ASIAN LITERATURE

Korean Literature
The Character of Korean Literature Korean literature is usually divided chronologically into a classical and a modern period. But the basis for such a division is still being questioned. Great reforms swept Korea after the mid-19th century as its society actively absorbed Western things. Korea's classical literature developed against the backdrop of traditional folk beliefs of the Korean people; it was also influenced by Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Among these, Buddhist influence held the greatest sway, followed by enormous influences from Confucianism - especially Song Confucianism - during the Choson period. Modern literature of Korea, on the other hand, developed out of its contact with Western culture, following the course of modernization. Not only Christian thought, but also various artistic trends and influences were imported from the West. As the "New Education" and the "National Language and Literature Movement" developed, the Chinese writing system, which had traditionally represented the culture of the dominant class, lost the socio-cultural function it had previously enjoyed. At the same time, the Korean script, Han-gul was being used more and more frequently, resulting in the growth and development of Korean language and literature studies. With the advent of the "new novel" (shinsosol) came a surge in novels written in the Korean script. Music and classical poetry, formerly fused together in a kind of a song called ch'anggok, were now viewed as separate endeavors. New paths opened up for the new literature. While Korea was importing Western culture via Japan or China, it was also carrying out literary reforms from within. Linguistic expression and manner of transmission are issues of utmost importance in the overall understanding of Korean literature. Korean literature extends over a broad territory: literature recorded in Chinese; and literature written inHan-gul. These two aspects of Korean literature greatly differ from each other in terms of their literary forms and character.
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Korean literature in Chinese was created when Chinese characters were brought to Korea. Because Chinese characters are a Chinese invention, there have been times in Korea's history when efforts were made to exclude literature written in Chinese from the parameters of what constitutes Korean literature. But in the Koryo and Choson cultures, Chinese letters were central to Koreans' daily lives. We also cannot overlook the fact that the literary activity of the dominant class was conducted in Chinese. While Chinese-centered ideas and values are contained in this literature - a feature shared by most of East Asia during this period - they also contain experiences and thought patterns that express the unique way of life of the Korean people. The use of the Korean script began during the Choson period with the creation of the Korean alphabet (Hunmin Chong-um). The creation of the Korean alphabet in the 15th century was a crucial turning point in Korea's literary history. Compared with the literature written in Chinese which was dominated by the upper classes, Korean script made possible the broadening of the literary field to include women and commoners. This expanded the social base of Korean writers and readers alike. The Korean script (Han-gul) assumed its place of leading importance in Korean literature only during the latter half of the 19th century. After the Enlightenment period, the use of Chinese letters swiftly declined and the popularity of Korean letters greatly increased. As soon as the linguistic duality of "Chinese" and "Native" within Korean life was overcome, literature in the Korean script became the foundation upon which the national literature developed. Korea's Classical Literature Hyangga from the Shilla Period The Hyangga poetry of the Shilla period signaled the beginning of a unique poetic form in Korean literature. The Hyangga was recorded in the hyangch'al script, in which the Korean language was written using "sound" (um) and "meaning" (hun) of Chinese characters. Fourteen poems in the Hyangga style from the Shilla period had been preserved in the Samgukyusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms). This poetic form was passed down to the Koryo Dynasty, and 11 poems from that period are

preserved in the Kyunyojon (Tales of Kyunyo). Observing the form of the extant poems, we see a variety of formal characteristics: 4-line, 8-line, and 10-line poems. The 4 line poems have the character of folk ballads or nursery songs. The 10-line poems, with the most developed poetic structure, are divided into three sections of 4-4-2. It is difficult to make general determinations about the personalities of the Hyangga poets. But it is thought that the 4-line poems with their ballad-like attributes may indicate that the poets came from a broad range of backgrounds. Most of the 10line poems were written by priests like Ch'ungTamsa, WolMyongsa, Yung Ch'sonsa, Yongjae and Kyunyo; they were also composed by the Hwarang ("flower warriors"), including Duk Ogok and Shin Chung. These warriors were the backbone of the Shilla aristocracy. The 10-line poems reflect the emotions of the aristocrats and their religious consciousness. From among the Hyangga, Sodong-yo (The Ballad of Sodong) is characterized by its simple naivet'e; the Chemangmaega (Song of Offerings to a Deceased Sister) and Ch'an-gip'arangga (Song in Praise of Kip'arang) boast a superb epic technique, and give fine expression to a sublime poetic spirit. These examples are accordingly recognized as the most representative of Hyangga poetry. The Koryo Kayo (Koryo Songs) The literature of the Koryo period is marked by an increased use of Chinese letters, the disappearance of Hyangga, and the emergence of Koryo kayo (Koryo songs) which continued to be transmitted as oral literature until the Choson period. The transmission of the Hyangga literature of Shilla was continued until the early part of Koryo but, as in the eleven verses of Kyunyo'sPohyonshipchungwonwangga (Songs of the Ten Vows of Samantabhadra), these were mostly religious prayers with no secular or artistic flavor. The new poetic form introduced by writers of the Koryo period was the Koryo kayo called pyolgok. The identities of most of the Koryo kayo authors are unknown. The songs were orally transmitted; only later in the Choson period were they recorded using the Korean script (Han-gul). This poetry has two forms: the "short-stanza

form" (tallyonch'e) in which the entire work is structured into a single stanza; and the "extended form" (yonjangch'e) in which the work is separated into many stanzas. Chong Kwajonggok (The Song of Chong Kwajong) and Samogok (Song of Maternal Love) are examples of the short-stanza form, but the more representative Koryo kayo, including Ch'nongsanpyolgok (Song of Green Mountain), Sogyongpyolgok (Song of the Western Capital [P'yongyang]), Tongdong and Ssanghwajom (Twin Flower Shops), are all written in the extended form, and divided into anywhere from four to thirteen stanzas. The Koryo Kayo are characterized by increased length and a free and undisciplined form. The bold, direct nature of the songs make them distinctive. They deal with the real world of humankind. But because the songs were transmitted orally over a long period and recorded only after the beginning of the Choson period, there is a strong possibility that they have been partially altered. The Classical Fiction The first appearance of the classical fiction in Korea include Kim Shisup's Kumoshinhwa (Tales of Kumo) which was written in Chinese characters and Ho Kyun's Hong Kil-tong chon (Tale of Hong Kil-tong) written in Han-gul. After the turn of the 17th century, fictions like tale of Kumoshinhwa came to be even more actively produced, and a large-scale readership was formed at that time. Especially popular was the p'ansori (story-in-song), which appeared in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. A performance art, the p'ansori is rooted in heightened musical expressiveness. As its contents were "fictionalized" it also made great contributions to the development of the classical fiction. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the quality of these classical fictions increased in variety as well as in quantity. Also, book rental business thrived with the advent of commercial publishing . The characters appearing in Kumoshinhwa embody the concept of chaejagain ("talented young man and beautiful woman"). It also employs to an extreme degree the style of aesthetic expression used in Chinese letters. Along with these

characteristics, Kumoshinhwa also shows aspects of the mysterious fiction (chon-

gisosol) in that its contents are of a mysterious nature and distant from reality. In the mid-Choson period, works with parable-like characteristics were published, such as ImJe's Susongji (Record of Grief) and Yun Kye-son's Talch'onmongnyurok (Record of a Dream Adventure to Talch'on). But with the coming of the late Choson period, authors like Pak Chi-won and Yi EOk wrote realistic fictions in Chinese. Pak Chiwon's Hosaengjon (The Tale of Scholar Ho), Yangbanjon (A Yangban Tale), Hojil (The Tiger's Roar) and Yi's Shimsaengjon (Tale of Scholar Shim), for example, all depart from the orthodox conventions of classical Chinese literary studies and introduce a variety of characters such as merchants, men of wealth, thieves andkisaeng (female entertainers). They are sharply critical of a manifold social problems and often ridicule various aspects of daily life. This kind of fiction, together with the fiction in Han-gul of the later Choson period, opened up new paths for fiction writing. After the creation of the Korean alphabet, an abundance of fictions were written in Han-gul, beginning with Ho Kyun'sHongKil-tong chon and including works like Kim Man-jung's Kuunmong (Dream of the Nine Clouds) and Sassinamjonggi(Record of Lady Sa's Southward Journey). Hong Kil-tong chon strongly opposes the ruling class' discrimination of children born of the union between a yangban and a concubine. It shows a high level of social concern and criticizes the absurd aspects of the everyday reality of the times. In the late Choson period, the p'ansori fiction (p'ansorigyesosol) emerged, based on the orally transmitted art form.P'ansori fictions like Ch'unhyangjon (Tale of Ch'unhyang), Shimch'oongjon (Tale of Shimch'yong), and Hungbujon (Tale of Hungbu) do not deal with superhuman characters, but make use of human stereotypes of the period. Most of these fictions center around casual relationships from real-life experience, rather than coincidence. In addition to being a mixture of verse and prose, the writing style also combines refined classical language and the vigorous slang and witticisms of the common people. Throughout these works, we are given a broad picture of the social life of the late Choson period. In addition to these works, other Choson period fictions record the private affairs of the court, such asInhyonWanghujon (Tale of Queen Inhyon) and Hanjungnok (Record of Leisurely Feelings).
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The Modern Literature of Korea The Literature of the Enlightenment Period Korean modern literature was formed against the background of the crumbling feudalistic society of the Choson Dynasty, the importation of new ideas from the West, and the new political reality of rising Japanese imperial power in East Asia. The first stage in the establishment of Korea's modern literature extends from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, and is designated as the literature of the Enlightenment (kaehwakyemong) period. The change from traditional to modern literature during the Enlightenment period was largely due to the effects of the New Education and the Korean Language and Literature movement. After the Kabo Reforms of 1894, a new brand of education was enforced, new Western-style schools were established, and new textbooks for teaching Western knowledge were published. The literature of the Enlightenment Period secured its social base through newly emerged media like newspapers. Most newspapers, including the TongnipShinmun (The Independent), HwangsongShinmun(The Imperial City Newspaper), TaehanmaeilShinbo (Korean Daily News), ChegukShinmun (Imperial Newspaper),Mansebo (The Forever Report), Taehanminbo (The Korean People's

Report) all published serial novels, as well asshijo, and kasa. It was at this time that a class of professional writers also began to form. Commercial publishing of literary works became possible with the introduction of new printing techniques and the emergence of publishing companies. In this period, the ch'angga (new type of song) and the shinch'eshi (new poetry) were hailed as the new poetic forms. They contributed greatly to the formation of the modern chayushi (free verse poem). Receiving their influence from free verse poetry, the shinch'eshi abandoned the fixed meter of traditional poetry, thus making new genres possible in poems like Ch'oe Nam-son's Haeegesosonyonege (From the Sea to the Youth) (1908), Kkottugo (Laying Down the Flowers) and T'aebaeksanshi (Poems of Mt. T'aebaeksan). But despite the novelty of the new forms, there were also many instances

where the poetic voice was politicized, a sharp contrast to the lyric poetry of old, which gave primary expression to individual sentiment and feeling. This period also saw the emergence of many biographical works based on enlightenment tastes, designed to cultivate patriotism and awaken the national consciousness. Representative works include, Aegukpuinjon (Tale of the Patriotic Lady) (Chang Ji-yon, 1907) and ElchiMundok (Shin Ch'ae-ho, 1908). The biographies presented images of the kind of hero called for by the realities of the period. AnKukson's Kumsuhoeuirok (Notes from the Meeting of the Birds and Beasts) (1908) is the representative of this kind of work: it centers around the orations of animals who criticize the human world's moral depravity. While a professional class of writers began to be formed by men like Yi In-jik, Yi Hae-cho, Ch'oeCh'an-shik and Kim Ko-je, a new literary form called the shinsosol (new novel) secured a popular readership base. Yi In-jik's Hyoluinu(Tears of Blood) (1906) and Ensegye (The Silver World) (1908), were followed by Yi Hae-cho's Kumagom (The Demon-Ousting Sword) and Chayujong (The Freedom Bell). Ch'oeCh'an-

shik's Ch'uwolsaek (The Color of the Autumn Moon) (1912) is also a well-known work. The shinsosol, all written in Han-gul, achieved mass popularity. These novels portrayed Enlightenment ideals against the background of the realities of contemporary life, and the unrealistic, transcendental worlds of old are not found in their plots. It was in the shinsosol that "time reversal" was first applied as a structural technique. The authors also adopted a vernacular prose style that brought them closer to the form of the modern novel. However, in the wake of the Japanese takeover of Korea in 1910, the character of the shinsosol began to change. The later works gave more weight to the fates of individual characters, and commonplace love-struggles became more prominent. The Translation of Korean Literature in Foreign Languages Korean literature was largely unknown to the world until the 1980s, when translations of Korean literary works began to appear in foreign countries. Since then,

the types of works selected for translation have become increasingly diverse, and the quality of the translations themselves have improved steadily. Furthermore, as the translations principally are being published by overseas publishers, the translations have became available to a wider reading public. Since the 1980s, Korean literature in English translation has spread widely in the English-speaking countries. Anthologies of Korean modern short stories such as Flowers of Fire (Peter H. Lee, University of Hawaii Press, 1974); and Land of Exile (Marshall R. Pihl and Bruce Fulton, New York: M.E.Sharpe, 1993) are widely used as textbooks in universities all across the English-speaking world. The Korean novelists whose works have been most widely translated are Hwang Sun-won and Kim Tong-ri. Hwang's novel Umjiginun song (The Moving Castle) was translated in the United States by Bruce Fulton. Other works, including Collected Short Stories by Hwang Sun-won translated by Edward Poitras, and another similar collection by Professor Holman, have also been available in English. Important works by Kim Tong-ri such as Elhwa (Eulhwa, The Shaman Sorceress), Munyodo (The Portrait of the Shaman) have been translated and published. Poetry selections by Han Yong-un (Your Silence), So chong-ju(Winter Sky) and Hwang Dong-gyu (Wind Berial) can also be found in English translation. In francophone countries, the scope of literary translation activities from Korean is limited compared to those in English-speaking countries; but in these countries too, projects are actively underway. Yi Mun-yol has had their greatest overseas exposure through French translations. Translated works by Yi Mun-yol

include Uriduruiilgurojinyongung (Notre Heros Defigure) and Shiin (Le Poete) . Other Korean novels available in French are Cho Se-hui's Nanjang-

igassoaollinchagunkong (La petite BalleLancee par un Nain). Translations of poetry by individual authors include those of Han Yong-un and Gu Sang. Such translation projects will continue in the future in an ongoing effort to introduce Korean literature to readers throughout the world

Indian Literature
The Indian literary tradition is primarily one of verse and is also essentially oral. The earliest works were composed to be sung or recited and were so transmitted for many generations before being written down. As a result, the earliest records of a text may be later by several centuries than the conjectured date of its composition. Furthermore, perhaps because so much Indian literature is either religious or a reworking of familiar stories from the Sanskrit epics, the Ramayana and

the Mahabharata, and the mythological writings known as Puranas, the authors often remain anonymous. Biographical details of the lives of most of the earlier Indian writers exist only in much later stories and legends. Other Themes In medieval Indian literature the earliest works in many of the languages were sectarian, designed to advance or to celebrate some unorthodox regional belief. Examples are the Caryapadas in Bengali, Tantric verses of the 12th century, and the Lilacaritra (circa 1280), in Marathi. In Kannada (Kanarese) from the 10th century, and later in Gujarati from the 13th century, the first truly indigenous works are Jain romances; ostensibly the lives of Jain saints, these are actually popular tales based on Sanskrit and Pali themes. Other example was in Rajasthani of the bardic tales of chivalry and heroic resistance to the first Muslim invasions - such as the 12th-century epic poem Prithiraja-raso by Chand Bardai of Lahore. Most important of all for later Indian literature were the first traces in the vernacular languages of the northern Indian cults of Krishna and of Rama. Included are the 12th-century poems by Jaydev, called the Gitagovinda (The Cowherd's Song); and about 1400, a group of religious love poems written in Maithili (eastern Hindi of Bihar) by the poet Vidyapati were a seminal influence on the cult of Radha-Krishna in Bengal.

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The Bhakti Tradition The full flowering of the Radha-Krishna cult, under the Hindu mystics Chaitanya in Bengal and Vallabhacharya at Mathura, involved bhakti (a personal devotion to a god). Although earlier traces of this attitude are found in the work of the Tamil Alvars (mystics who wrote ecstatic hymns to Vishnu between the 7th and 10th centuries), a later surge of bhakti flooded every channel of Indian intellectual and religious life beginning in the late 15th century. Bhakti was also addressed to Rama (an avatar of Vishnu), most notably in the Avadhi (eastern Hindi) works of Tulsi Das; his Ramcharitmanas (Lake of the Acts of Rama, 1574-77; trans. 1952) has become the authoritative. The early gurus or founders of the Sikh religion, especially Nanak and Arjun, composed bhakti hymns to their concepts of deity. These are the first written documents in Punjabi (Panjabi) and form part of the AdiGranth (First, or Original, Book), the sacred scripture of the Sikhs, which was first compiled by Arjun in 1604. In the 16th century, the Rajaasthani princess and poet Mira Bai addressed her bhakti lyric verse to Krishna, as did the Gujarati poet Narsimh Mehta. Traditional Material In the 16th century, Jagannath Das wrote an Oriya version of the Bhagavata and TuncattuEruttacchan, the so-called father of Malayalam literature, wrote recensions of traditional literature. Added, in the 18th century, was a deliberate imitation of Sanskritic forms and vocabulary by pandits. In 18th-century evolved Assamese and Marathi prose chronicles, ballads, and folk drama involving much dance and song. The Tamil Tradition The only Indian writings that incontestably predate the influence of classical Sanskrit are those in the Tamil language. Anthologies of secular lyrics on the themes of love and war, together with the grammatical-stylistic work Tolkappiyam (Old

Composition), are thought to be very ancient. Later, between the 6th and 9th centuries, Tamil sectarian devotional poems were composed, often claimed as the first examples
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of the Indian bhakti tradition. At some indeterminate date between the 2nd and 5th centuries, two long Tamil verse romances (sometimes called epics) were

written: Cilappatikaram (The Jeweled Anklet) by IlankoAtikal, which has been translated into English (1939 and 1965); and its sequel Manimekalai (The Girdle of Gems), a Buddhist work by Cattanar. Linguistic and Cultural Influences Much traditional Indian literature is derived in theme and form not only from Sanskrit literaturebut from the Buddhist and Jain texts written in the Pali language and the other Prakrits (medieval dialects of Sanskrit). This applies to literature in the Dravidian languages of the south as well as to literature in the Indo-Iranian languages of the north. Invasions of Persians and Turks, beginning in the 14th century, resulted in the influence of Persian and Islamic culture in Urdu, although important Islamic strands can be found in other literatures as well, especially those written in Bengali, Gujarati, and Kashmiri. After 1817, entirely new literary values were established that remain dominant today. The Urdu poets almost always wrote in Persian forms, using the ghazal for love poetry in addition to an Islamic form of bhakti, the masnavi for narrative verse, and the marsiya for elegies. Urdu then gained use as a literary language in Delhi and Lucknow. The ghazals of Mir and Ghalib mark the highest achievement of Urdu lyric verse. The Urdu poets were mostly sophisticated, urban artists, but some adopted the idiom of folk poetry, as is typical of the verses in Punjabi, Pushtu, Sindhi or other regional languages. Regional Literature Literary activities burst forth with the playwright Bharatas (200 BC)

NatyaShastra, the Bible of dramatic criticism. The earliest plays were soon overshadowed by KalidasasShakuntala, a heroic play, a model for ages. While Shudrakas Mrichchhakatika, was a play of the social class. Bhavabhuti (circa 700AD)

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was

another

well-known

figure,

his

best

being Malatimadhavaand Uttaramacharita (based on Ramayana). The great Sanskrit poems are five KalidasasRaghuvamsa and

Kumarasambhava, Kiratarjuniya of Bharavi (550AD), Sishupalavadha of Magha (7th century AD) and Naishadhiyacharita of Sriharsha (12th century AD). All of them draw from the Mahabharata. Shorter poems of great depth were composed on a single theme like love, morality, detachment and sometimes of grave matters. The earliest and best collections of such verses called Muktakas are those of Bhartrihari and Amaruka. Much of the early prose work in Sanskrit has not survived. Of the remaining, some of the best are Vasavadatta of Subandhu, Kadambari and Harshacharita of Bana (7th century AD) and Dasakumaracharita of Dandin (7th century AD). The Panchatantra and Hitopadesha are collections of wit and wisdom in the Indian style, teaching polity and proper conduct through animal fables and aphorisms. With a glorious life of over 3000 years, Sanskrit continues to be a living language even today, bobbing up during Hindu ceremonies when mantras (ritual verses) are chanted. And though restricted, its still a medium of literary expression, but great works have long stopped being written. The Modern Period Poets such as Ghalib, lived and worked during the British era, when a literary revolution occurred in all the Indian languages as a result of contact with Western thought, when the printing press was introduced (by Christian missionaries), and when the influence of Western educational institutions was strong. During the mid-19th century in the great ports of Mumbai, Calcutta, and Chennai, a prose literary tradition aroseencompassing the novel, short story, essay, and literary drama (this last incorporating both classical Sanskrit and Western models)that gradually engulfed the customary Indian verse genres. Urdu poets remained faithful to the old forms while Bengalis were imitating such English poets as Percy Bysshe Shelley or T.S. Eliot.

