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192 SOUTH AFRICAN LITERATURE The Lincoln Library of Essential Information period; Breytenbach remains one of South Srivijaya, transcended the boundaries of to laud the lives and deeds of members of Africa’s most outspoken and experimental modern Southeast Asian nations, represent- the court. Such biographies (or hagiogra- writers. Signifi cant contemporary novelists ing larger patterns of infl uence. Scholars phies) became part of the literary canon of in Afrikaans, some of whose work is avail- oft en resort to Indian terms to describe these Southeast Asian countries. able in English translation, include Karel infl uences, suggesting they existed as over- Early forms of “texts” included etching Schoeman (1939– ), Jeanne Goosen (1938– ), lapping “mandalas.” on palm leaf or bamboo. A sharp knife was Eben Venter (1954– ), Etienne van Heerden In the more recent period, the term used to inscribe the surface, and then dark (1954– ), and Marlene van Niekerk (1954– ), “Southeast Asia” came to prominence ashes were rubbed on to make the cuts who is author of two critically lauded novels, to describe an area commanded by Lord stand out. Other forms of recording include Triomf (1994, translated in 1995), and Agaat Mountbatten in World War II. In the writing on animal skins and etching on (2004, published in English in South Africa 1960s, we came to know this region for its hammered sheets of metal. Because such as Agaat, 2006, and in Britain as Th e Way of perceived communist threat, focusing largely forms were oft en subject to the vicissitudes the Women, 2007). on the Vietnam War, as well as the locus of of nature, recopying and reconsideration was See also African Literature. “secret wars” in Laos and Cambodia, whose an ongoing process. Th is reconsideration remnants reverberate into the present. While became a license for creativity and revision. Essential Works of South we have tended to refocus on this region due Some early scholars characterized Southeast 5 to fl uctuating politics, it would be a mistake Asian literature as naive and formulaic African Literature to characterize its literature as a vehicle of love stories and heroic epics; but this tends Th e Story of an Afr ican Farm (1883), Olive expression at the whims of relative permis- to express a Western bias rather than help Schreiner. siveness or repressiveness. Oft en entangled us understand the subtleties involved in Th e Conservationist (1974), Nadine in politics, literature ultimately expresses a regional aesthetics. Oft en the beauty of Gordimer. hope of being disentangled. a tale did not reside in the uniqueness of Mhudi (1930), Solomon T. Plaatje. Interest in the trade routes and resources the theme, but rather in how well it was Disgrace (1999), J.M. Coetzee. of Southeast Asia has continued into the embellished. Agaat (2006), Marlene van Niekerk. modern era: the British in Burma and the Th e authorship of most premodern litera- Malaysian Peninsula, the Dutch and the ture was unknown. It was not until modern Portuguese in Malaysia and Indonesia, the times that writers became known for creative Further Study French in Laos and Vietnam, as well as themes and the personal character of their Attridge, Derek, and David Attwell, eds. Cambridge the Spanish in the Philippines. Th ailand, writings. Th e advent of printing presses gave History of South Afr ican Literature. New York: alone, claims to have never been colonized. rise to ephemeral literary arts magazines, Cambridge University Press, 2010. Especially in postcolonial Southeast Asia, which tended to publish creative writing in Chapman, Michael. Southern Afr ican Literatures. the origins of the people and the integrity of serial form. A coveted award for emerging Scottsville, South Africa: University of Natal languages and literatures can quickly become artists is the SEA (Southeast Asian) Write Press, 2003. a matter of national pride. Kannemeyer, J. C. A History of Afr ikaans Literature. Award. Pietermaritzburg, South Africa: Shuter & Th e development of literature in Various forms of performance also convey Shooter, 1993. Southeast Asia involves elements of this a body of literature: volumes can be read in crossroads of infl uence. We presume that the demeanor and gestures of dancers, in —By Andrew van der Vlies, Lecturer in South Afr ican Indian and Chinese infl uence brought the shadows and silhouettes of leather-cut Literature, Th e University of Sheffi eld with it Hinduism, Buddhism, and puppets, and in the