What country am I?

BUIREN
BOAIDCMA
ASAIMLAY
DINASEOIN
SOLA
PPPIINHESLI
MARANYM
PORESANIG
TIEMAVN
HANDTAIL
Brunei Philippines
Cambodia Singapore

SOUTHEAST ASIAN
LITERATURE
Malaysia Thailand
Indonesia Laos
Vietnam Myanmar
 Literature

Literature is a body of written works.

As an art, literature might be described as the

organization of words to give pleasure.

Literature also functions more broadly in society as a

means of both criticizing and affirming cultural
values.
Prestige of Writers
During the time of the kings, a Southeast Asian
writer enjoyed patronage and a prestigious
position in society. He could not, however,
make a living by writing as a profession.

Manuscripts had to be written by hand, and

only in the case of famous works might one or
two duplicates be made, again by hand.
Why do you think writers continue to write?
Myanmar

INDIAN + THAI LITERATURE RAMAKIEN (RAMAYANA)

Myanmar

The upper half shows a text in Sanskrit (praise of Vishnu) written in Devanagari while
the lower half shows a text in Pali from a Buddhist ceremonial scripture called
"Kammuwa" from Burma, probably in the Mon script.
Digging back in history, finding the fact that the Myanmar language itself is now
more than 1000 years old, while English is only about 400 years old.

What can
be inferred
about
Myanmar
literature?
Myanmarese or Burmese are weak in fiction. Why do you think so?

Descent of Buddha to the earth

Thailand
 Thailand

FIRST GOLDEN AGE:

KING NARAI (1657–88)

He was a great poet,

and during his reign new
verse forms were
evolved.

Statue of King Narai in Thailand

Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam

Only in the monasteries

was there any literary
activity, and this was
written in the Pali
language.

Why do you think that kings can’t cease any

literary activity in monasteries?
Philippines

When the Philippines became

part of the Spanish empire in the
16th century, printing was
introduced.

What do you think

are the subjects of
stories and poems?
Philippines
Eventually, some individual romantic legends taken from the
epics were published, but they had acquired a European
flavour.

In the19th century , an epic romance called Florante at

Laura by the first native writer to achieve prominence was
written—Francisco Balagtas—who wrote in Tagalog.
 Performing arts is a normal part of
life throughout the several nations.
Southeast Asia

Drama, dance, mime, music, song,

and narrative are integrated into composite
forms, often with masks or in the form of
puppetry.
Four distinct traditions in Performing Arts:
Folk theatre is more complex than
folk dance and thus less widespread,
FOLK TRADITION
but it has deep connections with
religious ritual.
Four distinct traditions in Performing Arts:
The shadow play and masked and
unmasked dance are court arts
COURT TRADITION
reflecting centuries of subtle
refinement under the patronage of
kings and princes.
Four distinct traditions in Performing Arts:
Some forms of popular theatre are
directly modeled on court dance-
POPULAR TRADITION
drama, but most are spoken drama
in which court-derived music, song,
and dance movements have been
inserted.
Four distinct traditions in Performing Arts:

The spoken drama, the ballet, and the

WESTERN TRADITION modern dances are known only
superficially in Southeast Asia.