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Ram Mohan Roy's (1774-1833) campaign for introduction of scientific education in India and Swami Vivekananda's work are considered to be great examples of the English literature in India. During the last 150 years many writers have contributed to the development of modern Indian literature, writing in any of the 18 major languages (as well as in English). Bengali has led the way and today has one of the most extensive literatures of any Indian language. One of its greatest representatives is Sir Rabindranath Tagore, the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize for literature (1913). Much of his prose and verse is available in his own English translations. Work by two other great 20th-century Indian leaders and writers is also widely known: the verse of the Islamic leader and philosopher Sir Muhammad Iqbal, originally written in Urdu and Persian; and the autobiography of Mohandas K. Gandhi, My Experiments with Truth, originally written in Gujarati between 1927 and 1929, is now considered a classic. Several other writers are relatively well known to the West. They

include Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) for his Glimpses of World History, Discovery of India and An Autobiography (1936); Mulk Raj Anand, among whose many works the early affectionate Untouchable (1935) and Coolie (1936) are novels of social protest; and R. K. Narayan, writer of novels and tales of village life in southern India. The first of Narayan's many works, Swami and Friends, appeared in 1935; among his more recent titles are The English Teacher (1980), The Vendor of Sweets(1983), and Under the Banyan Tree (1985). Among the younger authors writing of modern India with nostalgia for the past is Anita Desaias in Clear Light of Day (1980). Her In Custody(1984) is the story of a teacher's fatal enchantment with poetry. Ved Mehta, although long resident in the U.S., recalls his Indian roots in a series of memoirs of his family and of his education at schools for the blind in India and America; among these works are Vedi (1982) and Sound Shadows of the New World (1986).

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The other well-known novelist/ writers are Dom Moraes (A Beginning), Nlissim E Zekiel (The Unfurnished Man), P Lal, A.K.Ramanujan (whose translations of Tamil classics are internationally known), Kamala Das, ArunKolatkar and R. Parthasarathy; Toru Dutt; Sarojini Naidu; Aurobindo; Raja Rao, GV Desani, M Ananthanarayanan, Bhadani Bhattacharya, MonoharMalgonkar, Arun Joshi, Kamala Markandaya, , Khushwant Singh, NayantaraSahgal, O.V. Vijayan; Salman Rushdie; K.R.

SreenivasaIyengar, C.D. Narasimhaiah and M.K. Naik. Among the latest are Vikram Seth (A Suitable Boy), Allan Sealy (The TrotterNama), SashiTharoor (Show Business, The Great Indian Novel, AmitavGhosh (Circle of Reason, Shadow Lines), UpamanyuChatterjee (English August) and Vikram Chandra (Red Earth and Pouring Rain).

Rabindranath Tagore

Famous as Born on Born in Died on Nationality

Poet and Author 07 May 1861 Calcutta (Kolkata), India 07 August 1941 India

Works & Achievements Nobel Prize in Literature (1913); Gitanjli, Ghare-Baire and The Gardener A Bengali mystic and artist, Rabindranath Tagore was a great poet, philosopher, music composer and a leader of Brahma Samaj, who took the India culture and tradition to the whole world and became a voice of the Indian heritage. Best known for his poems and short stories, Tagore largely contributed to the Bengali literature in the late 19th and early 20th century and created his masterpieces such as Ghare-Baire, Yogayog, Gitanjali, and Gitimalya. The author extended his contribution during the Indian Independence Movement and wrote songs and poems galvanizing the movement, though he never directly participated in it. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature
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in 1913 and became the Asia's first Nobel Laureate. Two famous songs composed by him Amar Shonar Bangala and Jana Gana Mana became a part of the national anthem of Bangladesh and India respectively after their independence. He was the only person to have written the national anthems of two countries. Aside from this, the greatest legacy of the poet to his country remains the world renowned institution he founded known as Visva-Bharati University. Rabindranath Tagore Timeline: 1861- Rabindarnath Tagore was born on 7 May 1861. 1877- He wrote his first poem, which was composed in a Maithili style. 1878- Tagore took admission at a public school in Brighton, England in 1878. 1880- He dropped out in middle and returned home in 1880. 1883- He married Mrinalini in 1883. 1890- Rabindranath Tagore took the responsibility of his fathers large estates. 1901- Tagore moved to Santiniketan, West Bengal in 1901. 1905- His father died in 1905. 1913- Rabindarnath Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. 1915- He received the title Knighthood from the British government in 1915. 1921- Tagore founded an Institute for Rural Reconstruction, Shriniketan. 1937- He first lost his consciousness in 1937. 1940- His second phase of illness began in 1940. 1941- Rabindranath Tagore died on 7 August 1941.

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THE PARROT'S TRAINING

ONCE UPON A time there was a bird. It was ignorant. It sang all right, but never recited scriptures. It hopped pretty frequently, but lacked manners. Said the Raja to himself: Ignorance is costly in the long run. For fools consume as much food as their betters, and yet give nothing in return. He called his nephews to his presence and told them that the bird must have a sound schooling. The pundits were summoned, and at once went to the root of the matter. They decided that the ignorance of birds was due to their natural habit of living in poor nests. Therefore, according to the pundits, the first thing necessary for this bird's education was a suitable cage. The pundits had their rewards and went home happy. A golden cage was built with gorgeous decorations. Crowds came to see it from all parts of the world. 'Culture, captured and caged! ' exclaimed some, in a rapture of ecstasy, and burst into tears. Others remarked: 'Even if culture be missed, the cage will remain, to the end, a substantial fact. How fortunate for the bird!' The goldsmith filled his bag with money and lost no time in sailing homewards. The pundit sat down to educate the bird. With proper deliberation he took his pinch of snuff, as he said: 'Text-books can never be too many for our purpose!' The nephews brought together an enormous crowd of scribes. They copied from books, and copied from copies, till the manuscripts were piled up to an unreachable height. Men murmured in amazement: 'Oh, the tower of culture, egregiously high! The end of it lost in the clouds!' The scribes, with light hearts, hurried home, their pockets heavily laden. The nephews were furiously busy keeping the cage in proper trim. As their constant scrubbing and polishing went on, the people said with satisfaction: 'This is progress indeed!' Men were employed in large numbers, and supervisors were still more numerous. These, with their cousins of all different degrees of distance, built a palace for themselves and lived there happily ever after.

Whatever may be its other deficiencies, the world is never in want of fault- finders; and they went about saying that every creature remotely connected with the cage flourished beyond words, excepting only the bird.

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When this remark reached the Raja's ears, he summoned his nephews before him and said: 'My dear nephews, what is this that we hear?' The nephews said in answer: 'Sire, let the testimony of the goldsmiths and the pundits, the scribes and the supervisors, be taken, if the truth is to be known. Food is scarce with the fault-finders, and that is why their tongues have gained in sharpness.' The explanation was so luminously satisfactory that the Raja decorated each one of his nephews with his own rare jewels. The Raja at length, being desirous of seeing with his own eyes how his Education Department busied itself with the little bird, made his appearance one day at the great Hall of Learning. From the gate rose the sounds of conch-shells and gongs, horns, bugles and trumpets, cymbals, drums and kettle-drums, tomtoms, tambourines, flutes, fifes, barrel-organs and bagpipes. The pundits began chanting mantras with their topmost voices, while the goldsmiths, scribes, supervisors, and their numberless cousins of all different degrees of distance, loudly raised a round of cheers. The nephews smiled and said: 'Sire, what do you think of it all?' The Raja said: It does seem so fearfully like a sound principle of Education! Mightily pleased, the Raja was about to remount his elephant, when the fault-finder, from behind some bush, cried out: 'Maharaja, have you seen the bird?' Indeed, I have not! exclaimed the Raja, I completely forgot about the bird. Turning back, he asked the pundits about the method they followed in instructing the bird. It was shown to him. He was immensely impressed. The method was so stupendous that the bird looked ridiculously unimportant in comparison. The Raja was satisfied that there was no flaw in the arrangements. As for any complaint from the bird itself, that simply could not be expected. Its throat was so completely choked with the leaves from the books that it could neither whistle nor whisper. It sent a thrill through one's body to watch the process. This time, while remounting his elephant, the Raja ordered his State ear-puller to give a thorough good pull at both the ears of the fault-finder. The bird thus crawled on, duly and properly, to the safest verge of inanity. In fact, its progress was satisfactory in the extreme. Nevertheless, nature occasionally triumphed over training, and when the morning light peeped into the bird's cage it sometimes fluttered its wings in a reprehensible manner. And, though it is hard to believe, it pitifully pecked at its bars with its feeble beak. 'What impertinence!' growled the kotwal.

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The blacksmith, with his forge and hammer, took his place in the Raja's Department of Education. Oh, what resounding blows! The iron chain was soon completed, and the bird's wings were clipped. The Raja's brothers-in-law looked black, and shook their heads, saying: These birds not only lack good sense, but also gratitude! With text-book in one hand and baton in the other, the pundits gave the poor bird what may fitly be called lessons! The kotwal was honoured with a title for his watchfulness, and the blacksmith for his skill in forging chains. The bird died. Nobody had the least notion how long ago this had happened. The fault- finder was the first man to spread the rumour. The Raja called his nephews and asked them. 'My dear nephews, what is this that we hear?' The nephews said: 'Sire, the bird's education has been completed.' 'Does it hop?' the Raja enquired. 'Never! 'said the nephews. 'Does it fly?' 'No.' 'Bring me the bird,' said the Raja. The bird was brought to him, guarded by the kotwal and the sepoys and the sowars. The Raja poked its body with his finger. Only its inner stuffing of book-leaves rustled. Outside the window, the murmur of the spring breeze amongst the newly budded asoka leaves made the April morning wistful.

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Japanese Literature
There is debate regarding the classification of periods in Japanese literature. The following is a general guide based on important political and cultural events. Given the immense span of years covered in this article, it is not comprehensive, but rather highlights prominent works and authors of the various periods. All names are in the Japanese order of surname first, given name second. Significant Japanese authors and works Famous authors and literary works of significant stature are listed in chronological order below. For an exhaustive list of authors see List of Japanese authors: Classical Literature SeiShonagon (c.~966 - c.10??): The Pillow Book MurasakiShikibu (c.973 - c.1025): The Tale of Genji Japanese Ancient Literature (pre-8th Century) With the introduction of kanji (, lit. "Chinese characters") from the Asian mainland, writing became possible, as there was no native writing system. Consequently, the only literary language was classical Chinese to begin with; later, the characters were adapted to write Japanese, creating what is known as the man'ygana, the earliest form of kana, or syllabic writing. Works created in the Nara Period include Kojiki (712: a partly mythological, partly accurate history of Japan), Nihonshoki (720: a chronicle with a slightly more solid foundation in historical records than the Kojiki), and Man'ysh (759: a poetry anthology). The language used in the works of this period differs significantly from later periods in both its grammar and phonology. Even in this early era, significant dialectal differences within Japanese are apparent.

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GRAMMAR Japanese generally employs a subject-object-verb order, using particles to mark the grammatical functions of the words: watashi-ga

hamburger-o taberu, "I-subject hamburger-object eat". It is common to omit subjects and even objects if these are clear from previous context. READING AND WRITING Reading and writing Japanese are advanced skills which take years of work to gain much real proficiency. Japanese themselves use three different writing systems of various complexity, two of which (hiragana' and katakana) are syllabic and relatively easy to learn with 50 characters each, but the clincher is the set of over 2000 Chinese characters known as kanji. The set of hiragana characters is illustrated in the Japanese Pronunciation Guide. The Future of Japanese Literature Entering the 21st century, there is controversy whether the rise in popular forms of entertainment such as manga and anime has caused a decline in the quality of literature in Japan. The counter-argument is that manga positively affect modern literature by encouraging younger people to read more.

The Happy Mirror Story

The Happy Mirror Story is a Japanese folktale. The English translation is below. By the way, mirror in Japanese is kagami ().

Many years ago in Japan, there lived a father, a mother, and their dear little girl. There was not a happier family in all of Japan. They took their little daughter to the temple when she was just thirty days old. She wore a long kimono, as all the Japanese babies do. For her first doll festival, her parents gave her a set of dolls. There was no finer set anywhere. Her dolls had long, black hair, silky and smooth, and were clad in gowns of satin and silk.

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Her third birthday was a happy day. Her first sash of scarlet and gold was tied around her small waist. When that happened, she was no longer their baby daughter. She was their little girl, fast growing up. By the time she was seven, she was helping her parents in many ways. She could talk and dance and sing, and oh! Her parents loved her dearly. One day, a messenger brought exciting news. The emperor had sent for the father. He had to leave for Tokyo at once. Tokyo was a long way off and the roads were rough. The father would have to walk every step of the way, for he had no horse. There were no railways nor even rickshaws to travel on. The little girl was glad her father was going to Tokyo. She knew that when he came back, he would tell her many interesting stories. And she knew that he would bring her presents. The mother was happy because the father had been sent for by the emperor, a great honor. At last, all was ready. The father looked very fine as he started out on his long trip. He was going to meet the emperor, so he dressed in fine robes of silk and satin. The little family stood on the porch of the little house to bid him goodbye. Do not worry. I will come back soon, said the father. While Im away, take care of everything. Keep our little daughter safe. Yes, we shall be alright. But you must take care of yourself. Come back to as soon as you can, said the mother. The little girl ran to his side. She caught hold of his sleeve to keep him a moment. Father, she said, I will be very good while waiting for you to come back. Then he was gone. He went quickly down to the little garden and out through the gate. There, they could see him go down the road. He looked smaller as he went farther away. Soon all they could see of him was his peaked hat. Then that was out of sight, too. The days seemed very long for the mother and the little girl. Many times each day, they would pray for the good father, for his journey to be safe. The days slipped by and one morning, the little girl saw someone coming over the mountains. She ran to tell her mother. Could that be her father? They both went to the garden gate to watch. As he came nearer, they knew that he was the father. They both ran to meet him, little girl on one side, mother on the other. They were all happy again. Inside the house, the little girl ran to untie her fathers straw sandals. The mother lovingly took off his large straw hat. They all sat down on the white mat, for he had bought presents. There in a bamboo basket was a beautiful doll and a box full of cakes. Here, he said to the little girl, is a present for you. It is a prize for taking care of Mother and the house while I was away. 22

Thank you, Father dear, said the little girl. Then she bowed her head to the ground. In a second, she had picked up her lovely new doll and gone to play with it. Again, the husband looked into the basket. This time, he brought out a square wooden box tied with gaily-colored ribbon. He handed it to his wife saying, And this is for you, my dear. The wife took the box and opened it carefully. One side had beautifully carved pine trees and storks on it. The other side was bright and shining as smooth as a pool of water. Inside, there was something made of silver. She had never seen so lovely a present. She looked and looked at the pine trees and stork, which seemed almost real. Then she looked closer at the shining side. Suddenly she cried: I see someone looking at me in this round thing! She is very lovely. Her husband laughed but said nothing. Then the mothers eyes grew big with wonder. Why, the lady I see has a dress just like mine! She seems to be talking to me! My dear, her husband answered, that is your own face that you see. What I have given you is a mirror. All the ladies in Tokyo have them. If you bring a smiling face to the mirror, you will see a smiling face. If you are cross, you will see a cross face. The wife thanked her husband for the lovely gift. She promised to always bring a happy face to the mirror. Then she shut the box and put it away. Often, the mother would take out the box and look inside. Each time, she was surprised. She liked to see her eyes shine. She liked to see how red her lips were. She always brought a happy smiling face to the mirror, that she might see a smiling face reflected. But eventually, she grew tired of looking in that mirror, and she put it away. In time, opening that box and gazing upon that happy mirror became no more than a yearly ritual. Then the mother decided to save that lovely gift for her lovely daughter when she grew up. The years went by. The girl grew to be a young lady and no longer played with dolls. Instead each day, she helped her mother about the house. How proud her father was of her! He saw that she was growing more like her mother. Her hair was the same; her eyes were the same; her mouth was the same. She was the very image of her mother. One day, the mother called her daughter and said, My daughter, I have something to give you. Once each year, you are to gaze into it. She took the square wooden box from the

23

drawer. Carefully, the daughter untied the ribbon. Wondering, she lifted the cover and looked into the mirror. Why, Mother! she cried. Its you! You look just as you used to look when I was a little girl. Yes, dear, that is the way I looked when I was young. Be sure to smile when you look at me and I will smile back to you. From that day forth, the young woman kept the mirror near her. Once every year, she would open it up. Her mothers words always proved true and within that mirror she saw her mothers face. Oh, the joyful surprise! It was her mother, more beautiful each time that she looked. She seemed to smile at her daughter and the daughter smiled back at her. As long as she kept a smile on her face, that happy mirror reflected her mothers smile back at her.

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CHINESE LITERATURE
China Red Dragon of the East Chinese literature has very ancient beginnings. Like Egypt, it began about 5,000 years ago and has recorded the dream and visions of people who number about half of all people of the world. Her literature is based on Five Classics, works, put together by Confucius (6th century B. C.), and the Four Books, in which Confucius teachings are included. Confucius, Chinas greatest teacher and philosopher was the central figure in Chinas intellectual history. The materials in his works includes divinations, ceremonials, rules of behavior, wise sayings, poems, and ballads, all emphasizing the proper conduct of life. Like Jesus in some ways, he was a teacher who taught his people by living among them.

The Chinese people were divided into four classes during Chou dynasties (1100221 B.C.) They used bamboo tablets and the stylus and accumulated ancient documents embodying traditions of filial piety, respect for history, and love of music and poetry.

The reign of Emperor Shi Huang, builder of the Great Wall, saw the use of rolled silk and camels hair brush as writing materials. The script was simplified and standardized. But this regime was a dark era for writers in China. Non-scientific books dealing with the past were burned and writers were put them to death.

