,
but had only been able to clutch the shoe, and the pretty shoe came off in her hand; and she continued
to stare at it like one gone mad. But in spite of all these things, the command of the Celestial and
August had to be obeyed, and the work of the molders to be finished, hopeless as the result might be.
Yet the glow of the metal seemed purer and whiter than before; and there was no sign of the beautiful
body that had been entombed therein. So the ponderous casting was made; and lo! when the metal had
become cool, it was found that the bell was beautiful to look upon and perfect in form, and wonderful in
colour above all other bells. Nor was there any trace found of the body of Ko-Ngai; for it had been totally
absorbed by the precious alloy, and blended with the well-blended brass and gold, with the intermingling
of the silver and the iron. And when they sounded the bell, its tones were found to be deeper and
mellower and mightier than the tones of any other bell, reaching even beyond the distance of one
hundred li, like a pealing of summer thunder; and yet also like some vast voice uttering a name, a
woman’s name, the name of Ko-Ngai. And still, between each mighty stroke there is a long low moaning
heard; and ever the moaning ends with a sound of sobbing and of complaining, as though a weeping
woman should murmur, “Hiai!” And still, when the people hear that great golden moan they keep
silence, but when the sharp, sweet shuddering comes in the air, and the sobbing of “Hiai!” then, indeed,
do all the Chinese mothers in all the many-coloured ways of Pe-King whisper to their little ones: “Listen!
that is Ko-Ngai crying for her shoe! That is Ko-Ngai calling for her shoe!”

Above is a folktale from China retold in English by Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904). Hearn was an
American journalist whose parents were Irish and Greek. He spent the latter part of his life in
Japan later marrying a Japanese girl. His interest in oriental culture inspired him to write the
English version of well-loved Chinese and Japanese folktales. When he became a Japanese citizen,
he took the name Yakumo Kaizumi.

“The Story of the Aged Mother” a Japanese

Folktale by Matsuo Basho
Long, long ago there lived at the foot of the mountain a poor farmer
and his aged, widowed mother . They owned a bit of land which
supplied them with food, and their humble were peaceful and
happy. Shinano was governed by a despotic leader who though a
warrior, had a great and cowardly shrinking from anything
suggestive of failing health and strength. This caused him to send
out a cruel proclamation. The entire province was given strict
orders to immediately put to death all aged people. Those were
barbarous days, and the custom of abandoning old people to die
was not common. The poor farmer loved his aged mother with
tender reverence, and the order filled his heart with sorrow. But no one ever thought a second time
about obeying the mandate of the governor, so with many deep hopeless sighs, the youth prepared for
what at that time was considered the kindest mode of death. Just at sundown, when his day’s work was
ended, he took a quantity of unwhitened rice which is principal food for poor, cooked and dried it, and
tying it in a square cloth, swung and bundle around his neck along with a gourd filled with cool, sweet
water. Then he lifted his helpless old mother to his back and stated on his painful journey up the
mountain. The road was long and steep; the narrowed road was
crossed and recrossed by many paths made by the hunters and
woodcutters. In some place, they mingled in a confused puzzled,
but he gave no heed. One path or another, it mattered not. On he
went, climbing blindly upward – ever upward towards the high
bare summit of what is known as Obatsuyama, the mountain of
the “abandoning of aged”. The eyes of the old mother were not so
dim but that they noted the reckless hastening from one path to
another, and her loving heart grew anxious. Her son did not know
the mountain’s many paths and his return might be one of danger,
so she stretched forth her hand and snapping the twigs from
brushes as they passed, she quietly dropped a handful every
few steps of the way so that they climbed, the narrow path
behind them was dotted at frequent intervals with tiny piles of
twigs. At last the summit was reached. Weary and heart sick,
the youth gently released his burden and silently prepared a
place of comfort as his last duty to the loved one. Gathering
fallen pine needle, he made a soft cushion and tenderly lifting
his old mother therein, he wrapped her padded coat more
closely about the stooping shoulders and with tearful eyes and
an aching heart said farewell. The trembling mother’s voice was
full of unselfish love as she gave her last injunction. “Let not thine eyes be blinded, my son.” She said.
“The mountain road is full of dangers. Look carefully and follow the path which holds the piles of twigs.
They will guide you to the familiar way farther down”. The son’s surprised eyes looked back over the
path, then at the poor old, shrivelled hands all scratched and soiled by their work of love. His heart
smote him and bowing to the grounds, he cried aloud: “Oh, honorable mother, thy kindness thrusts my
heart! I will not leave thee. Together we will follow the path of twigs, and together we will die!” Once
more he shouldered his burden (how light it seemed no) and hastened down the path, through the
shadows and the moonlight, to the little hut in the valley. Beneath the kitchen floor was a walled closet
for food, which was covered and hidden from view. There the son hid his mother, supplying her with
everything needful and continually watching and fearing. Time passed, and he was beginning to feel
safe when again the governor sent forth heralds bearing an unreasonable order, seemingly as a boast
of his power. His demand was that his subject should present him with a rope of ashes. The entire
province trembled with dread. The order must be obeyed yet who in all Shinano could make a rope of
ashes? One night, in great distress, the son whispered the news to his hidden mother. “Wait!” she said.
“I will think. I will think” On the second day she told him what to do. “Make rope twisted straw,” she said.
“Then stretch it upon a row of flat stones and burn it there on the windless night.” He called the people
together and did as she said and when the blaze had died, behold upon the stones with every twist and
fiber showing perfectly. Lay a rope of whitehead ashes. The governor was pleased at the wit of the
youth and praised greatly, but he demanded to know where he had obtained his wisdom. “Alas! Alas!”
cried the farmer, “the truth must be told!” and with deep bows he related his story. The governor listened
and then meditated in silence. Finally he lifted his head. “Shinano needs more than strength of youth,”
he said gravely. “Ah, that I should have forgotten the well-known saying, “with the crown of snow, there
cometh a wisdom!”. That very hour the cruel law was abolished, and the custom drifted into as far a past
that only legends remain.

Japanese and Chinese Traditions

Many Japanese traditions stem from their deep roots in religions. Two main religions dominate the
Japanese culture: Buddhism and Shintoism. Buddhist practices and beliefs in Japan stemmed from
practices in China and were very similar to those in China.

The Japanese Tea Ceremony is a cultural tradition that originated

in China. The tea was considered medicine that promoted physical
and spiritual health and was consumed for enjoyment purposes
primarily. The spiritual aspect involves harmony between the
persons participating in the ceremony, respect for those involved in
the ceremony, and purity. These three aspects bring tranquility to
those who participate in the tradition.
Japanese Theater : Noh & Kabuki Drama
Noh drama is rigidly traditional Japanese drama which in its present
form dates back to the early 14th century. Noh plays are short dramas
combining music, dance, and lyrics, with a highly stylized ritualistic
presentation. Kabuki drama combined elements of noh drama and folk
theater.

The Japanese New Year Celebration (January 1-15)

In Japan, the celebration of the New Year is the most significant and
important holiday. During this time they begin the New Year with a
clean slate, spend time with family and friends and prepare for the
events of the New Year. After the cleaning, houses are decorated with
straw ropes and pine bough that is burned in a ceremonial bonfire at
the end of the New Year’s celebration. Kimono and Yukata are
traditional Japanese clothing. Kimono are made of silk and are usually
very expensive. Nowadays they are worn at formal or traditional
occasions such as funerals, weddings or tea ceremonies. Only rarely
can kimono still be seen in everyday life. The Yukata, on the other
hand, is more of informal leisure clothing.