6 Introduction to East Asian Literature and Literary Criticism: China, Japan, and Korea
Daniel Baird
The following three-part introduction presents an overview of literature and literary traditions from China, Japan, and Korea. Collectively, these three countries are known as East Asia, and they have a long and rich literary tradition—in the case of China, spanning back some 3000 years.
Each of these chapters contains an overview of literary themes and ideas, which will be useful for ENGL 2600 Critical Introduction to Literature. Each chapter also contains an appendix of important authors and works, intended to be used in either ENGL 2600 Critical Introduction to Literature or ENGL 2701 Introduction to Literary History, Pre-1800. Finally, each also contains a second appendix giving a short survey of literary criticism, to be used in ENGL 2700 Introduction to Critical Theory.
For the vast length of literary history in East Asia most authors were scholar-officials, also called literati. The literati were scholars in that they studied and passed examinations to become officials who served in the local, provincial, or the capital government. Many women writers were either educated wives or daughters of the literati, or else courtesans expected to be able to entertain literati through poetry, music, games, etc.
In the West we often discuss literature in relation to literary movements such as Romanticism or realism, but we can also discuss it in periods, such as literature of the Tudor period. In East Asia, although there are important literary movements, it is more typical to refer to the dynasty or period in which the author lived. Therefore, charts have been provided in each individual chapter to help you navigate the dynasties and periods of China, Japan, and Korea respectively. I also note here that Western genres do not match the traditional literary genres of East Asia. However, scholarship today generally does classify East Asian literature based on Western genres, so I have followed this convention here.
Two genres have dominated East Asian literary output: poetry and nonfiction prose. Poetry was considered the highest form of literary expression; meanwhile nonfiction writing, whether official writings such as imperial histories or personal writings such as essays, also played an important role in any author’s life. Part of this importance of nonfiction was because many writers were officials associated with imperial governments.
Fiction was discouraged by Confucianism—a philosophy based on the teachings of the philosopher Confucius—and early authors of novels in China and Korea tried to hide their authorship from the imperial government. By contrast, in Japan fiction gained early acceptance.
In all three national contexts there was also a rich oral tradition that gave rise first to the short story and then later to the novel and drama. These three chapters, however, will emphasize the themes that were important primarily in writing, rather than those from oral traditions.
Literary Criticism in East Asia
Literary criticism involves describing and explaining literature. It also involves asking what is the purpose of literature and what is good or bad literature. Many definitive statements on and about literature in East Asian traditions can be found early on, such in locations such as writings like Confucius’ famous statement that the purpose of poetry is to teach moral uprightness (see The Analects of Confucius II.2), or in prefaces to literary collections. Religions such as Buddhism and Daoism also had a great impact on these bodies of literature. Eventually formal literary criticism developed in each country.
These three chapters are meant to be read in order, with Part 2: Japan and Part 3: Korea assuming you have read Part 1: China. So when you are ready, proceed to Part 1 next.