The Han dynasties restored learning and established the Five Classics. The books form the foundation of their cultural, political, and traditional life. These books are the: 1) Book of Changes contains magic formulas which are believed to have mysterious powers. Most of the Chinese fortunetellers who in the past were found on every street of China based their prediction on learning derived from this book.
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2) Book of History as the name implies records events from the earliest history of China, which is said to begin about 2000 B.C. It was compiled by the great religious teacher, Confucius (Kung-Fu-Tze) or Master Kung. It also contains dialogs between kings and their ministers, discussing the art of ruling and stating principles to guide rulers. 3) Book of Rites really the book of the right etiquette or conduct. It spells out rules which regulates the daily and public lives of the Chinese. It is an interesting testimony on how a Chinese is expected to act in private or in the public. 4) Book of Odes consist of lengthy lyrical poems, often addressed to some praised objects, persons, or qualities, and characterize by exalted style. Little literature was produced until the coming of the Tiang Dynasty (A. D. 618960), a period of high culture, especially in poetry Chinese poetry is rich in symbolism. Symbolism is method of writing by means of which the author uses ordinary words but he may not mean just what he says. The words or phrases suggest hidden meanings and emotions which the reader must understand to be able to be able to appreciate the poem. The crowning glory of the Tiang Dynasty were Tu Fuli Po, and Po Chui. Their names definitely ring a bell to the ears of literary enthusiasts. Li Po (701-762), or Li Tai Po, was one of the leading Chinese poets of the 8 th century. His writings deal with the good things of life and with the sorrow of human dynasty. He was called the Immortal of Poetry. Po Chu-I, was a well-known Chinese poet who represented the classical tradition in Chinese literature, politics and morality. He was a public official who was inspired by a strong social conscience, making his verses rather didactic and satirical as he chastised the warmongers, corrupt politicians, and troublemakers. His poems are sturdy; however, their subject matter is good in the twentieth century, as it was in the ninth. Po Chu-I is the poet of human love and sorrow while Tu Fu called the Sage of Poetry, is chinas favorite poet. He was the direct
26

contrast of Li Po since he excelled in regular poems and more deliberate, disciplined expressions.

STRANGE STORIES FROM A CHINESE STUDIO

by Pu Sung-ling
THE FAITHLESS WIDOW MR. Niu was a Kiangsi man who traded in piece goods. He married a wife from the Cheng family, by whom he had two children, a boy and a girl. When thirty-three years of age he fell ill and died, his son Chung being then only twelve and his little girl eight or nine. His wife did not remain faithful to his memory, but, selling off all the property, pocketed the proceeds and married another man, leaving her two children almost in a state of destitution with their aunt, Nius sister-in-law, an old lady of sixty, who had lived with them previously, and had now nowhere to seek a shelter. A few years later this aunt died, and the family fortunes began to sink even lower than before; Chung, however, was now grown up, and determined to carry on his fathers trade, only he had no capital to start with. His sister marrying a rich trader named Mao, she begged her husband to lend Chung ten ounces of silver, which he did, and Chung immediately started for Nanking. On the road he fell in with some bandits, who robbed him of all he had, and consequently he was unable to return; but one day when he was at a pawnshop he noticed that the master of the shop was wonderfully like his late father, and on going out and making inquiries he found that this pawnbroker bore precisely the same names. In great astonishment, he forthwith proceeded to [p. 289] frequent the place with no other object than to watch this man, who, on the other hand, took no notice of Chung and by the end of three days, having satisfied himself that he really saw his own father, and yet not daring to disclose his own identity, he made application through one of the assistants, on the score of being himself a Kiangsi man, to be employed in the shop. Accordingly, an indenture was drawn up; and when the master noticed Chungs name and place of residence he started, and asked him whence he came. With tears in his eyes Chung addressed him by his fathers name, and then the pawnbroker became lost in a deep reverie, by-and-by asking Chung how his mother was. Now Chung did not like to allude to his fathers death, and turned the question by saying, My father went away on business six years ago, and never came back; my mother married again and left us, and had it not been for my aunt our corpses would long ago have been cast out in the kennel. Then the pawnbroker was much moved, and cried out, I am your father! seizing his sons hand and leading him within to see his stepmother. This lady was about twenty-two, and, having no children of her own, was delighted with Chung, and prepared a banquet for him in the inner apartments. Mr. Niu himself was, however, somewhat melancholy, and wished to return to his old home; but his wife, fearing that there would be no one to manage the business, persuaded him to remain; so he taught his son the trade, and in three months was able to leave it all to him. He then prepared for his journey, whereupon Chung informed his step-mother that his father was really dead, to which she replied in great consternation that she knew him only as a trader to the place, and that six years previously he had married her, which proved conclusively that he couldnt be dead. He then recounted the whole story, which was a perfect mystery to 27

both of them; and twenty-four hours afterwards in walked his father, leading a woman whose hair was all dishevelled. Chung looked at her, and saw that she was his own mother; and Niu took her by the ear and began to revile her, saying, Why did you desert my children? to which the wretched woman made no reply. He then bit her across the neck, at which she screamed to Chung for assistance, and he, not being able to bear the sight, stepped in between them. His father was more than ever enraged at this, when, lo! Chungs mother had disappeared. While they were still lost in astonishment at this strange scene, Mr. Nius colour changed; in another moment his empty clothes had dropped upon the ground, and he himself became a black vapour and also vanished from their sight. The stepmother and son were much overcome; they took Nius clothes and buried them, and after that Chung continued his fathers business, and soon amassed great wealth. On returning to his native place he found that his mother had actually died on the very day of the above occurrence, and that his father had been seen by the whole family.

Unless under exceptional circumstances, it is not considered creditable in China for widows to marry again. It may here be mentioned that the honorary tablets conferred from time to time by His Imperial Majesty upon virtuous widows are only given to women who, widowed before the age of thirty, have remained in that state for a period of thirty years. The meaning of this is obvious; temptations are supposed to be fewer and less dangerous after thirty, which is the equivalent of forty with us; and it is wholly improbable that thirty years of virtuous life, at which period the widow would be at least fifty, would be followed by any act that might cast a stain upon the tablet thus bestowed.

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Pakistani Literature
Pakistan literature, that is, the literature of Pakistan, as a distinct literature that gradually came to be defined after Pakistan gained nationhood status in 1947, emerging out of the Indian English Literature tradition. The shared tradition of Urdu literature and English literature of India was inherited by the new state. Over a period of time a body of literature unique to Pakistan has emerged in nearly all major Pakistani languages, including Urdu, English, Punjabi, Balochi, Pushto and Sindhi. History The nature of Pakistani literature soon after independence aroused controversy among writers due to its being centered heavily on the negative events related to the India-Pakistan partition. According to Gilani Kamran (GC University), Pakistani literature was expected to take a new direction along with the new state of Pakistan at this point, but did not immediately meet this expectation. Saadat Hassan Manto (1912-1955), a prominent writer of short stories of the South Asia, produced great literature out of the events relating to the India-Pakistan independence. His literature is considered to be progressive in its tone and spirit. According to several critics it had not only evolved its own identity, but also had played a significant role in documenting the hardships and hopes of Pakistan in the latter part of the 20th century. Today, Pakistani literature has taken a shape of its own by depicting the complex class system and common man. Contemporary authors as such. It also has evolved in merging Urdu literary forms and English literature leading to experimentation. Many writers of fiction borrow from English and vice versa. Pakistani literature's main platform is the Pakistan Academy of Letters, chaired by Iftikhar Arif.

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Pakistani Literature In English English language fiction from Pakistan began to receive international recognition in the latter part of the 20th century, pioneered by figures such as Bapsi Sidhwa, the Parsi author of The Crow Eaters, Cracking India (1988) and other novels. In the diaspora, Sara Suleri published the literary memoir, Meatless Days (1989), Hanif Kureshi commenced a prolific career with the novel The Buddha of Suburbia (1990), which won the Whitbread Award, and Aamer Hussein wrote a series of acclaimed short story collections. In the early years of the 21st century, a number of Pakistani novelists writing in English won or were shortlisted for international awards. Mohsin Hamid published his first novel Moth Smoke (2000), which won a Betty Trask Award and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award; he has since published his second novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Kamila Shamsie was shorlisted for the John Llewelyn Rhys award for her third novel, Kartography (2002); she has since published her fourth novel, Broken Verses. Uzma Aslam Khan was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Eurasia region) for her second novel, Trespassing (2003). British-Pakistani writer Nadeem Aslam won the Kuriyama Prize for his second book, Maps for Lost Lovers (2004). The first novel of Mohammed Hanif, A Case of Exploding Mangoes (2008) was shortlisted for the 2008 Guardian First Book Award. Emerging authors Kamila Shamsie and Daniyal Mueenuddin have garnered worldwide attention.

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Ancient Egyptian Literature

Egyptian hieroglyphs with cartouches for the name "Ramesses II", from the Luxor Temple, New Kingdom

Ancient Egyptian literature was written in the Egyptian language from Ancient Egypt's pharaonic period until the end of Roman domination. It represents the oldest corpus of Egyptian literature. Along with Sumerian literature, it is considered the world's earliest literature. Writing in Ancient Egyptboth hieroglyphic and hieraticfirst appeared in the late 4th millennium BC during the late phase of pre-dynastic Egypt. By the Old Kingdom(26th century BC to 22nd century BC), literary works included funerary texts, epistles and letters, religious hymns and poems, and commemorative

autobiographical texts recounting the careers of prominent administrative officials. It was not until the early Middle Kingdom (21st century BC to 17th century BC) that a narrative Egyptian literature was created. This was a "media revolution" which, according to Richard B. Parkinson, was the result of the rise of an intellectual class of scribes, new cultural sensibilities about individuality, unprecedented levels of literacy, and mainstream access to written materials.[2] However, it is possible that the overall literacy rate was less than one percent of the entire population. The creation of literature was thus an elite exercise, monopolized by a scribal class attached to government offices and the royal court of the ruling pharaoh. However, there is no full consensus among modern scholars concerning the dependence of ancient Egyptian literature on the sociopolitical order of the royal courts.

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Middle Egyptian, the spoken language of the Middle Kingdom, became a classical language during the New Kingdom (16th century BC to 11th century BC), when the vernacular language known as Late Egyptian first appeared in writing. Scribes of the New Kingdom canonized and copied many literary texts written in Middle Egyptian, which remained the language used for oral readings of sacred hieroglyphic texts. Some genres of Middle Kingdom literature, such as "teachings" and fictional tales, remained popular in the New Kingdom, although the genre of prophetic texts was not revived until the Ptolemaic period (4th century BC to 1st century BC). Popular tales included the Story of Sinuhe and The Eloquent Peasant, while important teaching texts include the Instructions of Amenemhat and The Loyalist Teaching. By the New Kingdom period, the writing of commemorative graffiti on sacred temple and tomb walls flourished as a unique genre of literature, yet it employed formulaic phrases similar to other genres. The acknowledgment of rightful authorship remained important only in a few genres, while texts of the "teaching" genre were pseudonymous and falsely attributed to prominent historical figures. Ancient Egyptian literature has been preserved on a wide variety of media. This includes papyrus scrolls and packets, limestone or ceramic ostraca, wooden writing boards, monumental stone edifices and coffins. Texts preserved and unearthed by modern archaeologists represent a small fraction of ancient Egyptian literary material. The area of the floodplain of the Nile is under-represented because the moist environment is unsuitable for the preservation of papyri and ink inscriptions. On the other hand, hidden caches of literature, buried for thousands of years, have been discovered in settlements on the dry desert margins of Egyptian civilization.

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Hieroglyphs, Hieratic, and Demotic

The slab stela of the Old KingdomEgyptian princess Neferetiabet (dated c. 25902565 BC), from her tomb at Giza, with hieroglyphs carved and painted on limestone

By the Early Dynastic hieroglyphs and their cursive

Period in

the

late

4th

millennium

BC, Egyptian scripts.

form hieratic were

well-established written

Egyptian hieroglyphs are small artistic pictures of natural objects. For example, the hieroglyph for door-bolt, pronounced se, produced the s sound; when this hieroglyph was combined with another or multiple hieroglyphs, it produced a combination of sounds that could represent abstract concepts like sorrow, happiness, beauty, and evil. The Narmer Palette, dated c. 3100 BC during the last phase of Pre-dynastic Egypt combines the hieroglyphs for catfish and chisel to produce the name of King Narmer. The Egyptians called their hieroglyphs "words of god" and reserved their use for exalted purposes, such as communicating with divinities and spirits of the

dead through funerary texts. Each hieroglyphic word both represented a specific object and embodied the essence of that object, recognizing it as divinely made and belonging within the greater cosmos. Through acts of priestly ritual, like burning incense, the priest allowed spirits and deities to read the hieroglyphs decorating the surfaces of temples. In funerary texts beginning in and following the Twelfth dynasty, the Egyptians believed that disfiguring, and even omitting certain hieroglyphs, brought consequences, either good or bad, for a deceased tomb occupant whose spirit relied on the texts as a source of nourishment in the afterlife. Mutilating the hieroglyph of a venomous snake, or other dangerous animal, removed a potential threat. However, removing every instance of the

33

hieroglyphs representing a deceased person's name would deprive his or her soul of the ability to read the funerary texts and condemn that soul to an inanimate existence.

Abbott Papyrus, a record written inhieratic script; it describes an inspection of royal tombs in the Theban Necropolis and is dated to the 16th regnal year of Ramesses IX, ca. 1110 BCE.

Hieratic is a simplified, cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Like hieroglyphs, hieratic was used in sacred and religious texts. By the 1st millennium BC, calligraphic hieratic became the script predominantly used in funerary papyri and temple rolls. Whereas the writing of hieroglyphs required the utmost precision and care, cursive hieratic could be written much more quickly and was therefore more practical for scribal record keeping. Its primary purpose was to serve as a shorthand script for non-royal, non-monumental, and less formal writings such as private letters, legal documents, poems, tax records, medical texts, mathematical treatises, and instructional guides. Hieratic could be written in two different styles; one was more calligraphic and usually reserved for government records and literary manuscripts, the other was used for informal accounts and letters. By the mid-1st millennium BC, hieroglyphs and hieratic were still used for royal, monumental, religious, and funerary writings, while a new, even more cursive script was used for informal, day-to-day writing: Demotic. The final script adopted by the ancient Egyptians was the Coptic alphabet, a revised version of the Greek alphabet. Coptic became the standard in the 4th century AD when Christianity became the state religion throughout the Roman Empire; hieroglyphs were discarded as idolatrous images of a pagan tradition, unfit for writing the Biblical canon.

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Writing Implements And Materials

An ostracon with hieraticscript mentioning officials involved in the inspection and clearing of tombs during the Twenty-first dynasty of Egypt, c. 1070945 BC

Egyptian literature was produced on a variety of media. Along with the chisel, necessary for making inscriptions on stone, the chief writing tool of ancient Egypt was the reed pen, a reed fashioned into a stem with a bruised, brush-like end. With pigments of carbon black and red ochre, the reed pen was used to write on scrolls of papyrusa thin material made from beating together well strips as of pith from on small the Cyperus ceramic or

papyrus plantas

limestone ostraca known as potsherds. It is thought that papyrus rolls were moderately expensive commercial items, since many are palimpsests, manuscripts that have their original contents erased to make room for new written works. This, alongside tearing off pieces of papyrus documents to make smaller letters, suggests that there were seasonal shortages caused by the limited growing season of Cyperus papyrus. It also explains the frequent use of ostraca and limestone flakes as writing media for shorter written works. In addition to stone, ceramic ostraca, and papyrus, writing media also included wood, ivory, and plaster. By the Roman Period of Egypt, the traditional Egyptian reed pen had been replaced by the chief writing tool of the Greco-Roman world: a shorter, thicker reed pen with a cut nib. Likewise, the original Egyptian pigments were discarded in favor of Greek lead-based inks. The adoption of Greco-Roman writing tools had an impact on Egyptian handwriting, as hieratic signs became more spaced, had rounder flourishes, and greater angular precision. PRESERVATION OF WRITTEN MATERIAL Underground Egyptian tombs built in the desert provide possibly the most protective environment for the preservation of papyrus documents. For example, there are many well-preserved Book of the Dead funerary papyri placed in tombs to act as
35

afterlife guides for the souls of the deceased tomb occupants. However, it was only customary during the late Middle Kingdom and first half of the New Kingdom to place non-religious papyri in burial chambers. Thus, the majority of well-preserved literary papyri are dated to this period. Most settlements in ancient Egypt were situated on the alluvium of the Nile floodplain. This moist environment was unfavorable for long-term preservation of papyrus documents. Archaeologists have discovered a larger quantity of papyrus documents in desert settlements on land elevated above the floodplain, and in settlements that lacked irrigation works, such as Elephantine, El-Lahun, and El-Hiba.

Egyptian peasants harvesting papyrus, from a mural painting in a Deir el-Medina tomb dated to the early Ramesside Period (i.e. Nineteenth dynasty)

Writings on more permanent media have also been lost in various ways. Stones with inscriptions were frequently re-used as building materials, and ceramic ostraca require a dry environment to ensure the preservation of the ink on their surfaces. Whereas papyrus rolls and packets were usually stored in boxes for safekeeping, ostraca were routinely discarded in waste pits; one such pit was discovered by chance at the Ramesside-era village of Deir el-Medina, and has yielded the majority of known private letters on ostraca. Documents found at this site include letters, hymns, fictional narratives, recipes, business receipts, and wills and testaments. Penelope Wilson describes this archaeological find as the equivalent of sifting through a modern landfill or waste container. She notes that the inhabitants of Deir el-Medina were incredibly literate by ancient Egyptian standards, and cautions that such finds only come "...in rarefied circumstances and in particular conditions." John W. Tait stresses, "Egyptian material survives in a very uneven fashion ... the unevenness of survival comprises both time and space." For instance, there is a dearth of written material from all periods from the Nile Delta but an abundance at

36

western Thebes, dating from its heyday. He notes that while some texts were copied numerous times, others survive from a single copy; for example, there is only one complete surviving copy of the Tale of the shipwrecked sailor from the Middle Kingdom. However, Tale of the shipwrecked sailor also appears in fragments of texts on ostraca from the New Kingdom. Many other literary works survive only in fragments or through incomplete copies of lost originals. Classical, Middle, Late, and Demotic Egyptian language

Columns with inscribed and painted Egyptian hieroglyphs, from the hypostyle hall the Ramesseum (at Luxor) built during the reign of Ramesses II (r. 12791213 BC)

of

Although writing first appeared during the very late 4 th millennium BC, it was only used to convey short names and labels; connected strands of text did not appear until about 2600 BC, at the beginning of the Old Kingdom. This development marked the beginning of the first known phase of the Egyptian language: Old Egyptian. Old Egyptian remained a spoken language until about 2100 BC, when, during the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, it evolved into Middle Egyptian. While Middle Egyptian was closely related to Old Egyptian, Late Egyptian was significantly different in grammatical structure. Late Egyptian possibly appeared as a vernacular language as early as 1600 BC, but was not used as a written language until c. 1300 BC during the Amarna Period of the New Kingdom. Late Egyptian evolved into Demotic by the 7th century BC, and although Demotic remained a spoken language until the 5th century AD, it was gradually replaced by Coptic beginning in the 1st century AD. Hieratic was used alongside hieroglyphs for writing in Old and Middle Egyptian, becoming the dominant form of writing in Late Egyptian. By the New Kingdom and
37

throughout the rest of ancient Egyptian history, Middle Egyptian became a classical language that was usually reserved for reading and writing in hieroglyphs. For the rest of ancient Egyptian history, Middle Egyptian remained the spoken language for more exalted forms of literature, such as historical records, commemorative autobiographies, religious hymns, and funerary spells. However, Middle Kingdom literature written in Middle Egyptian was also rewritten in hieratic during later periods. Literary Functions: Social, Religious and Educational

Seated statue of an Egyptian scribe holding a papyrus document in his lap, found in the western cemetery at Giza, Fifth dynasty of Egypt (25th to 24th centuries BC)

Throughout ancient Egyptian history, reading and writing were the main requirements for serving in public office, although government officials were assisted in their day-to-day work by an elite, literate social group known as scribes. As evidenced by Papyrus Anastasi I of the Ramesside Period, scribes could even be expected, according to Wilson, "...to organize the excavation of a lake and the building of a brick ramp, to establish the number of men needed to transport an obelisk and to arrange the provisioning of a military mission". Besides government employment, scribal services in drafting letters, sales documents, and legal documents would have been frequently sought by illiterate people. Literate people are thought to have comprised only 1% of the population, the remainder being illiterate farmers, herdsmen, artisans, and other laborers, as well as merchants who required the assistance of scribal secretaries. The privileged status of the scribe over illiterate manual laborers was the subject of a popular Ramesside Period instructional text, The Satire of the Trades, where lowly, undesirable occupations, for example, potter, fisherman, laundry man, and soldier, were mocked and the scribal profession praised. A similar demeaning attitude towards the illiterate is expressed in the Middle Kingdom Teaching of Khety, which is used to reinforce the scribes' elevated position within the social hierarchy.
38

The scribal class was the social group responsible for maintaining, transmitting, and canonizing literary classics, and writing new compositions. Classic works, such as the Story of Sinuhe and Instructions of Amenemhat, were copied by schoolboys as pedagogical exercises in writing and to instill the required ethical and moral values that distinguished the scribal social class. Wisdom texts of the "teaching" genre represent the majority of pedagogical texts written on ostraca during the Middle Kingdom; narrative tales, such as Sinuhe and King Neferkare and General Sasenet, were rarely copied for school exercises until the New Kingdom. William Kelly Simpson describes narrative tales such as Sinuhe and The shipwrecked sailor as "...instructions or teachings in the guise of narratives", since the main protagonists of such stories embodied the accepted virtues of the day, such as love of home or self-reliance. There are some known instances where those outside the scribal profession were literate and had access to classical literature. Menena, a draughtsman working at Deir el-Medina during the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt, quoted passages from the Middle Kingdom narratives Eloquent Peasant and Tale of the shipwrecked sailor in an instructional letter reprimanding his disobedient son. Menena's Ramesside

contemporary Hori, the scribal author of the satirical letter in Papyrus Anastasi I, admonished his addressee for quoting the Instruction of Hardjedef in the unbecoming manner of a non-scribal, semi-educated person. Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert further explains this perceived amateur affront to orthodox literature: What may be revealed by Hori's attack on the way in which some Ramesside scribes felt obliged to demonstrate their greater or lesser acquaintance with ancient literature is the conception that these venerable works were meant to be known in full and not to be misused as quarries for popular sayings mined deliberately from the past. The classics of the time were to be memorized completely and comprehended thoroughly before being cited.

