21st

• Types or levels of adaptation

  • The "Museum" adaptation
  • The Artful adaptation
  • The Loose Adaptation
  • The Transformative Adaptation
• The "Museum" adaptation


  Concerned with preserving every possible detail of the book exactly how it exists in the book, just transferred to the film as a medium
• The Artful adaptation


  Concerned with finding balance between being true to its own as a work of art. It is like a conversation between the book and audience, interpreting the essential elements of the book in meaningful ways for the audience
• The Loose Adaptation


  Concerned about keeping a few elements or some semblance of the premise of the book it's based on, but then more or less does its own thing with them
• The Transformative Adaptation


  Seeks to highlight the timelessness and universality of their source works' messages and themes
• Asia is the largest continent in the world and it is further subdivided into East, Central, West, and South East regions
• Each region of Asia has its prevailing beliefs, traditions, and feelings which make Asian literature rich in thousands of stories and poetry about its heritage
• The most influential set of literary traditions in Asia

  • Chinese
  • Japanese
  • Indian
• Chinese literature


  Puts a spotlight on the meander, simple everyday issues of the people in society. Philosophical books explicate the expected "duties, behavior, and actions a person must do in order to belong harmoniously to his society"
• Types of Chinese literary works

  • Fiction
  • Philosophical and religious works
  • Poetry
  • Scientific writings
• The Four Great Classic Novels of China

  • The Novel of the Three Kingdoms
  • Journey to the West
  • Dream of the Red Chamber
  • Water Margin
• The Novel of the Three Kingdoms

  Luo Guanzhong's novel recounts the real events that occurred during the period when China was composed of three kingdoms: Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Wu
• Journey to the West

  Wu Cheng'en's novel features Sun Wukong, a monkey who set out on a journey with his companions to search for Chinese people's sacred scroll
• Dream of the Red Chamber

  A novel by Cao Xuequin, celebrated for its realism, psychological depth and the richness of the plot
• Water Margin


  A novel by Shi Nai'an that narrates plight of 108 brigands from Mount Liang who challenged the emperor, set during the Song dynasty
• Types of Chinese poetry

  • Shi (couplets)
  • Ci (song-like with syllabic and tonal patterns)
  • Ge (song)
  • Qu (freer poetic form, used in theater plays)
  • Fu (descriptive poems with prose and couplets)
• Dufu

  Followed a structured form of poetry and observed realistic poems whose themes include difficulties living in a war, poverty, and rural life
• Li Bai

  A romantic poet who wrote free form poetry as he traveled widely across the provinces of China
• Su Tungpo (Su Shi)

  A prolific poet of the northern Song era who has produced over 2000 poems, wrote a poem about being banished to live on a farm due to political problems
• Japanese literature

  Finds its appeal in the use of great variety of words to convey feelings and emotions, rather than being intellectual
• The Tale of Genji

  A work by Murasaki Shikibu in the 11th century that retells the life of prince Hikaru Genji, his romances and aristocratic society
• The Pillow Book


  A genre-bending miscellany of short, largely unrelated pieces by Sei Shonagon, a contemporary and rival of Lady Murasaki
• Matsuo Basho


  The supreme Japanese haiku poet who made this poetic form an accepted artistic expression throughout the world
• "I" novel


  A colloquial fiction where the author describes the world from his perspective and also reveals his own mental states
• Yasunari Kawabata


  Japan's first recipient of Nobel Prize for Literature, known as the master of psychological fiction, famous for works like Snow Country and The Izu Dancer
• Majority of Indian literature are written in Sanskrit
• Three distinct characteristics of Indian literature

  • Based on piety, a deep religious spirit
  • Written in epic form
  • Designed to advance some unorthodox regional beliefs
• Major works of Indian literature

  • Panchatantra
  • Bhagavad Gita
  • Mahabharata
  • Ramayana
• Panchatantra


  A compilation of tales in prose and poetry, featuring five books of fables and magical tales
• Bhagavad Gita


  An ancient text that became an important work of Hindu tradition in terms of both literature and philosophy
• Mahabharata


  The longest epic in the world, recounting the dynastic struggle and civil wars between the Pandavas and Kauravas in the kingdom of Kuruksheta about the 9th century BC
• Ramayana


  The second longest epic in the world, telling the story of how Rama went on a journey to find and save his wife Sita, learning Hindu life lessons along the way
• Two great colonizing movements have made an impact on the literary traditions of Africa: Islamic Arabs in the 7th century and Christian Europeans in the 19th century
• Categories of African literature

  • Oral tradition
  • Written tradition
• African myths


  Each tribe has its own version of how the world and everything in it came to be, with a common story of a "god first agreed to give man eternal life, but his message was perverted through the stupidity or malice of the messenger"
• African poetry


  Purposes include praising a chief, mourning the dead, making fun of an unfriendly town, and getting favors from the gods to cure a disease. Priests are also required to study the Ifa oracle which is a massive poem about pleasing the gods
• African folktales, proverbs and riddles


  Folktales are usually heard in the evening for family's entertainment, with dilemma tales where the ending is up to the listeners to find the best solution. Proverbs are amusing due to the surprising way they put ideas into words. Riddles are often intended to display the questioner's imagination rather than to test the cleverness of the audience
• Swahili literature


  Shairi poems are non-religious poems which have grown out of poetry contests, and Uhuru wa Watumwa (Freedom for the Slaves, 1934) was the first Swahili novella
• Hausa literature


  Islamic scholars living among the locals in northern Africa wrote the first poems in Hausa using Arabic alphabets, with themes of conflicts between Islamic ways and European culture and beliefs
• Yoruba literature


  Includes the fantasy Igbo Olodumare (The Forest of the Lord, 1947), social and political satires by Hubert Ogunde, and tragedies by Duro Lapido