39

Hieroglyphs from the Mortuary Temple of Seti I, now located at the Great Hypostyle Hall of Karnak

There is scant but solid evidence in Egyptian literature and art for the practice of oral reading of texts to audiences. The oral performance word "to recite" (dj) was usually associated with biographies,

letters, and spells. Singing (sj) was meant for praise songs, love songs, funerary laments, and certain spells. Discourses such as the Prophecy of Neferti suggest that compositions were meant for oral reading among elite gatherings. In the 1st millennium BC Demotic short story cycle centered around the deeds of Petiese, the stories begin with the phrase "The voice which is before Pharaoh", which indicates that an oral speaker and audience was involved in the reading of the text. A fictional audience of high government officials and members of the royal court are mentioned in some texts, but a wider, non-literate audience may have been involved. For example, a funerary stela of Senusret I (r. 19711926 BC) explicitly mentions people who will gather and listen to a scribe who "recites" the stela inscriptions out loud. Literature also served religious purposes. Beginning with the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom, works of funerary literature written on tomb walls, and later on coffins, and papyri placed within tombs, were designed to protect and nurture souls in their afterlife. This included the use of magical spells, incantations, and lyrical hymns. Copies of non-funerary literary texts found in non-royal tombs suggest that the dead could entertain themselves in the afterlife by reading these teaching texts and narrative tales. Although the creation of literature was predominantly a male scribal pursuit, some works are thought to have been written by women. For example, several references to women writing letters and surviving private letters sent and received by women have been found. However, Edward F. Wente asserts that, even with explicit references to women reading letters, it is possible that women employed others to write documents.
40

Dating, Setting, and Authorship

The stela of Minnakht, chief of the scribes, hieroglyph inscriptions, dated to the reign of Ay (r. 13231319 BC)

Richard

B.

Parkinson and Ludwig

D.

Morenz write that ancient Egyptian literaturenarrowly defined as belles-lettres ("beautiful writing")was not recorded in written form until the early Twelfth dynasty of the Middle Kingdom. Old Kingdom texts served mainly to maintain the divine cults, preserve souls in the afterlife, and document accounts for practical uses in daily life. It was not until the Middle Kingdom that texts were written for the purpose of entertainment and intellectual curiosity. Parkinson and Morenz also speculate that written works of the Middle Kingdom were transcriptions of the oral literature of the Old Kingdom. It is known that some oral poetry was preserved in later writing; for example, litter-bearers' songs were preserved as written verses in tomb inscriptions of the Old Kingdom. Dating texts by methods of Paleography, the study of handwriting, is problematic because of differing styles of hieratic script. The use of orthography, the study of writing systems and symbol usage, is also problematic, since some texts' authors may have copied the characteristic style of an older archetype. Fictional accounts were often set in remote historical settings, the use of contemporary settings in fiction being a relatively recent phenomenon. The style of a text provides little help in determining an exact date for its composition, as genre and authorial choice might be more concerned with the mood of a text than the era in which it was written. For example, authors of the Middle Kingdom could set fictional wisdom texts in the golden age of the Old Kingdom (e.g. Kagemni, Ptahhotep, and the prologue of Neferti), or they could write fictional accounts placed in a chaotic age resembling more the problematic life of the First Intermediate Period (e.g. Merykare and The Eloquent Peasant). Other fictional texts are set in illo tempore (in an indeterminable era) and usually contain timeless themes.

41

One of the Heqanakht papyri, a collection of hieratic private letters dated to theEleventh dynasty of the Middle Kingdom

Parkinson writes that nearly all literary texts were pseudonymous, and frequently falsely attributed to well-known male protagonists of earlier history, such as kings and viziers. Only the literary genres of

"teaching" and "laments/discourses" contain works attributed to historical authors; texts in genres such as "narrative tales" were never attributed to a well-known historical person. Tait asserts that during the Classical Period of Egypt, "Egyptian scribes constructed their own view of the history of the role of scribes and of the 'authorship' of texts", but during the Late Period, this role was instead maintained by the religious elite attached to the temples. There are a few exceptions to the rule of pseudonymity. The real authors of some Ramesside Period teaching texts were acknowledged, but these cases are rare, localized, and do not typify mainstream works. Those who wrote private and sometimes model letters were acknowledged as the original authors. Private letters could be used in courts of law as testimony, since a person's unique handwriting could be identified as authentic. Private letters received or written by the pharaoh were sometimes inscribed in hieroglyphics on stone monuments to celebrate kingship, while kings' decrees inscribed on stone stelas were often made public. Literary Genres and Subjects Modern Egyptologists categorize Egyptian texts into genres, for example "laments/discourses" and narrative tales. The only genre of literature named as such by the ancient Egyptians was the "teaching" or sebayt genre. Parkinson states that the titles of a work, its opening statement, or key words found in the body of text should be used as indicators of its particular genre. Only the genre of "narrative tales" employed prose writing, yet many of the works of that genre, as well as those of other genres, were written in verse format. Most ancient Egyptian verses were written in couplet form, but sometimes triplets and quatrains were used.

42

Instructions and Teachings

A New Kingdom copy on papyrus of the Loyalist Teaching, written in hieratic script

The "instructions" or "teaching" genre, as well as the genre of "reflective discourses", can be grouped within the larger corpus of wisdom literature found in the ancient Near East. The genre is didactic in nature and is thought to have formed part of the Middle Kingdom scribal education syllabus. However, teaching texts often incorporate narrative elements that can instruct as well as entertain. Parkinson asserts that there is evidence that teaching texts were not created primarily for use in scribal education, but for ideological purposes. For example, Adolf Erman (18541937) writes that the fictional instruction given by Amenemhat I (r. 19911962 BC) to his sons "...far exceeds the bounds of school philosophy, and there is nothing whatever to do with school in a great warning his children to be loyal to the king". While narrative literature embodied in works such as The Eloquent Peasant, emphasize the individual hero who challenges society and its accepted ideologies, the teaching texts instead stress the need to comply with society's accepted dogmas. Key words found in teaching texts include "to know" (rh) and "teach" (sba.yt).[81] These texts usually adopt the formulaic title structure of "the instruction of X made for Y", where "X" can be represented by an authoritative figure (such as a vizier or king) providing moral guidance to his son(s). It is sometimes difficult to determine how many fictional addressees are involved in these teachings, since some texts switch between singular and plural when referring to their audiences. Examples of the "teaching" genre include the Maxims of Ptahhotep, Instructions of Kagemni, Teaching for King Merykare, Instructions of Amenemhat, Instruction of Hardjedef, Loyalist Teaching, and Instructions of Amenemope. Teaching texts that have survived from the Middle Kingdom were written on papyrus manuscripts. No educational ostraca from the Middle Kingdom have survived. The earliest school boy's wooden writing board, with a copy of a teaching text (i.e. Ptahhotep), dates to the Eighteenth dynasty. Ptahhotep andKagemni are both found on the Prisse Papyrus, which was written during the Twelfth dynasty of the Middle Kingdom. The entire Loyalist
43

Teaching survives only in manuscripts from the New Kingdom, although the entire first half is preserved on a Middle Kingdom biographical stone stela commemorating the Twelfth dynasty official Sehetepibre. Merykare, Amenemhat, and Hardjedef are genuine Middle Kingdom works, but only survive in later New Kingdom copies. Amenemope is a New Kingdom compilation. Narrative Tales and Stories
The Westcar Papyrus, although written in hieratic during the Fifteenth to Seventeenth dynasties, contains the Tale of the Court of King Cheops, which is written in a phase of Middle Egyptian that is dated to the Twelfth dynasty.

The genre of "tales and stories" is probably the least represented genre from surviving literature of the Middle Kingdom and Middle Egyptian. In Late Egyptian literature, "tales and stories" comprise the majority of surviving literary works dated from the Ramesside Period of the New Kingdom into the Late Period. Major narrative works from the Middle Kingdom include the Tale of the Court of King Cheops, King Neferkare and General Sasenet, The Eloquent Peasant, Story of Sinuhe, and Tale of the shipwrecked sailor.[97] The New Kingdom corpus of tales includes the Quarrel of Apepi and Seqenenre, Taking of Joppa, Tale of the doomed prince, Tale of Two Brothers, and the Report of Wenamun. Stories from the 1st millennium BC written in Demotic include the story of the Famine Stela (set in the Old Kingdom, although written during thePtolemaic dynasty) and short story cycles of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods that transform wellknown historical figures such as Khaemweset (Nineteenth Dynasty) and Inaros (First Persian Period) into fictional, legendary heroes. This is contrasted with many stories written in Late Egyptian, whose authors frequently chose divinities as protagonists and mythological places as settings.

A raised-relief depiction of AmenemhatI accompanied by deities; the death of Amenemhat I is reported by his son Senusret I in the Story of Sinuhe.

44

Parkinson

defines

tales

as

"...non-commemorative,

non-functional,

fictional narratives" that usually employ the key word "narrate" (sdd). He describes it as the most open-ended genre, since the tales often incorporate elements of other literary genres. For example, Morenz describes the opening section of the foreign adventure tale Sinuhe as a "...funerary self-presentation" that parodies the

typical autobiography found on commemorative funerary stelas. The autobiography is for a courier whose service began under Amenemhat I. Simpson states that the death of Amenemhat I in the report given by his son, coregent, and successor Senusret I (r. 19711926 BC) to the army in the beginning of Sinuhe is "...excellent

propaganda". Morenz describes The Shipwrecked Sailor as an expeditionary report and a travel-narrative myth. Simpson notes the literary device of the story within a story in The Shipwrecked Sailor may provide "...the earliest examples of a

narrative quarrying report". With the setting of a magical desert island, and a character who is a talking snake, The shipwrecked sailor may also be classified as a fairy tale. While stories like Sinuhe, Taking of Joppa, and the Doomed prince contain fictional portrayals of Egyptians abroad, the Report of Wenamun is most likely based on a true account of an Egyptian who traveled to Byblos in Phoenicia to obtain cedar for shipbuilding during the reign of Ramesses XI. Narrative tales and stories are most often found on papyri, but partial and sometimes complete texts are found on ostraca. For example, Sinuhe is found on five papyri composed during the Twelfth and Thirteenth dynasties. This text was later copied numerous times on ostraca during the Nineteenth and Twentieth dynasties, with one ostraca containing the complete text on both sides. Laments, Discourses, Dialogues, and Prophecies The Middle Kingdom genre of "prophetic texts", also known as "laments", "discourses", "dialogues", and "apocalyptic literature", include such works as

the Admonitions of Ipuwer, Prophecy of Neferti, and Dispute between a man and his Ba. This genre had no known precedent in the Old Kingdom and no known original compositions were produced in the New Kingdom. However, works like Prophecy of
45

Neferti were frequently copied during the Ramesside Period of the New Kingdom, when this Middle Kingdom genre was canonized but discontinued. Egyptian prophetic literature underwent a revival during the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty and Roman period of Egypt with works such as the Demotic Chronicle, Oracle of the Lamb, Oracle of the Potter, and two prophetic texts that focus on Nectanebo II (r. 360343 BC) as a protagonist. Along with "teaching" texts, these reflective discourses (key word mdt) are grouped with the wisdom literature category of the ancient Near East.
The ba in bird form, one component of the Egyptian soul that is discussed in the Middle Kingdom discourse Dispute between a man and his Ba

In Middle Kingdom texts, connecting themes include a pessimistic outlook, descriptions of social and religious change, and great disorder throughout the land, taking the form of a syntactic "then-now" verse formula. Although these texts are usually described as laments, Neferti digresses from this model, providing a positive solution to a problematic world. Although it survives only in later copies from the Eighteenth dynasty onward, Parkinson asserts that, due to obvious political content, Neferti was originally written during or shortly after the reign of Amenemhat I. Simpson calls it "...a blatant political pamphlet designed to support the new regime" of the Twelfth dynasty founded by Amenemhat, who usurped the throne from the Mentuhotep line of the Eleventh dynasty. In the narrative discourse, Sneferu (r. 26132589 BC) of the Fourth dynastysummons to court the sage and lector priest Neferti. Neferti entertains the king with prophecies that the land will enter into a chaotic age, alluding to the First Intermediate Period, only to be restored to its former glory by a righteous king Amenywhom the ancient Egyptian would readily recognize as Amenemhat I. A similar model of a tumultuous world transformed into a golden age by a savior king was adopted for the Lamb and Potter, although for their audiences living under Roman domination, the savior was yet to come.

46

Although written during the Twelfth

dynasty, Ipuwer only survives from

a Nineteenth dynasty papyrus. However, A Man and His Ba is found on an original Twelfth dynasty papyrus, Papyrus Berlin 3024. These two texts resemble other discourses in style, tone, and subject matter, although they are unique in that the fictional audiences are given very active roles in the exchange of dialogue. In Ipuwer, a sage addresses an unnamed king and his attendants, describing the miserable state of the land, which he blames on the king's inability to uphold royal virtues. This can be seen either as a warning to kings or as a legitimization of the current dynasty, contrasting it with the supposedly turbulent period that preceded it. In A man and his Ba, a man recounts for an audience a conversation with his Ba (a component of the Egyptian soul) on whether to continue living in despair or to seek death as an escape from misery. Poems, Songs, Hymns, and Afterlife Texts
This vignette scene from the Book of the Dead of Hunefer (Nineteenth dynasty) shows his heart being weighed against the feather of truth. If his heart is lighter than the feather, he is allowed into the afterlife; if not, his heart is swallowed by Ammit.

The funerary stone slab stela was first produced during the early Old Kingdom. Usually found in mastaba tombs, they combined raised-relief artwork with inscriptions bearing the name of the deceased, their official titles (if any), and invocations. Funerary poems were thought to preserve a monarch's soul in death. The Pyramid Texts are the earliest surviving religious literature incorporating poetic verse. These texts do not appear in tombs or pyramids originating before the reign of Unas (r. 23752345 BC), who had the Pyramid of Unas built at Saqqara. The Pyramid Texts are chiefly concerned with the function of preserving and nurturing the soul of the sovereign in the afterlife. This aim eventually included safeguarding both the sovereign and his subjects in the afterlife. A variety of textual traditions evolved from the original Pyramid Texts: the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom, the so-called Book of

47

the Dead, Litany of Ra, and Amduat written on papyri from the New Kingdom until the end of Ancient Egyptian civilization. Poems were also written to celebrate kingship. For example, at the Precinct of Amun-Re at Karnak, Thutmose III (r. 14791425 BC) of the Eighteenth dynasty erected a stela commemorating his military victories in which the gods bless Thutmose in poetic verse and ensure for him victories over his enemies. In addition to stone stelas, poems have been found on wooden writing boards used by schoolboys. Besides the glorification of kings, poems were written to honor various deities, and even the Nile.
A blind harpist, from a mural of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, 15th century BC

Surviving hymns and songs from the Old Kingdom include the morning greeting hymns to the gods in their respective temples. A cycle of MiddleKingdom songs dedicated to Senusret III (r. 1878 1839 BC) have been discovered at El-Lahun. Erman considers these to be secular songs used to greet the pharaoh at Memphis, while Simpson considers them to be religious in nature but affirms that the division between religious and secular songs is not very sharp. The Harper's Song, the lyrics found on a tombstone of the Middle Kingdom and on Papyrus Harris 500 from the New Kingdom, was to be performed for dinner guests at formal banquets. During the reign of Akhenaten (r. 13531336 BC), the Great Hymn to the Aten preserved in tombs of Amarna, including the tomb of Aywas written to the Aten, the sun-disk deity given exclusive patronage during his reign. Simpson compares this composition's wording and sequence of ideas to those of Psalm 104. Only a single poetic hymn in the Demotic script has been preserved. However, there are many surviving examples of Late-Period Egyptian religious hymns written in hieroglyphs on temple walls.

48

No Egyptian love song has been dated from before the New Kingdom, these being written in Late Egyptian, although it is speculated that they existed in previous times. Erman compares the love songs to the Song of Songs, citing the labels "sister" and "brother" that lovers used to address each other. Private Letters, Model Letters, and Epistles

Hieratic script on an ostracon made of limestone; the script was written as an exercise by a schoolboy in Ancient Egypt. He copied four letters from the vizier Khay (who was active during the reign of Ramesses II).

The

ancient

Egyptian

model

letters

and epistles are grouped into a single literary genre. Papyrus rolls sealed with mud stamps were used for long-distance letters, while ostraca were frequently used to write shorter, non-confidential letters sent to recipients located nearby. Letters of royal or official correspondence, originally written in hieratic, were sometimes given the exalted status of being inscribed on stone in hieroglyphs. The various texts written by schoolboys on wooden writing boards include model letters. Private letters could be used as epistolary model letters for schoolboys to copy, including letters written by their teachers or their families. However, these models were rarely featured in educational manuscripts; instead fictional letters found in numerous manuscripts were used. The common epistolary formula used in these model letters was "The official A. saith to the scribe B". The oldest-known private letters on papyrus were found in a funerary temple dating to the reign of Djedkare-Izezi (r. 24142375 BC) of the Fifth dynasty. More letters are dated to the Sixth dynasty, when the epistle subgenre began. The educational text Book of Kemit, dated to the Eleventh dynasty, contains a list of epistolary greetings and a narrative with an ending in letter form and suitable terminology for use in commemorative biographies. Other letters of the early Middle Kingdom have also been
49

found to use epistolary formulas similar to the Book of Kemit. The Heqanakht papyri, written by a gentleman farmer, date to the Eleventh dynasty and represent some of the lengthiest private letters known to have been written in ancient Egypt. During the late Middle Kingdom, greater standardization of the epistolary formula can be seen, for example in a series of model letters taken from dispatches sent to the Semna fortress of Nubia during the reign of Amenemhat III (r. 18601814 BC). Epistles were also written during all three dynasties of the New Kingdom. While letters to the dead had been written since the Old Kingdom, the writing of petition letters in epistolary form to deities began in the Ramesside Period, becoming very popular during the Persian and Ptolemaic periods. The epistolary Satirical Letter of Papyrus Anastasi I written during the Nineteenth dynasty was a pedagogical and didactic text copied on numerous ostraca by schoolboys. Wente describes the versatility of this epistle, which contained "...proper greetings with wishes for this life and the next, the rhetoric composition, interpretation of aphorisms in wisdom literature, application of mathematics to engineering

problems and the calculation of supplies for an army, and the geography of western Asia". Moreover, Wente calls this a "...polemical tractate" that counsels against the rote, mechanical learning of terms for places, professions, and things; for example, it is not acceptable to know just the place names of western Asia, but also important details about its topography and routes. To enhance the teaching, the text employs sarcasm and irony. Biographical and Autobiographical Texts Catherine Parke, Professor Emerita of English and Women's Studies at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, writes that the earliest "commemorative inscriptions" belong to ancient Egypt and date to the 3rd millennium BC. She writes: "In ancient Egypt the formulaic accounts of Pharaoh's lives praised the continuity of dynastic power. Although typically written in the first person, these pronouncements are public, general testimonials, not personal utterances." She adds

50

that as in these ancient inscriptions, the human urge to "...celebrate, commemorate, and immortalize, the impulse of life against death", is the aim of biographies written today.
A funerary stela of a man named Ba sacred lotus while receiving libations); Ba's are also seated. The identity of the libation The stela is dated to the Eighteenth Kingdom period. (seated, sniffing a son Mes and wife Iny bearer is unspecified. dynasty of the New

Olivier Perdu, a professor of Egyptology at the Collge de France, states that biographies did not exist in ancient Egypt, and that commemorative writing should be considered autobiographical. Edward L. Greenstein, Professor of Bible at the Tel Aviv University and Bar-Ilan University, disagrees with Perdu's terminology, stating that the ancient world produced no "autobiographies" in the modern sense, and these should be distinguished from 'autobiographical' texts of the ancient world. However, both Perdu and Greenstein assert that autobiographies of the ancient Near East should not be equated with the modern concept of autobiography. In her discussion of the Ecclesiastes of the Hebrew Bible, Jennifer Koosed, associate professor of Religion at Albright College, explains that there is no solid consensus among scholars as to whether true biographies or autobiographies existed in the ancient world. One of the major scholarly arguments against this theory is that the concept of individuality did not exist until the European Renaissance, prompting Koosed to write "...thus autobiography is made a product of European civilization: Augustine beget Rosseau beget Henry Adams, and so on". Koosed asserts that the use of firstperson "I" in ancient Egyptian commemorative funerary texts should not be taken literally since the supposed author is already dead. Funerary texts should be considered biographical instead of autobiographical. Koosed cautions that the term "biography" applied to such texts is problematic, since they also usually describe the deceased person's experiences of journeying through the afterlife. Beginning with the funerary stelas for officials of the late Third dynasty, small amounts of biographical detail were added next to the deceased men's titles. However, it was not until the Sixth dynasty that narratives of the lives and careers of government
51

officials were inscribed. Tomb biographies became more detailed during the Middle Kingdom, and included information about the deceased person's family. The vast majority of autobiographical texts are dedicated to scribal bureaucrats, but during the New Kingdom some were dedicated to military officers and soldiers. Autobiographical texts of the Late Period place a greater stress upon seeking help from deities than acting righteously to succeed in life. Whereas earlier autobiographical texts exclusively dealt with celebrating successful lives, Late Period autobiographical texts include laments for premature death, similar to the epitaphs of ancient Greece. Decrees, Chronicles, King Lists, and Histories

The Annals of Pharaoh Thutmose III at Karnak

Modern historians consider that some biographicalor autobiographicaltexts are important historical documents. For example, the biographical stelas of military generals in tomb chapels built under Thutmose III provide much of the information known about the wars in Syria and Palestine. However, the annals of Thutmose III, carved into the walls of several monuments built during his reign, such as those at Karnak, also preserve information about these campaigns. The annals of Ramesses II (r. 12791213 BC), recounting the Battle of Kadesh against the Hittites include, for the first time in Egyptian literature, a narrative epic poem, distinguished from all earlier poetry, which served to celebrate and instruct. Other documents useful for investigating Egyptian history are ancient lists of kings found in terse chronicles, such as the Fifth dynasty Palermo stone. These documents legitimated the contemporary pharaoh's claim to sovereignty. Throughout ancient Egyptian history, royal decrees recounted the deeds of ruling pharaohs. For example, the Nubian pharaoh Piye (r. 752721 BC), founder of the Twenty-fifth dynasty, had a stela erected and written in classical Middle Egyptian that describes with unusual nuances and vivid imagery his successful military campaigns. An Egyptian historian, known by his Greek name as Manetho (c. 3rd century BC), was the first to compile a comprehensive history of Egypt. Manetho was active during the reign of Ptolemy II (r. 283246 BC) and used The Histories by the Greek Herodotus (c. 484 BCc. 425 BC) as his main source of inspiration for a history
52

of Egypt written in Greek. However, the primary sources for Manetho's work were the king list chronicles of previous Egyptian dynasties. Tomb and Temple Graffiti
Artistic graffiti of a canine figure at the Temple of KomOmbo, built during the Ptolemaic dynasty

Fischer Elfert distinguishes ancient Egyptian graffiti writing as a literary genre. During the New

Kingdom, scribes who traveled to ancient sites often left graffiti messages on the walls of sacred mortuary temples and pyramids, usually in commemoration of these structures. Modern scholars do not consider these scribes to have been mere tourists, but pilgrims visiting sacred sites where the extinct cult centers could be used for communicating with the gods. There is evidence from an educational ostracon found in the tomb of Senenmut (TT71) that formulaic graffiti writing was practiced in scribal schools. In one graffiti message, left at the mortuary temple of Thutmose III at Deir elBahri, a modified saying from The Maxims of Ptahhotep is incorporated into a prayer written on the temple wall. Scribes usually wrote their graffiti in separate clusters to distinguish their graffiti from others'. This led to competition among scribes, who would sometimes denigrate the quality of graffiti inscribed by others, even ancestors from the scribal profession. Legacy, Translation and Interpretation After the Copts converted to Christianity in the first centuries AD, their Coptic Christian literature became separated from the pharaonic and Hellenistic literary traditions. Nevertheless, scholars speculate that ancient Egyptian literature, perhaps in oral form, had an impact on Greek and Arabic literature. Parallels are drawn between the Egyptian soldiers sneaking into Jaffa hidden in baskets to capture the city in the story Taking of Joppa and the Mycenaean Greeks sneaking into Troy inside the Trojan Horse in Homer's Iliad. The Taking of Joppa has also been compared to the Arabic story of Ali Baba in One Thousand and One Nights. It has been conjectured that Sinbad the Sailor may have been inspired by the pharaonic Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor.
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Some Egyptian literature was commented on by scholars of the ancient world. For example, the Jewish Roman historian Josephus (37 c. 100 AD) quoted and provided commentary on Manetho's historical texts.
The trilingual Rosetta Stone in the British Museum

The

most

recently

carved

hieroglyphic

inscription of ancient Egypt known today is found in a temple of Philae, dated precisely to 394 AD during the reign of Theodosius I (r. 379395 AD). In the 4th century AD, the Hellenized Egyptian Horapollo

compiled a survey of almost two hundred Egyptian hieroglyphs and provided his interpretation of their meanings, although his understanding was limited and he was unaware of the phonetic uses of each hieroglyph. This survey was apparently lost until 1415, when the Italian Cristoforo Buondelmonti acquired it at the island of Andros. Athanasius Kircher (16011680) was the first in Europe to realize that Coptic was a direct linguistic descendant of ancient Egyptian. In his Oedipus Aegyptiacus, he made the first concerted European effort to interpret the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphs, albeit based on symbolic inferences. It was not until 1799, with the Napoleonic discovery of a trilingual (i.e. hieroglyphic, Demotic, Greek) stela inscription on the Rosetta Stone, that modern scholars were able to decipher ancient Egyptian literature. The first major effort to translate the hieroglyphs of the Rosetta Stone was made by Jean-Franois Champollion (17901832) in 1822. The earliest translation efforts of Egyptian literature during the 19th century were attempts to confirm Biblical events. Before the 1970s, scholarly consensus was that ancient Egyptian literature although sharing similarities with modern literary categorieswas not an independent discourse, uninfluenced by the ancient sociopolitical order. However, from the 1970s onwards, a growing number of historians and literary scholars have questioned this theory. While scholars before the 1970s treated ancient Egyptian literary works as
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viable historical sources that accurately reflected the conditions of this ancient society, scholars now caution against this approach. Scholars are increasingly using a multifaceted hermeneutic approach to the study of individual literary works, in which not only the style and content but also, the cultural, social, and historical context of the work are taken into account. Individual works can then be used as case studies for reconstructing the main features of ancient Egyptian literary discourse.

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EUROPEAN LITERATURE

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SPAIN
Culture and Tradition of Spain The culture of Spain is based on a variety of influences. The Visigothic Kingdom left a sense of a united Christian Hispania that was going to be welded in the Reconquista. Muslim influences were strong during the period of 711 AD to the 15th century, especially linguistically. The Spanish language derives directly from Vulgar Latin and has minor influences from pre-Roman languages like Gothic, Arabic, and Basque. Another influence was the minority Jewish population in some cities, but after the defeat of the Muslims during the Christian Reconquista ("Reconquest") period between 1000 and 1492, Spain became an almost entirely Roman Catholic country. In addition, the history of the nation and its Mediterranean and Atlantic environment has played a significant role in shaping its culture. By the end of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Spaniards made expressions of cultural diversity easier than it had been for the last seven centuries. This occurred at the same period that Spain became increasingly drawn into a diverse international culture. Spain has the second highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world, with a total of 42. Religion About 79% of Spaniards identify as belonging to the Roman Catholic religion; 2% identify with another religious faith, and about 19% as non-religious. The most important Spanish holiday is "Semana Santa" (Holy Week), celebrated the week before Easter with large parades and other religious events. Spaniards also hold celebrations to honour their local patron saints in churches, cities, towns and villages. The people decorate the streets, build bonfires, set off fireworks and hold large parades, bullfights, and beauty contests.

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One of the best known Spanish celebrations is the festival of "San Fermin," which is celebrated every year in July in Pamplona. Bulls are released into the streets, while people run ahead of the animals to the bullring. Politics Spain is a democratic parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The monarch is the head of state, and the president of the government is the head of government. There are multiple parties and free elections. Executive power is vested in the government. Central legislative power is vested in the two chambers of parliament. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislative powers. Cultural Traditions Spain One of the most famous traditions that have earned Spain worldwide recognition is the sport of Bullfighting. Although originally played as a sport the activity initiated by the Greeks bullfighting was turned into more of a ritualistic event with the advent of the North African Moors. The activity involves the bullfighter to sideswipe the bull and try to spear it in the process. Bullfighting is no doubt one of the major highlights of Spanish tradition and it is known as being one of the most dangerous sports. Religious Traditions Spain Although many different religions have had their influence on the Spanish people we find that many of the traditions have disappeared and only the Christianity influenced traditions are to be seen being practiced. Amongst those is the feast of the patron saints. Although this is not a religious event it is practiced very religiously. The idea is based around the assumption that every town, neighbourhood, and profession has their Gurus and they are to be celebrated in full fervour. Spain Christmas Traditions Although Christmas itself, was not an original part of Christianity it has become the most celebrated event for Christians throughout the world. In Spain however you will
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find certain unique traditions regarding the events at Christmas that are solely the innovation of the Spanish. The bonfire known as the Hogueras in Spanish is an event that is now to be identified with Christmas celebrations. The event that involves the jumping of men over each other to symbolize the victory over illness was originally an event celebrating the shortest day of winter; the winter solstice. Another tradition that is pretty much particular to Spanish tradition is the Palm Sunday. This is also an innovation into Christianity in which children carry palm leaves to the Church in order to be blessed by the priests. Spain Easter Traditions On Ash Wednesday, the people put ashes on their forehead to symbolically represent patience and the fact that we have all been created out of dust and into dust is our return. This event is celebrated on the first day of the season of Lent. Lent is yet another tradition that involves fasting for a certain period of time to develop patience and this event serves as a prelude to Easter. Apart from these peculiar traditions life in Spain has been influenced by the works of some very famous artists the likes of Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali. LITERATURE Mester de Juglara Medieval Spanish poets recognized the Mester de Juglara as a literary form written by the minstrels (juglares) and composed of varying line length and use of assonance instead of rhyme. These poems were sung to uneducated audiences, nobles and peasants alike. Mester de Clereca This Castilian narrative poetry known as the Mester de Clereca became popular in the thirteenth century. It is the verse form of the learned poets, usually clerics (hence the name 'clereca'). These poets carefully counted the number of syllables in each line

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and strived to achieve perfect lines. The line form is the Alexandrine line (14 syllables) with consonantal rhyme in stanzas of four lines each. This form is also known as the cuaderna va or the fourfold way, and was borrowed from France and was popular until the late fourteenth century. Popular themes of these poets were Christian legends, lives of saints, and tales from classical antiquity. The poems were cited to villagers in public plazas. Two traits separate this form from the mester de juglara: didacticism and erudition. Castilian priest and poet Gonzalo de Berceo was one of the greatest followers of the mester de clereca. All of his works were religious; two of the most well known are Milagros de Nuestra Seora (about the miracles worked by the Virgin Mary) and Vida de Santa Oria. Fourteenth century poet Juan Ruz, also known as the Arcipreste de Hita, used the cuaderna va in parts of his famous work Libro de buen amor. He introduced sixteen-syllable lines. Spanish Prose Spanish prose gained popularity in the mid-thirteenth century when King Alfonso X el Sabio of Castilla gave support and recognition to the writing form. He, with the help of his groups of intellectuals, directed the composition of many prose works including Las siete partidas, the first modern book of laws of the land written in the people's language. Another work was La primera crnica general which accounted for the history of Spain from the creation until the end of Alfonso's father's reign, San Fernando. It is the first national history ever written. For his direction of these works and many others he directed, Alfonso X is called the father of Spanish prose. His nephew, Don Juan Manuel is famous for his prose work El Conde Lucanor which is a frame story or short stories within an overall story. In this work, the Conde Lucanor seeks advice from his wise counselor, Patronio, who gives the advice through the telling of stories. Juan Manuel also wrote lesser-known works such as El libro de los estados on the social classes and El libro del caballero y escudero on philosophical discussions. Toward the end of the Middle Ages, writer Fernando del Pulgar (14361490?) created a new type of prose named the verbal portrait. This form is demonstrated by Pulgar's work Claros varones de Castilla in which he represents the detailed lives of twenty-four distinguished contemporaries. He explores their moral and
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psychological natures as well as physical traits. Pulgar was the official historian of the monarchs Fernando and Isabel, the famous Catholic Monarchs of Spain. This position gave him close encounters with the characters in this book, making the work realistic and detailed. Lyric Poetry of the middle Ages Lyric poetry in the Middle Ages can be divided into three groups: the jarchas, the popular poems originating from folk-songs sung by commoners, and the courtly poetry of the nobles. Alfonso X el Sabiofits into the third group with his series of three hundred poems, written in Galician: Las cantigas de Santa Mara. Another poet, Juan Ruiz, or the Arcipreste de Hita is an outstanding lyricist of the fourteenth century. His only work, Libro de buen amor is a framework tale in which he includes translations from Ovid, satires, little poems called serranillas, twenty-nine fables, a sermon on Christian armor, and many lyric poems that praise the Virgin Mary. Poet igo Lpez de Mendoza, the Marqus de Santillana (13981458), begins to show the movement away from the traditions of the Middle Ages. He shows a knowledge of Latin authors and familiarity with the works of Dante and Petrarch. Mendoza was also the first to introduce the sonnet into Spanish literature. The last great poet of the Middle Ages is Jorge Manrique. He is famous for his work which laments the death of his father, Coplas a la muerte de su padre. In this piece, Manrique shows classical feelings by expressing himself in a universal manner (all things come to an end). He is still considered a poet of the Middle Ages in that he finds peace and finality in religion. Cantar de Mio Cid The epic poem Cantar de Mio Cid was written about a real manhis battles, conquests, and daily life. The poet, name unknown, wrote the epic in about 1140 and Cid supposedly died forty years before in 1099. This epic represents realism, because nothing was exaggerated and the details are very real, even the geography correctly portrays the areas in which Cid travelled and lived. Unlike other European epics, the poem is not idealized and there is no presence of supernatural beings. It

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has assonance instead of rhyme and its lines vary in length, the most common length being fourteen syllables. This type of verse is known as mester de juglaria (verse form of the minstrels). The epic is divided into three parts, also known as cantos. Part I is about Ruy Diaz de Vivar, who is called Cid (meaning my Lord) by the Moors. His current task is to collect the tributes from the Moorish territory owed to his king, Alfonso VI of Leon. Cid's enemy accuses him of taking some of these tributes and the king exiles him from Leon and Castilla. Before he leaves, he places his wife, Doa Jimena, and his two daughters, Doa Elvira and Doa Sol, in the Monastery of Cardea. The canto then gives accounts of raids in the Moorish territory in which Cid and his men get rich off of the spoils. Part II begins with Cid's capture of the city of Valencia. He brings his family to live with him. It is discovered that the Infantes (princes) de Carrin, the nephews to the king, are the enemies who caused Cid's exile. They plot to marry his daughters to take some of his wealth. The king acts on behalf of his nephews and pardons Cid and allows the marriages. Cid suspects that something bad will happen from the marriages. Part III shows that the Infantes are cowards in battles with the Moors. They are made fun of and decide to get revenge by attacking their wives. They set out for Carrin with their wives and an escort, Felix Muoz, the cousin of the daughters. Once on the journey, they send the escort ahead of them, steal their wives' great dowries (including two beautiful swords) and beat them and leave them for dead. Muoz suspects trouble and returns to his cousins and takes them to receive help. Cid seeks to right the wrongs done to his daughters, and a trial is held. A duel is held between some of Cid's men and the Infantes in which the Infantes lose. In the middle of the trial, a message is sent from the kings of Navarra and Aragon, proposing to marry their sons to Cid's daughters. These marriages take place after the defeat of the Infantes and near the end of the story.

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German Literature
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state and the largest economy in the European Union. It is one of the major political powers of the European continent and a technological leader in many fields. A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, was documented before AD 100. During the Migration Age, the Germanic tribes expanded southward, and established successor kingdoms throughout much of Europe. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation while southern and western parts remained dominated by Roman Catholic denominations, with the two factions clashing in the Thirty Years' War, marking the beginning of the CatholicProtestant divide that has characterized German society ever since. Occupied during the Napoleonic Wars, the rise of PanGermanism inside the German Confederation resulted in the unification of most of the German states into the German Empire in 1871 which was Prussian dominated. After the German Revolution of 19181919 and the subsequent military surrender in World War I, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic in 1918, and partitioned in the Versailles Treaty. Amidst the Great Depression, the Third Reich was proclaimed in 1933. The latter period was marked by Fascism and the Second World War. After 1945, Germany was divided by allied occupation, and evolved into two states, East Germany and West Germany. In 1990 Germany was reunified. Germany was a founding member of the European Community in 1957, which became the EU in 1993. It is part of the Schengen Area and since 1999 a member of the eurozone. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, the OECD and the Council of Europe, and took a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 20112012 term.

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It has the world's fourth largest economy by nominal GDP and the fifth largest by purchasing power parity. It is the second largest exporter and third largest importer of goods. The country has developed a very high standard of living and a comprehensive system of social security. Germany has been the home of many influential scientists and inventors, and is known for its cultural and political history. Religion Christianity is the largest religion in Germany, with around 51.5 million adherents (62.8%) in 2008, of which 30.0% are Catholics and 29.9% are Protestants, belonging to the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD); the remainder consists of small

denominations (each less than 0.5% of the German population).

Protestantism is

concentrated in the north and east and Roman Catholicism is concentrated in the south and west. 1.6% of the country's overall population declare themselves Orthodox Christians. The second largest religion is Islam with an estimated 3.8 to 4.3 million adherents (4.6% to 5.2%), followed by Buddhism with 250,000 and Judaism with around 200,000 adherents (0.3%); Hinduism has some 90,000 adherents (0.1%). All other religious communities in Germany have fewer than 50,000 adherents. Of the roughly 4 million Muslims, most are Sunnis and Alevites from Turkey, but there are a small number of Shi'ites and other denominations. German Muslims, a large portion of whom are of Turkish origin, lack full official state recognition of their religious

community. Germany has Europe's third largest Jewish population (after France and the United Kingdom). Approximately 50% of the Buddhists in Germany are Asian immigrants. Germans with no stated religious adherence make up 34.1% of the population, especially in the former East Germany and major metropolitan areas German reunification in 1990 greatly increased the countrys non-religious population, a legacy of the state atheism of the previously Soviet-controlled East. Christian church membership has decreased in recent decades, particularly among Protestants.

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Languages German is the official and predominant spoken language in Germany. It is one of 23 official languages in the European Union, and one of the three working languages of the European Commission. Recognized native minority languages in Germany are Danish, Low German, Sorbian, Romany, and Frisian; they are officially protected by the ECRML. The most used immigrant languages are Turkish, Kurdish, Polish, the Balkan languages, and Russian; 67% of German citizens claim to be able to communicate in at least one foreign language and 27% in at least two languages other than their own. Standard German is a West Germanic language and is closely related to and classified alongside English, Low German, Dutch, and the Frisian languages. To a lesser extent, it is also related to the East (extinct) and North Germanic languages. Most German vocabulary is derived from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. Significant minorities of words are derived from Latin and Greek, with a smaller amount from French and most recently English (known as Denglisch). German is written using the Latin alphabet. German dialects, traditional local varieties traced back to the Germanic tribes, are distinguished from varieties of standard German by their lexicon, phonology, and syntax. Culture From its roots, culture in Germany has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular. Historically Germany has been called Das Land der Dichter und Denker (the land of poets and thinkers). The federated states are in charge of the cultural institutions. There are 240 subsidized theatres, hundreds of symphonic orchestras, thousands of museums and over 25,000 libraries spread in Germany. These cultural opportunities are enjoyed by many and there are over 91 million German museum visits every year; annually, 20 million go to theatres and operas; 3.6 million per year listen to the symphonic orchestras.

The UNESCO inscribed 33 properties in Germany on the World Heritage List.

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Germany has established a high level of gender equality, promotes disability rights, and is legally and socially tolerant towards homosexuals. Gays and lesbians can legally adopt their partner's biological children, and civil unions have been permitted since 2001. Germany has also changed its attitude towards immigrants; since the mid1990s, the government and the majority of Germans have begun to acknowledge that controlled immigration should be allowed based on qualification standards. Germany has been named the world's second most valued nation among 50 countries in 2010. A global opinion poll for the BBC revealed that Germany is recognized for having the most positive influence in the world in 2011. Middle Ages Medieval German literature refers to literature written in Germany, stretching from the Carolingian dynasty; various dates have been given for the end of the German literary Middle Ages, the Reformation (1517) being the last possible cut-off point. Old High German The Old High German period is reckoned to run until about the mid-11th century, though the boundary to Early Middle High German (second half of the 11th century) is not clear-cut. The most famous work in OHG is the Hildebrandslied, a short piece of Germanic alliterative heroic verse which besides the Muspilli is the sole survivor of what must have been a vast oral tradition. Another important work, in the northern dialect of Old Saxon, is a life of Christ in the style of a heroic epic known as the Heliand. Middle High German Middle High German, proper runs from the beginning of the 12th century. In the second half of the 12th century, there was a sudden intensification of activity, leading to a 60-year "golden age" of medieval German literature referred to as

the mittelhochdeutsche Bltezeit (11701230). This was the period of the blossoming of MHG lyric poetry, particularly Minnesang (the German variety of the originally French
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tradition of courtly love). One of the most important of these poets was Walther von der Vogelweide. The same sixty years saw the composition of the most important courtly romances. These are written in rhyming couplets, and again draw on French models such as Chrtien de Troyes, many of them relating Arthurian material, for

example, Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach. The third literary movement of these years was a new revamping of the heroic tradition, in which the ancient Germanic oral tradition can still be discerned, but tamed and Christianized and adapted for the court. These high medieval heroic epics are written in rhymed strophes, not the alliterative verse of Germanic prehistory. For example, the Nibelungenlied. The Middle High German is conventionally taken to end in 1350, while the Early New High German is taken to begin with the German Renaissance, after the invention of movable type in the mid-15th century. Therefore, the literature of the late 14th and the early 15th century falls, as it were, in the cracks between Middle and New High German, and can be classified as either. Works of this transitional period include The Ring (ca. 1410), the poems of Oswald von Wolkenstein and Johannes von Tepl, the German versions of Pontus and Sidonia, and arguably the works of Hans

Folz andSebastian Brant (Ship of Fools, 1494), among others. The Volksbuch (chapbook) tradition which would flourish in the 16th century also takes its origin in the second half of the 15th century. Baroque period The Baroque period (1600 to 1720) was one of the most fertile times in German literature. Many writers reflected the horrible experiences of the Thirty Years' War, in poetry and prose.Grimmelshausen's adventures of the young and nave

Simplicissimus, in the eponymous book Simplicius Simplicissimus, became the most famous novel of the Baroque period. Andreas Gryphius andDaniel Caspar von Lohenstein wrote German language tragedies, or Trauerspiele, often on Classical themes and frequently quite violent. Erotic, religious and occasional poetry appeared in both German and Latin.

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Sturm und Drang (the conventional translation is "Storm and Stress"; a more literal translation, however, might be storm and urge, storm and longing, or storm and impulse) is the name of a movement in German literature and music taking place from the late 1760s through the early 1780s in which individual subjectivity and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in response to the confines of rationalism imposed by the Enlightenment and associated aesthetic movements. The philosopher Johann Georg Hamann is considered to be the ideologue of Sturm und Drang, andJohann Wolfgang von Goethe was a notable proponent of the movement, though he and Friedrich Schiller ended their period of association with it, initiating what would become Weimar Classicism. 19TH CENTURY German Classicism Weimar Classicism (German Weimarer Klassik and Weimarer Klassizismus) is a cultural and literary movement of Europe, and its central ideas were originally propounded by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller during the period 17881832. Romanticism German Romanticism was the dominant movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. German Romanticism developed relatively late compared to its English counterpart, coinciding in its early years with the movement known as German Classicism or Weimar Classicism, which it opposed. In contrast to the seriousness of English Romanticism, the German variety is notable for valuing humor and wit as well as beauty. The early German romantics tried to create a new synthesis of art, philosophy, and science, looking to the Middle Ages as a simpler, more integrated period. As time went on, however, they became increasingly aware of the tenuousness of the unity they were seeking. Later German Romanticism emphasized the tension between the everyday world and the seemingly irrational and supernatural

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projections of creative genius. Heinrich Heine in particular criticized the tendency of the early romantics to look to the medieval past for a model of unity in art and society. Biedermeier and Vormrz Biedermeier refers to work in the fields of literature, music, the visual arts and interior design in the period between the years 1815 (Vienna Congress), the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and 1848, the year of the European revolutions and contrasts with the Romantic era which preceded it. Typical Biedermeier poets are Annette von Droste-Hlshoff, Adelbert von Chamisso, Eduard Mrike, and Wilhelm Mller, the last three named having well-known musical settings by Robert Schumann, Hugo Wolf and Franz Schubert respectively. Young Germany (Junges Deutschland) was a loose group of Vormrz writers which existed from about 1830 to 1850. It was essentially a youth movement (similar to those that had swept France and Ireland and originated in Italy). Its main proponents were Karl Gutzkow, Heinrich Laube, Theodor Mundt and Ludolf Wienbarg; Heinrich Heine, Ludwig Brne and Georg Bchner were also considered part of the movement. The wider circle included Willibald Alexis, Adolf Glassbrenner and Gustav Khne. Nobel Prize Laureates The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to German language authors thirteen times (as of 2009), or the third most often after English and French language authors (with 27 and 14 laureates, respectively). 1902 1908 1910 1912 1919 1929 1946 1966 1972 1981 1999 2004 2009 Theodor Mommsen Rudolf Christoph Eucken Paul Heyse Gerhart Hauptmann Carl Spitteler Thomas Mann Hermann Hesse Nelly Sachs Heinrich Bll Elias Canetti Gnter Grass Elfriede Jelinek Herta Mller
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French Literature
The French language is a romance dialect derived from Vulgar Latin (nonstandard Latin) and heavily influenced principally by Celtic and Frankish. Beginning in the 11th century, literature written in medieval French was one of the oldest vernacular (non-Latin) literatures in Western Europe and it became a key source of literary themes in the Middle Ages across the continent. Although the European prominence of French literature was eclipsed in part by vernacular literature in Italy in the 14th century, literature in France in the 16th century underwent a major creative evolution, and through the political and artistic programs of the Ancient Rgime, French literature came to dominate European letters in the 17th century. In the 18th century, French became the literary lingua franca and diplomatic language of western Europe (and, to a certain degree, in America), and French letters have had a profound impact on all European and American literary traditions while at the same time being heavily influenced by these other national traditions (for example: British and German Romanticism in the nineteenth century). French literary developments of the 19th and 20th centuries have had a particularly strong effect on modern world literature, including: symbolism, naturalism, the "roman-fleuves" of Balzac, Zola and Proust, surrealism, existentialism, and the "Theatre of the Absurd". French imperialism and colonialism in the Americas, Africa, and the far East have brought the French language to non-European cultures that are transforming and adding to the French literary experience today. Under the aristocratic ideals of the ancient rgime (the "honntehomme"), the nationalist spirit of post-revolutionary France, and the mass educational ideals of the Third Republic and modern France, the French have come to have a profound cultural attachment to their literary heritage. Today, French schools emphasize the study of novels, theater and poetry (often learnt by heart). The literary arts are heavily sponsored by the state and literary prizes are major news. The Acadmie Franaise and the Institut
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de France are important linguistic and artistic institutions in France, and French television features shows on writers and poets (the most watched show in French history was Apostrophe[citation needed], a weekly talk show on literature and the arts). Literature matters deeply to the people of France and plays an important role in their sense of identity. As of 2006, French literary people have been awarded more Nobel Prizes in Literature than novelists, poets and essayists of any other country. Writers in English (USA, UK, South Africa, Saint Lucia...) have won twice as many Nobels as the French. In 1964 Jean-Paul Sartre was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, but he declined it, stating that "It is not the same thing if I sign Jean-Paul Sartre or if I sign Jean-Paul Sartre, Nobel Prize winner. A writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution, even if it takes place in the most honorable form"[citation needed] Literatures of other Languages of France Besides literature written in the French language, the literary culture of France may include literature written in other languages of France. In the medieval period many of the competing standard languages in various territories that later came to make up the territory of modern France each produced literary traditions, such as Anglo-Norman literature and Provenal literature. Literature in the regional languages continued through to the 18th century, although increasingly eclipsed by the rise of the French language and influenced by the prevailing French literary model. Conscious language revival movements in the 19th century, such as Flibrige in Provence, coupled with wider literacy and regional presses, enabled a new flowering of literary production in the Norman language and others. Frdric Mistral, a poet in Occitan (18301914), was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1904.

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Breton literature since the 1920s has been lively, despite the falling number of speakers. In 1925, Roparz Hemon founded the periodical Gwalarn which for 19 years tried to raise the language to the level of other great "international" languages by creating original works covering all genres and by proposing Breton translations of internationally recognized foreign works. In 1946, Al Liamm took up the role of Gwalam. Other reviews came into existence and gave Breton a fairly large body of literature for a minority language. Among writers in Breton are Yann-BerKalloc'h, Anjela Duval and Per-JakezHlias. Picard literature maintains a level of literary output, especially in theatrical writing. Walloon literature is bolstered by the more significant literary production in the language in Belgium. Catalan literature and literature in the Basque language also benefit from the existence of a readership outside the borders of France.

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Italian/Roman Literature TIMELINE OF ITALIAN HISTORY 600 BC 282 BC 264 BC 218 BC 135BC 73 BC 64 BC 45 BC 44 BC 44 BC The Etruscans establish cities from northern to central Italy 282-272: War with Pyrrhus 264-241: War with Carthage (First Punic War) Hannibal invades Italy 135-132 BC First Servile War prompted by slave revolts 73 - 71 BC Slave uprising led by the gladiator called Spartacus Pompey captures Jerusalem Julius Caesar defeats Pompey to become the first dictator of Rome Julius Caesar assassinated 44-31BC The Triumvirate of Marc Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian (later known as Caesar Augustus) become the rulers of Rome

31 BC 27 BC 0 14AD

Antony and Cleopatra are defeated by Octavian Octavian becomes Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor until 14AD The birth of Jesus Christ Death of Augustus and Tiberius, stepson of Caesar Augustus, becomes emperor until 37AD Crucifixion of Jesus in the Roman province of Jerusalem and the origin of Christianity Gaius (Caligula) crowned Emperor Caligula is killed and Claudius proclaimed Emperor Emperor Claudius is murdered and Nero is proclaimed Emperor

33 AD

37 41 54

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Fire destroyed much of Rome - the Christians are blamed for the destruction The death of Nero ended the infamous Julio-Claudian dynasty The Roman emperors start to build the Coliseum in Rome as a place of gladiatorial combat Commodus succeeds his father Marcus Aurelius and gains imperial power Constantine becomes the first Christian emperor Christianity is declared the sole religion of the Roman Empire by Theodosius I The Visigoths, led by Alaric, sack Rome heralding the total decline of the Roman Empire The Vandals, led by Gaiseric, sack Rome The last Roman Emperor was Romulus Augustulus who was defeated by Odoacer who was a German Goth Ancient Roman culture is responsible for many of the development of arts,

68 75-80

180 305 380

410

455 476

engineering, education, religion and other aspects of society known to man. The remains of its monumental buildings such as the Coliseum and collection of gymnasiums, taverns, baths, theaters, basilicas and brothels tell much of ancient Roman daily living. Romans were the first people to develop a system of waterways called aqueducts, which supply the cities with water and import large jugs of wine, oil and other items that fulfill the necessities of the people from neighboring empires and countries such as Spain, Gaul and Africa. In the countryside, farms owned by the rich people are run by farm managers. Lower class people fed on bread dipped in wine or water while the upper class are served with meat, fruit, vegetables, bread and honey to sweeten their food. While the estate owners enjoy the splendor of nature and sunshine doing hunting, fishing or riding, the farm managers lord their lands, slaving the farmers to ensure comfort and
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wealth for their masters. Life in the countryside is generally slow but lively. Workers as well as average farm owners celebrate local festivities and social events. The Roman system of education is heavily acquired from the Greeks. The main goal for Roman schools of to make its students effective speakers. Parents who could not afford to send their children to school are left to teach their children everything they knew. The father may teach his sons about Roman laws, history and customs as well as physical training and the girls are taught by their mothers to spin, weave, sew and cook. Ancient Roman language was Latin. The alphabet used was Latin alphabet, which is based on the old italic alphabet derived from the Greek alphabet. Roman forums are described as the business center where people do their banking, trading, shopping and marketing. It is also the place where public speaking, festivals, and religious ceremonies are held. It is also the center where people can express public opinion and elicit support for a particular issue of interest. People visit public baths at least once a day. It is the place where people pay money for them to bathe with their friends and associates, and be attended by slaves serving towels and food. Public baths have hot and cold pools, exercise room and hair cutting salons. When it comes to clothing, men wear togas and women wear brightly colored stola and palla or shawl. Young boys wear tunics that are hung down to their knees and bordered with crimson. The cloth of the dress distinguishes the class of a person; coarse and dark materials are worn by the lower class, linen and wool are worn by patricians, senators wear broad strips on their tunic and military tunic are worn shorter than the usual length to allow movement. Roman writers were the first to do satires and refine performing arts through theaters. Ancient Roman musicians were the first to formulate the idea of scales, melody and harmony. Various forms of entertainment were used to pacify the urban masses. Activities like chariot races, musical and theatrical performances, mock sea

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battles, wild beast hunts, gladiatorial combat and public executions are held at the theaters and coliseums. The imperial government keeps the ancient Roman people contented to prevent uprising and secure long term by means of food and entertainment. Convoys are organized to maintain supply of food and other necessities; the emperor sponsors endless series of games. Public buildings for entertainment, education and leisure are built. Ancient Roman Literature, Poetry, Drama Ancient thinkers wrote verse about what they observed in nature. They are generally referred to as Pre-socratic Philosophers. Many aspects of culture were still without distinct form then, during the Archaic Age of Ancient Greece. The origin of drama is mired in legend, but to the best of our information, drama seems to have arisen as part of religious worship and the word tragedy appears to come from the word goat song. The first element in Greek tragedy was the chorus, which danced and sang poetry created by the dramatist at the religious festivals. Actors came later, with the great tragedians. The man credited with creating the epics we know of as the Iliad and Odyssey, (whom we refer to as Homer) was a rhapsode, a person who accompanied his improvised performances with a musical instrument. Epic poetry came to be distinguished by its distinct (epic) meter. Lyric poetry, developed according to legend, by Terpander, was poetry accompanied by a lyre. Epigrams were composed for funerals. It was an epigrammatist, Mimnermus of Smyrna, who is credited with developing the elegiac meter that was used for love poetry (elegies). The epic is a broadly defined genre of poetry, and one of the major forms of narrative literature. It retells in a continuous narrative the life and works of a heroic or mythological person or group of persons. In the West, the Iliad, Odyssey, and the Nibelungenlied; and in the East, the Mahabharata, Ramayana, and Shahnama are often cited as examples of the epic genre.
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Oral Epics or World Folk Epics The first epics are associated strongly with preliterate societies and oral poetic traditions. In these traditions, poetry is transmitted to the audience and from performer to performer by purely oral means. World folk epics are those epics which are not just literary masterpieces but also an integral part of the world view of a people. They were originally oral literatures, which were later written down by either single author or several writers. Studies of living oral epic traditions in the Balkans by Milman Parry and Albert Lord demonstrated the paratactic model used for composing these poems. What they demonstrated was that oral epics tend to be constructed in short episodes, each of equal status, interest and importance. This facilitates memorisation, as the poet is recalling each episode and using them to recreate the entire epic as they perform it. Parry and Lord also showed that the most likely source for written texts of the epics of Homer was dictation from an oral performance. Epics in Literate Societies Literate societies have often copied the epic format, and the earliest known European example is Virgil's Aeneid, which follows both the style and subject matter of Homer. Other obvious examples are Tulsidas' Sri Ramacharit Manas, following the style and subject matter of Valmiki's Ramayana,. and the Persian epic Shahnama by Ferdowsi.

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Greek Literature
GREECE TIMELINE 776BC was the year of the 1st Olympic games. The games were held every 4 years in Olympia, in honour of the god Zeus. Some of the sports included wrestling, jumping, javelin and chariot racing. A crown of olive branches was awarded to the winner. 650BC During 650BC to 580BC the 'city-state' Corinth (named after the word 'currant'!) was taken over by Kypselos and he made himself the ruler. This kind of leader is called a tyrant. When Kypselos died, his son Periander took over the role of tyrant. 508BC In 508BC 'democracy' began in Athens. We still use this term today meaning 'ruled by the people'. Male citizens were given the chance to vote in order to decide how the city-state should be run. This is often said to be one of their greatest ideas. 500BC 500BC was the start of the 'Classical Period' in Greece. At this time there was a lot of interest in arts, imagination and buildings especially in the citystate Athens. This period continued until 323BC 490BC In 490 and 480BC the Greeks defeated Persian invaders at the battles of Marathon (490BC) and Salamis (480BC). The Greek victories kept the growing Persian Empire in check. 472BC In 472BC Greek theatres first became popular in Athens. Greeks found entertainment by visiting theatres to see magicians, jugglers and plays. The actors often wore masks to show the audience if they were happy or sad.

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432BC

In 432BC the Parthenon in Athens was finished. This huge temple was built to house a statue of the Goddess Athena. She was put there to look over and protect the city-state.

338BC

In 33 BC Philip II, the king of Macedonia, took control of Greece. After his death, his son Alexander the Great took the throne.

146BC

In 146BC Rome conquered Greece - Greece becomes part of the Roman empire.

Ancient Greek Everyday Life Men if they were not training in military, or discussing politics went to the Theatre for entertainment to watch dramas that they could relate to, including tragedies and comedies. These often involved current politics and gods in some form. It is thought that women were not allowed to watch theatre or perform at the theatre, although male actors did play women roles. Lives of Women in Ancient Greece were closely tied to domestic work, spinning, weaving and other domestic duties. They were not involved in public life or in politics. The live were normally quite confined to the house although one public duty was acting as a priestess at a temple. Children in ancient Greece usually occupied their time playing with toys and games. Religion The ancient Greeks were a deeply religious people. They worshipped many gods whom they believed appeared in human form and yet were endowed with superhuman strength and ageless beauty.

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The Iliad and the Odyssey, our earliest surviving examples of Greek literature, record men's interactions with various gods and goddesses whose characters and appearances underwent little change in the centuries that followed. While many sanctuaries honored more than a single god, usually one deity such as Zeus at Olympia or a closely linked pair of deities like Demeter and her daughter Persephone at Eleusis dominated the cult place. Elsewhere in the arts, various painted scenes on vases, and stone, terracotta and bronze sculptures portray the major gods and goddesses. The deities were depicted either by themselves or in traditional mythological situations in which they interact with humans and a broad range of minor deities, demigods and legendary characters. Although little is known about the life of Homer, he is credited as the author of two of the greatest epics of all time: "Iliad" and "Odyssey." According to legend, Homer was a blind storyteller, who drew from cultural myths and legends to create his epics. The Iliad Summary In the tenth year of the Trojan War, tensions are running high among the Achaians (a super-ancient name for the Ancient Greeks). First, the priest Chryses comes to ask their leader, King Agamemnon, to release his daughter, whom Agamemnon was holding captive. When Agamemnon refuses, the priest prays to the god Apollo to send a plague against the Achaians. After nine days of plague, the Achaians assemble again and demand that Agamemnon give the girl back. Agamemnon eventually agrees, but only if he gets to take Briseis, the girlfriend of Achilleus, the greatest warrior of the Achaians. Even though Achilleus gives her up, he becomes so enraged that he refuses to fight any more. That and he prays to his mother, Thetis, who happens to be a goddess, to pull

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some strings with the other gods so that the Achaians will start getting defeated in battle and realize how much they depend on him. Achilleus's mom definitely spoils him. She gets Zeus, the king of the gods, to agree to Achilleus's request. Sure enough, the next day the Trojans make a successful counterattack, led by Hektor, their greatest warrior. Several days of violent fighting follow, at the end of which the Trojans have the Achaians pinned against the beach, and are threatening to burn their ships. At this point, Achilleus's best friend Patroklos asks for permission to go into battle in Achilleus's place. Achilleus grants Patroklos's request, and even lets him wear his armor. Patroklos's gambit is successful when the Trojans see him, they think he must be Achilleus and become absolutely terrified. The plan goes off the rails, however, when Hektor kills Patroklos with the help of the god Apollo and a minor Trojan warrior named Euphorbos. Hektor then takes the armor off Patroklos's body. When Achilleus learns of the death of his friend, he experiences terrible grief and swears revenge. He sends his mother, Thetis, to get a new suit of armor made especially for him by the fire-god, Hephaistos. The next day, Achilleus rejoins the battle and kills many Trojans, including Hektor in a one-on-one battle. But Achilleus isn't satisfied. For the next few days, he continually abuses Hektor's body in gruesome ways, even after Patroklos has received a proper funeral. The gods don't like this, and send a message down to Achilleus telling him to give up the body. When the Trojan King Priam Hektor's father comes unarmed, by night, to ask for his son's body, Achilleus agrees. The two men eat together and experience a moment of shared humanity. Achilleus grants the Trojans a grace period to perform their funeral rituals. The poem ends with the funeral of Hektor though we know that soon Achilleus will die and Troy will be captured.

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English Literature
BIOGRAPHY OF EDGAR ALLAN POE POE'S CHILDHOOD Edgar Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1809. That makes him Capricorn, on the cusp of Aquarius. His parents were David and Elizabeth Poe. David was born in Baltimore on July 18, 1784. Elizabeth Arnold came to the U.S. from England in 1796 and married David Poe after her first husband died in 1805. They had three children, Henry, Edgar, and Rosalie. Elizabeth Poe died in 1811, when Edgar was 2 years old. She had separated from her husband and had taken her three kids with her. Henry went to live with his grandparents while Edgar was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. John Allan and Rosalie was taken in by another family. John Allan was a successful merchant, so Edgar grew up in good surroundings and went to good schools. When Poe was 6, he went to school in England for 5 years. He learned Latin and French, as well as math and history. He later returned to school in America and continued his studies. Edgar Allan went to the University of Virginia in 1826. He was 17. Even though John Allan had plenty of money, he only gave Edgar about a third of what he needed. Although Edgar had done well in Latin and French, he started to drink heavily and quickly became in debt. He had to quit school less than a year later. POE IN THE ARMY Edgar Allan had no money, no job skills, and had been shunned by John Allan. Edgar went to Boston and joined the U.S. Army in 1827. He was 18. He did reasonably well in the Army and attained the rank of sergeant major. In 1829, Mrs. Allan died and John Allan tried to be friendly towards Edgar and signed Edgar's application to West Point.

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While waiting to enter West Point, Edgar lived with his grandmother and his aunt, Mrs. Clemm. Also living there was his brother, Henry, and young cousin, Virginia. In 1830, Edgar Allan entered West Point as a cadet. He didn't stay long because John Allan refused to send him any money. It is thought that Edgar purposely broke the rules and ignored his duties so he would be dismissed. A STRUGGLING WRITER In 1831, Edgar Allan Poe went to New York City where he had some of his poetry published. He submitted stories to a number of magazines and they were all rejected. Poe had no friends, no job, and was in financial trouble. He sent a letter to John Allan begging for help but none came. John Allan died in 1834 and did not mention Edgar in his will. In 1835, Edgar finally got a job as an editor of a newspaper because of a contest he won with his story, "The Manuscript Found in a Bottle". Edgar missed Mrs. Clemm and Virginia and brought them to Richmond to live with him. In 1836, Edgar married his cousin, Virginia. He was 27 and she was 13. Many sources say Virginia was 14, but this is incorrect. Virginia Clemm was born on August 22, 1822. They were married before her 14th birthday, in May of 1836. In case you didn't figure it out already, Virginia was Virgo. As the editor for the Southern Literary Messenger, Poe successfully managed the paper and increased its circulation from 500 to 3500 copies. Despite this, Poe left the paper in early 1836, complaining of the poor salary. In 1837, Edgar went to New York. He wrote "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym" but he could not find any financial success. He moved to Philadelphia in 1838 where he wrote "Ligeia" and "The Haunted Palace". His first volume of short stories, "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque" was published in 1839. Poe received the copyright and 20 copies of the book, but no money.

Sometime in 1840, Edgar Poe joined George R. Graham as an editor for Graham's Magazine. During the two years that Poe worked for Graham's, he
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published his first detective story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" and challenged readers to send in cryptograms, which he always solved. During the time Poe was editor, the circulation of the magazine rose from 5000 to 35,000 copies. Poe left Graham's in 1842 because he wanted to start his own magazine. Poe found himself without a regular job once again. He tried to start a magazine called The Stylus and failed. In 1843, he published some booklets containing a few of his short stories but they didn't sell well enough. He won a hundred dollars for his story, "The Gold Bug" and sold a few other stories to magazines but he barely had enough money to support his family. Often, Mrs. Clemm had to contribute financially. In 1844, Poe moved back to New York. Even though "The Gold Bug" had a circulation of around 300,000 copies, he could barely make a living. In 1845, Edgar Poe became an editor at The Broadway Journal. A year later, the Journal ran out of money and Poe was out of a job again. He and his family moved to a small cottage near what is now East 192nd Street. Virginia's health was fading away and Edgar was deeply distressed by it. Virginia died in 1847, 10 days after Edgar's birthday. After losing his wife, Poe collapsed from stress but gradually returned to health later that year.
FINAL DAYS

In June of 1849, Poe left New York and went to Philadelphia, where he visited his friend John Sartain. Poe left Philadelphia in July and came to Richmond. He stayed at the Swan Tavern Hotel but joined "The Sons of Temperance" in an effort to stop drinking. He renewed a boyhood romance with Sarah Royster Shelton and planned to marry her in October. On September 27, Poe left Richmond for New York. He went to Philadelphia and stayed with a friend named James P. Moss. On September 30, he meant to go to New York but supposedly took the wrong train to Baltimore. On October 3, Poe was found at Gunner's Hall, a public house at 44 East Lombard Street, and was taken to the hospital.

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He lapsed in and out of consciousness but was never able to explain exactly what happened to him. Edgar Allan Poe died in the hospital on Sunday, October 7, 1849. The mystery surrounding Poe's death has led to many myths and urban legends. The reality is that no one knows for sure what happened during the last few days of his life. Did Poe die from alcoholism? Was he mugged? Did he have rabies? The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe (published 1846)
THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely, settled --but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong. It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation. He had a weak point -- this Fortunato -- although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity, to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian millionaires. In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack, but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from him materially; --I was skilful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could. It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. I was so pleased to see him that I thought I should never have done wringing his hand. I said to him --"My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day. But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts." "How?" said he. "Amontillado, A pipe? Impossible! And in the middle of the carnival!" "I have my doubts," I replied; "and I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter. You were not to be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain."

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"Amontillado!" "I have my doubts." "Amontillado! "And I must satisfy them." "Amontillado!" "As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchresi. If any one has a critical turn it is he. He will tell me --" "Luchresi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry." "And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your own. "Come, let us go." "Whither?" "To your vaults." "My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you have an engagement. Luchresi--" "I have no engagement; --come." "My friend, no. It is not the engagement, but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted. The vaults are insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre." "Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely nothing. Amontillado! You have been imposed upon. And as for Luchresi, he cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado." Thus speaking, Fortunato possessed himself of my arm; and putting on a mask of black silk and drawing a roquelaire closely about my person, I suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo. There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honour of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the morning, and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned. I took from their sconces two flambeaux, and giving one to Fortunato, bowed him through several suites of rooms to the archway that led into the vaults. I passed down a long and winding staircase, requesting him to be cautious as he followed. We came at length to the foot of the descent, and stood together upon the damp ground of the catacombs of the Montresors. The gait of my friend was unsteady, and the bells upon his cap jingled as he strode. "The pipe," he said.

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"It is farther on," said I; "but observe the white web-work which gleams from these cavern walls." He turned towards me, and looked into my eyes with two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication. "Nitre?" he asked, at length. "Nitre," I replied. "How long have you had that cough?" "Ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh!" My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes. "It is nothing," he said, at last. "Come," I said, with decision, "we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchresi --" "Enough," he said; "the cough's a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough." "True --true," I replied; "and, indeed, I had no intention of alarming you unnecessarily -but you should use all proper caution. A draught of this Medoc will defend us from the damps. Here I knocked off the neck of a bottle which I drew from a long row of its fellows that lay upon the mould. "Drink," I said, presenting him the wine. He raised it to his lips with a leer. He paused and nodded to me familiarly, while his bells jingled. "I drink," he said, "to the buried that repose around us." "And I to your long life." He again took my arm, and we proceeded. "These vaults," he said, "are extensive." "The Montresors," I replied, "were a great and numerous family." "I forget your arms." "A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel." "And the motto?" "Nemo me impune lacessit."

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"Good!" he said. The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy grew warm with the Medoc. We had passed through long walls of piled skeletons, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs. I paused again, and this time I made bold to seize Fortunato by an arm above the elbow. "The nitre!" I said; "see, it increases. It hangs like moss upon the vaults. We are below the river's bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones. Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your cough --" "It is nothing," he said; "let us go on. But first, another draught of the Medoc." I broke and reached him a flagon of De Grave. He emptied it at a breath. His eyes flashed with a fierce light. He laughed and threw the bottle upwards with a gesticulation I did not understand. I looked at him in surprise. He repeated the movement --a grotesque one. "You do not comprehend?" he said. "Not I," I replied. "Then you are not of the brotherhood." "How?" "You are not of the masons." "Yes, yes," I said; "yes, yes." "You? Impossible! A mason?" "A mason," I replied. "A sign," he said, "a sign." "It is this," I answered, producing from beneath the folds of my roquelaire a trowel. "You jest," he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces. "But let us proceed to the Amontillado." "Be it so," I said, replacing the tool beneath the cloak and again offering him my arm. He leaned upon it heavily. We continued our route in search of the Amontillado. We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame. At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner. From the fourth side the bones had been thrown down, and lay promiscuously upon the earth, forming at one point a mound of some size. Within the wall thus exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior crypt or recess, in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven. It seemed to have been constructed for no especial use within itself, but formed

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merely the interval between two of the colossal supports of the roof of the catacombs, and was backed by one of their circumscribing walls of solid granite. It was in vain that Fortunato, uplifting his dull torch, endeavoured to pry into the depth of the recess. Its termination the feeble light did not enable us to see. "Proceed," I said; "herein is the Amontillado. As for Luchresi --" "He is an ignoramus," interrupted my friend, as he stepped unsteadily forward, while I followed immediately at his heels. In an instant, he had reached the extremity of the niche, and finding his progress arrested by the rock, stood stupidly bewildered. A moment more and I had fettered him to the granite. In its surface were two iron staples, distant from each other about two feet, horizontally. From one of these depended a short chain, from the other a padlock. Throwing the links about his waist, it was but the work of a few seconds to secure it. He was too much astounded to resist. Withdrawing the key I stepped back from the recess. "Pass your hand," I said, "over the wall; you cannot help feeling the nitre. Indeed, it is very damp. Once more let me implore you to return. No? Then I must positively leave you. But I must first render you all the little attentions in my power." "The Amontillado!" ejaculated my friend, not yet recovered from his astonishment. "True," I replied; "the Amontillado." As I said these words I busied myself among the pile of bones of which I have before spoken. Throwing them aside, I soon uncovered a quantity of building stone and mortar. With these materials and with the aid of my trowel, I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche. I had scarcely laid the first tier of the masonry when I discovered that the intoxication of Fortunato had in a great measure worn off. The earliest indication I had of this was a low moaning cry from the depth of the recess. It was not the cry of a drunken man. There was then a long and obstinate silence. I laid the second tier, and the third, and the fourth; and then I heard the furious vibrations of the chain. The noise lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labours and sat down upon the bones. When at last the clanking subsided, I resumed the trowel, and finished without interruption the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh tier. The wall was now nearly upon a level with my breast. I again paused, and holding the flambeaux over the mason-work, threw a few feeble rays upon the figure within. A succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently back. For a brief moment I hesitated, I trembled. Unsheathing my rapier, I began to grope with it about the recess; but the thought of an instant reassured me. I placed my hand upon the solid fabric of the catacombs, and felt satisfied. I reapproached the wall; I replied to the yells of him who clamoured. I re-echoed, I aided, I surpassed them in volume and in strength. I did this, and the clamourer grew still. It was now midnight, and my task was drawing to a close. I had completed the eighth, the ninth and the tenth tier. I had finished a portion of the last and the eleventh; there remained but a single stone to be fitted and plastered in. I struggled with its weight; I placed it partially in its destined position. But now there came from out the niche a low laugh that erected the hairs upon my head. It was succeeded by a sad voice, which I had difficulty in recognizing as that of the noble Fortunato. The voice said 89

"Ha! ha! ha! --he! he! he! --a very good joke, indeed --an excellent jest. We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo --he! he! he! --over our wine --he! he! he!" "The Amontillado!" I said. "He! he! he! --he! he! he! --yes, the Amontillado. But is it not getting late? Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo, the Lady Fortunato and the rest? Let us be gone." "Yes," I said, "let us be gone." "For the love of God, Montresor!" "Yes," I said, "for the love of God!" But to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply. I grew impatient. I called aloud "Fortunato!" No answer. I called again "Fortunato!" No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so. I hastened to make an end of my labour. I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up. Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!

Shakespeare's Biography
For all his fame and celebration, William Shakespeare remains a mysterious figure with regards to personal history. There are just two primary sources for information on the Bard: his works, and various legal and church documents that have survived from Elizabethan times. Naturally, there are many gaps in this body of information, which tells us little about Shakespeare the man. William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, allegedly on April 23, 1564. Church records from Holy Trinity Church indicate that he was baptized there on April 26, 1564. Young William was born of John Shakespeare, a glover and leather merchant, and Mary Arden, a landed local heiress. William, according to the church register, was the third of eight children in the Shakespeare householdthree of whom died in childhood. John Shakespeare had a remarkable run of success as a merchant, alderman, and high bailiff of Stratford, during William's early childhood. His fortunes declined, however, in the late 1570s.

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There is great conjecture about Shakespeare's childhood years, especially regarding his education. It is surmised by scholars that Shakespeare attended the free grammar school in Stratford, which at the time had a reputation to rival that of Eton. While there are no records extant to prove this claim, Shakespeare's knowledge of Latin and Classical Greek would tend to support this theory. In addition, Shakespeare's first biographer, Nicholas Rowe, wrote that John Shakespeare had placed William "for some time in a free school." John Shakespeare, as a Stratford official, would have been granted a waiver of tuition for his son. As the records do not exist, we do not know how long William attended the school, but certainly the literary quality of his works suggest a solid education. What is certain is that William Shakespeare never proceeded to university schooling, which has stirred some of the debate concerning the authorship of his works. The next documented event in Shakespeare's life is his marriage to Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582. William was 18 at the time, and Anne was 26and pregnant. Their first daughter, Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583. The couple later had twins, Hamnet and Judith, born February 2, 1585 and christened at Holy Trinity. Hamnet died in childhood at the age of 11, on August 11, 1596. For the seven years following the birth of his twins, William Shakespeare disappears from all records, finally turning up again in London some time in 1592. This period, known as the "Lost Years," has sparked as much controversy about Shakespeare's life as any period. Rowe notes that young Shakespeare was quite fond of poaching, and may have had to flee Stratford after an incident with Sir Thomas Lucy, whose deer and rabbits he allegedly poached. There is also rumor of Shakespeare working as an assistant schoolmaster in Lancashire for a time, though this is circumstantial at best. It is estimated that Shakespeare arrived in London around 1588 and began to establish himself as an actor and playwright. Evidently, Shakespeare garnered envy early on for his talent, as related by the critical attack of Robert Greene, a London playwright, in 1592: "...an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tiger's heart wrapped in a player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country." Greene's bombast notwithstanding, Shakespeare must have shown considerable promise. By 1594, he was not only acting and writing for the Lord Chamberlain's Men (called the King's Men after the ascension of James I in 1603), but was a managing partner in the operation as well. With Will Kempe, a master comedian, and Richard Burbage, a leading tragic actor of the day, the Lord Chamberlain's Men became a

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favorite London troupe, patronized by royalty and made popular by the theatre-going public. Shakespeare's success is apparent when studied against other playwrights of this age. His company was the most successful in London in his day. He had plays published and sold in octavo editions, or "penny-copies" to the more literate of his audiences. Never before had a playwright enjoyed sufficient acclaim to see his works published and sold as popular literature in the midst of his career. In addition, Shakespeare's ownership share in both the theatrical company and the Globe itself made him as much an entrepeneur as artist. While Shakespeare might not be accounted wealthy by London standards, his success allowed him to purchase New House and retire in comfort to Stratford in 1611. William Shakespeare wrote his will in 1611, bequeathing his properties to his daughter Susanna (married in 1607 to Dr. John Hall). To his surviving daughter Judith, he left 300, and to his wife Anne left "my second best bed." William Shakespeare allegedly died on his birthday, April 23, 1616. This is probably more of a romantic myth than reality, but Shakespeare was interred at Holy Trinity in Stratford on April 25. In 1623, two working companions of Shakespeare from the Lord Chamberlain's Men, John Heminges and Henry Condell, printed the First Folio edition of his collected plays, of which half were previously unpublished. William Shakespeare's legacy is a body of work that will never again be equaled in Western civilization. His words have endured for 400 years, and still reach across the centuries as powerfully as ever. Even in death, he leaves a final piece of verse as his epitaph: Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbeare To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones.

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AMERICAN LITERATURE

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American Literature
ROBERT FROST Robert Frost (1874-1963) was born in San Francisco, California. His father William Frost, a journalist and an ardent Democrat, died when Frost was about eleven years old. His Scottish mother, the former Isabelle Moody, resumed her career as a schoolteacher to support her family. The family lived in Lawrence, Massachusetts, with Frost's paternal grandfather, William Prescott Frost, who gave his grandson a good schooling. In 1892 Frost graduated from a high school and attended Darthmouth College for a few months. Over the next ten years he held a number of jobs. Frost worked among others in a textile mill and taught Latin at his mother's school in Methuen, Massachusetts. In 1894 the New York Independent published Frost's poem 'My Butterfly' and he had five poems privately printed. Frost worked as a teacher and continued to write and publish his poems in magazines. In 1895 he married a former schoolmate, Elinor White; they had six children. From 1897 to 1899 Frost studied at Harvard, but left without receiving a degree. He moved to Derry, New Hampshire, working there as a cobbler, farmer, and teacher at Pinkerton Academy and at the state normal school in Plymouth. When he sent his poems to The Atlantic Monthly they were returned with this note: "We regret that The Atlantic has no place for your vigorous verse." In 1912 Frost sold his farm and took his wife and four young children to England. There he published his first collection of poems, A BOY'S WILL, at the age of 39. It was followed by NORTH BOSTON (1914), which gained international reputation. The collection contains some of Frost's best-known poems: 'Mending Wall,' 'The Death of the Hired Man,' 'Home Burial,' 'A Servant to Servants,' 'After Apple-Picking,' and 'The Wood-Pile.' The poems, written with blank verse or looser free verse of dialogue, were drawn from his own life, recurrent losses, everyday tasks, and his loneliness.

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While in England Frost was deeply influenced by such English poets as Rupert Brooke. After returning to the US in 1915 with his family, Frost bought a farm near Franconia, New Hampshire. When the editor of The Atlantic Monthly asked for poems, he gave the very ones that had previously been rejected. Frost taught later at Amherst College (1916-38) and Michigan universities. In 1916 he was made a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. On the same year appeared his third collection of verse, MOUNTAIN INTERVAL, which contained such poems as 'The Road Not Taken,' 'The Oven Bird,' 'Birches,' and 'The Hill Wife.' Frost's poems show deep appreciation of natural world and sensibility about the human aspirations. His images - woods, stars, houses, brooks, - are usually taken from everyday life. With his down-to-earth approach to his subjects, readers found it is easy to follow the poet into deeper truths, without being burdened with pedantry. Often Frost used the rhythms and vocabulary of ordinary speech or even the looser free verse of dialogue. In 1920 Frost purchased a farm in South Shaftsbury, Vermont, near Middlebury College where he cofounded the Bread Loaf School and Conference of English. His wife died in 1938 and he lost four of his children. Two of his daughters suffered mental breakdowns, and his son Carol, a frustrated poet and farmer, committed suicide. Frost also suffered from depression and the continual self-doubt led him to cling to the desire to be awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. After the death of his wife, Frost became strongly attracted to Kay Morrison, whom he employed as his secretary and adviser. Frost also composed for her one of his finest love poems, 'A Witness Tree.' Frost travelled in 1957 with his future biographer Lawrance Thompson to England and to Israel and Greece in 1961. He participated in the inauguration of President John Kennedy in 1961 by reciting two of his poems. When the sun and the wind prevented him from reading his new poem, 'The Preface', Frost recited his old poem, 'The Gift Outright', from memory. Frost travelled in 1962 in the Soviet Union as a member of a goodwill group. He had a long talk with Premier Nikita Khrushchev, whom he described as "no fathead"; as smart, big and "not a coward." Frost also reported that Khrushchev had said the United States was "too liberal to fight," it caused a considerable stir in Washington. Among the honors and rewards Frost received were
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tributes from the U.S. Senate (1950), the American Academy of Poets (1953), New York University (1956), and the Huntington Hartford Foundation (1958), the Congressional Gold Medal (1962), the Edward MacDowell Medal (1962). In 1930 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Amherst College appointed him Saimpson Lecturer for Life (1949), and in 1958 he was made poetry consultant for the Library of Congress. At the time of his death on January 29, 1963, Frost was considered a kind of unofficial poet laureate of the US. "I would have written of me on my stone: I had a lover's quarrel with the world," Frost once said. In his poems Frost depicted the fields and farms of his surroundings, observing the details of rural life, which hide universal meaning. His independent, elusive, half humorous view of the world produced such remarks as "I never take my side in a quarrel", or "I'm never serious except when I'm fooling." Although Frost's works were generally praised, the lack of seriousness concerning social and political problems of the 1930s annoyed some more socially orientated critics. Later biographers have created a complex and contradictory portrait of the poet. In Lawrance Thompson's humorless, three-volume official biography (19661976) Frost was presented as a misanthrope, anti-intellectual, cruel, and angry man, but in Jay Parini's work (1999) he was again viewed with sympathy: ''He was a loner who liked company; a poet of isolation who sought a mass audience; a rebel who sought to fit in. Although a family man to the core, he frequently felt alienated from his wife and children and withdrew into reveries. While preferring to stay at home, he traveled more than any poet of his generation to give lectures and readings, even though he remained terrified of public speaking to the end..." "The Road Not Taken" (1916) The narrator comes upon a fork in the road while walking through a yellow wood. He considers both paths and concludes that each one is equally well-traveled and appealing. After choosing one of the roads, the narrator tells himself that he will come back to this fork one day in order to try the other road. However, he realizes that it is unlikely that he will ever have the opportunity to come back to this specific point in time because his choice of path will simply lead to other forks in the road (and other
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decisions). The narrator ends on a nostalgic note, wondering how different things would have been had he chosen the other path. The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; 5

Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, 10

And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. 15

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. 97 20

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening BY ROBERT FROST Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sounds the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

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Carlos Bulosan Bulosans published works include The Voice of Bataan (1943), The Laughter of My Father (1944), and America Is in the Heart (1946), which was reissued with an introduction by Carey McWilliams in 1973. Compilations drawing on his books, magazine fiction, and manuscripts have been edited and introduced by E. San Juan Jr.; these include The Philippines Is in the Heart (1978), If You Want to Know What We Are: A Carlos Bulosan Reader (1983), On Becoming Filipino: Selected Writings of Carlos Bulosan (1995), and The Cry and the Dedication (1995). Two biographical treatments are P. C. Moranttes Remembering Carlos Bulosan: His Heart Affair with America (1984) and Susan Evangelistas Carlos Bulosan and His Poetry: A Biography and Anthology (1985). San Juan has also written a critical study, Carlos Bulosan and the Imagination of the Class Struggle (1972). Rachel C. Lees The Americas of Asian American Literature: Gendered Fictions of Nation and Transnation (1999) includes a chapter on Bulosan. BIOGRAPHY Doing his best work in the forties, Bulosan entered an American literary scene overshadowed by Anderson, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Cather, and other latter-day realists and naturalists, to whom he is often compared. Bulosan was also a good friend of Carl Sandburg, William Saroyan, and other artists who are remembered for a very different spirit as they explored the life and struggles of working people, recent immigrants, and American minorities. If we situate Bulosan in a larger and more diverse family of American writers, how is a reading of his own work enriched? MY FATHER GOES TO COURT My Father Goes to Court is a humorous story by Carlos Bulosan. It is perhaps the most famous one among the stories in his collection The Laughter of my Father, published in New York by Harcourt and Brace 1944, having previously appeared in The New Yorker on 13 November 1943.

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SUMMARY The story is set in a city in the Philippines. The young narrator begins by describing his large family. Though they are poor they are full of mischief and laughter. The children are all strong and healthy even though they often go hungry. In contrast, their rich neighbors children are thin and sickly although they are given plenty of good food, which their impoverished neighbors enjoy smelling over the fence. Consequently, the rich man brings a charge against the narrator's family for stealing the spirit of his familys food. The absurd case goes to court, and the narrators father agrees to pay back the rich neighbor. He does this by collecting coins from all his friends present in his hat, then shaking the hat full of coins. Being charged to pay for the spirit of food which his family supposedly got from its smell, he maintains that the jingling of the coins is a fair equivalent. The judge rules in the poor fathers favor, and the rich man is forced to depart with no other payment than the spirit of the money the poor man collected. CRITICISM This story, along with the others in the collection The Laughter of My Father, has a serious intent behind its humor. In fact, Bulosan was outraged by the focus on his stories humor. He said in response to the criticism on the book: I am mad because when my book 'The Laughter of my Father' was published by Harcourt, Brace & Company, the critics called me the manifestation of the pure Comic Spirit. I am not a laughing man. I am an angry man. Unfortunately, the general consensus about these stories of Bulosan seems to be, as said Avelina Gil, that although they were "intended to be serious protest against the economic system of his time, the stories hilarious, even grotesque, situations which Bulosan treats almost like vignettes mask the satire on Filipino poverty and ignorance." L.M. Grow suggest that perhaps what accounts for Bulosans anger over the critics reaction is his anger over the mistreatment he received as a Filipino living in America, which he might have hoped to communicate through his stories. In particular, My Father Goes to Court fails as protest literature because the judge favors the side of the poor father, showing that the system can work for the downtrodden.
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Grow observes Bulosans stories read like folklore. It was said that Bulosan picked up the plots for these stories from an old man in his hometown. Whether or not this is true, as seen in My Father Goes to Court the traditional folkloric plot found in trickster-type tales is present. This kind of plot is found in some of the Juan Tamad stories beloved in the Philippines. And so, like most folklore, it has a subtext that promotes the downtrodden in favor of the rich, but no strong protest is evident. MY FATHER GOES TO COURT by Carlos Bulosan
When I was four, I lived with my mother and brothers and sisters in a small town on the island of Luzon. Fathers farm had been destroyed in 1918 by one of our sudden Philippine floods, so for several years afterward we all lived in the town, though he preferred living in the country. We had a next-door neighbor, a very rich man, whose sons and daughters seldom came out of the house. While we boys and girls played and sand in the sun, his children stayed inside and kept the windows closed. His house was so tall that his children could look in the windows of our house and watch us as we played, or slept, or ate, when there was any food in the house to eat. Now, this rich mans servants were always frying and cooking something good, and the aroma of the food was wafted down to us from the windows of the big house. We hung about and took all the wonderful smell of the food into our beings. Sometimes, in the morning, our whole family stood outside the windows of the rich mans house and listened to the musical sizzling of thick strips of bacon or ham. I can remember one afternoon when our neighbors servants roasted three chickens. The chickens were young and tender and the fat that dripped into the burning coals gave off an enchanting odor. We watched the servants turn the beautiful birds and inhaled the heavenly spirit that drifted out to us. Some days the rich man appeared at a window and glowered down at us. He looked at us one by one, as though he were condemning us. We were all healthy because we went out in the sun every day and bathed in the cool water of the river that flowed from the mountains into the sea. Sometimes we wrestled with one another in the house before we went out to play. We were always in the best of spirits and our laughter was contagious. Other neighbors who passed by our house often stopped in our yard and joined us in our laughter. Laughter was our only wealth. Father was a laughing man. He would go in to the living room and stand in front of the tall mirror, stretching his mouth into grotesque shapes with his fingers and making faces at himself, and then he would rush into the kitchen, roaring with laughter. There was plenty to make us laugh. There was, for instance, the day one of my brothers came home and brought a small bundle under his arm, pretending that he brought something to 101

eat, maybe a leg of lamb or something as extravagant as that to make our mouths water. He rushed to mother and through the bundle into her lap. We all stood around, watching mother undo the complicated strings. Suddenly a black cat leaped out of the bundle and ran wildly around the house. Mother chased my brother and beat him with her little fists, while the rest of us bent double, choking with laughter. Another time one of my sisters suddenly started screaming in the middle of the night. Mother reached her first and tried to calm her. My sister cried and groaned. When father lifted the lamp, my sister stared at us with shame in her eyes. What is it? <other asked. Im pregnant! she cried. Dont be a fool! Father shouted. Youre only a child, Mother said. Im pregnant, I tell you! she cried. Father knelt by my sister. He put his hand on her belly and rubbed it gently. How do you know you are pregnant? he asked. Feel it! she cried. We put our hands on her belly. There was something moving inside. Father was frightened. Mother was shocked. Whos the man? she asked. Theres no man, my sister said. What is it then? Father asked. Suddenly my sister opened her blouse and a bullfrog jumped out. Mother fainted, father dropped the lamp, the oil spilled on the floor, and my sisters blanket caught fire. One of my brothers laughed so hard he rolled on the floor. When the fire was extinguished and Mother was revived, we turned to bed and tried to sleep, but Father kept on laughing so loud we could not sleep any more. Mother got up again and lighted the oil lamp; we rolled up the mats on the floor and began dancing about and laughing with all our might. We made so much noise that all our neighbors except the rich family came into the yard and joined us in loud, genuine laughter. It was like that for years. As time went on, the rich mans children became thin and anemic, while we grew even more robust and full of fire. Our faces were bright and rosy, but theirs were pale and sad. The rich man started to cough at night; then he coughed day and night. His wife began coughing too. Then the children started to cough one after the other. At night their coughing sounded like barking of a herd of seals. We hung outside their windows and listened to them. We wondered 102

what had happened to them. We knew that they were not sick from lack of nourishing food because they were still always frying something delicious to eat. One day the rich man appeared at a window and stood there a long time. He looked at my sisters, who had grown fat with laughing, then at my brothers, whose arms and legs were like the molave, which is the sturdiest tree in the Philippines. He banged down the window and ran through the house, shutting all the windows. From that day on, the windows of our neighbors house were closed. The children did not come outdoors anymore. We could still hear the servants cooking in the kitchen, and no matter how tight the windows were shut, the aroma of the food came to us in the wind and drifted gratuitously into our house. One morning a policeman from the presidencia came to our house with a sealed paper. The rich man had filed a complaint against us. Father took me with him when he went to the town clerk and asked him what it was all about. He told Father the man claimed that for years we had been stealing the spirit of his wealth and food. When the day came for us to appear in court, Father brushed his old army uniform and borrowed a pair of shoes from one of my brothers. We were the first to arrive. Father sat on a chair in the center of the courtroom. Mother occupied a chair by the door. We children sat on a long bench by the wall. Father kept jumping up his chair and stabbing the air with his arms, as though he were defending himself before an imaginary jury. The rich man arrived. He had grown old and feeble; his face was scarred with deep lines. With him was his young lawyer. Spectators came in and almost filled the chairs. The judge entered the room and sat on a high chair. We stood up in a hurry and sat down again. After the courtroom preliminaries, the judge took at father. Do you have a lawyer? he asked. I dont need a lawyer judge. He said. Proceed, said the judge. The rich mans lawyer jumped and pointed his finger at Father, Do you or do you not agree that you have been stealing the spirit of the complainants wealth and food? I do not! Father said. Do you or do you not agree that while the complainants servants cooked and fried fat legs of lambs and young chicken breasts, you and your family hung outside your windows and inhaled the heavenly spirit of the food? I agree, Father said. How do you account for that?

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Father got up and paced around, scratching his head thoughtfully. Then he said, I would like to see the children of the complainant, Judge. Bring the children of the complainant. They came shyly. The spectators covered their mouths with their hands. They were so amazed to see the children so thin and pale. The children walked silently to a bench and sat down without looking up. They stared at the floor and moved their hands uneasily. Father could not say anything at first. He just stood by his chair and looked at them. Finally he said, I should like to cross-examine the complainant. Proceed. Do you claim that we stole the spirit of your wealth and became a laughing family while yours became morose and sad? Father asked. Yes. Then we are going to pay you right now, Father said. He walked over to where we children were sitting on the bench and took my straw hat off my lap and began filling it up with centavo pieces that he took out his pockets. He went to Mother, who added a fistful of silver coins. My brothers threw in their small change. May I walk to the room across the hall and stay there for a minutes, Judge? Father asked. As you wish. Thank you, Father said. He strode into the other room with the hat in his hands. It was almost full of coins. The doors of both rooms were wide open. Are you ready? Father called. Proceed. The judge said. The sweet tinkle of coins carried beautifully into the room. The spectators turned their faces toward the sound with wonder. Father came back and stood before the complainant. Did you hear it? he asked. Hear what? the man asked. The spirit of the money when I shook this hat? he asked. Yes. Then you are paid. Father said.

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The rich man opened his mouth to speak and fell to the floor without a sound. The lawyer rushed to his aid. The judge pounded his gravel. Case dismissed, he said. Father strutted around the courtroom. The judge even came down to his high chair to shake hands with him. By the way, he whispered, I had an uncle who died laughing. You like to hear my family laugh, judge? Father asked. Why not? Did you hear that children? Father said. My sister started it. The rest of us followed them and soon the spectators were laughing with us, holding their bellies and bending over the chairs. And the laughter of the judge was the loudest of all.

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