lilt of chants, recita- Confucianism; and these major religions tions, and commentaries. Cliff ord Geertz’s dovetailed with certain preexisting beliefs suggestion that parts of Southeast Asia can related to animism, the importance of the be viewed as a “Th eater State” points to the family, and a sense of “duty,” a recognition fundamental importance of the link between SOUTHEAST ASIAN of gratitude towards nature (and natural literature and performance. spirits) and one’s lineage. Later on Islam and LITERATURE Christianity were adapted into this mix. Th e continued ritual recognition of aboriginal The Spirit of Buddhist beliefs infuses the “drier” teachings and texts Overview of world religions with a lively richness. Mainland Literature Th e nation-state is a relatively modern In Southeast Asia, literature is not bound Early infl uences on Southeast Asian litera- concept in the history of Southeast Asia. by books. Early on, oral traditions, riddles, ture in Burma, Th ailand, Cambodia, and Th e region now comprising Burma, puns, proverbs, legends, and stories of Laos can be traced to two main sources: Th ailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, cosmologies were etched into the minds of indigenous and Indic. Th e epic Indian tale Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Vietnam, and listeners. Only later were tales set in the form of the Ramayana captured the imagination the Philippines is viewed as a major cross- of stone inscriptions and bas-reliefs. Th e of many and had a most pervasive impact. roads of commerce, ideas, and ideals. Early verses of historical charters or constitutions Th e epic has been modifi ed and localized documents describe the area as a “Land of are oft en included in the very open defi ni- in a number of Southeast Asian countries Gold” (Pali, Suwannabhumi). Its richness tion of literature in Southeast Asia. and is known by the following names: Yama of resources made it a point of conver- Th e royal court was oft en the setting for Zattdaw (Burma), Ramakian (Th ailand), gence for early Indian, Chinese, Arab, and literary invention and reinvention: murals Ramakerti (Cambodia), Phra Lak Phra Persian traders. Such interests left a complex were redone, reconsiderations of texts and Lam (Laos). Th e infl uence of this epic is of cultural legacies in their wake. Early commentaries were commissioned, and, of also found farther down the peninsula in kingdoms, such as Funan, Dvaravati, and course, court historians draft ed grand works the Hikayat Seri Rama (Malaysia) and Serat Literature of the World SOUTHEAST ASIAN LITERATURE 193 Rama (Java). Th e tale of the virtuous Rama development and modernization, the fore- cults of ancestors, and Confucianism. All and Sita is told in shadow-puppet perfor- runner of globalization. Gift s to the village, of these elements, while infl uenced by the mances and acted out in dance drama. rewards from the central authorities in Chinese, imbue Vietnamese life and litera- Th e canon of Th eravada Buddhism trav- Bangkok, arrive in the form of hybrid chick- ture with a richness of spirit; and these are eled to the area via India and Sri Lanka. A ens the size of vultures and pigs the size of values they have tenaciously wanted to popular form of literature from this tradi- buff aloes. Th e wife in the story ultimately make their own. Th ere has been, therefore, a tion is the didactic Jataka Tales, or so-called wonders about the size of the “endow- perennial tension between Chinese ancestry Buddhist Birth Stories. Th ese stories, ments” of the foreign donors. In a similar and a vision for Vietnamese autonomy and ranging in a sort of karmic succession, vein, “Wednesday Nan” (1993), by Burmese integrity. portray the natures of animals and humans. author Khin Hnin Yu, recounts how a Th e Tale of Lady Kieu is considered a Th e Jataka Tales function in ways similar woman tries to decide the relative merits of masterpiece of Vietnamese literature. It is to Aesop’s fables, oft en ending with a moral her attachment to a car, a symbol of modern- a lengthy poem about a woman of talent message. Th e most famous of these tales is ization, while searching for answers to her and beauty, which is enhanced by aspects that of the penultimate birth of the Buddha, dilemma in astrologically auspicious symbols of Chinese tradition and syncretic spiritual known as “Th e (Prince) Vessantara Jataka.” around her. beliefs. Th e protagonist, Kieu, goes through Th is Job-like fable deals with a prince whose From 1973 to 1976, when student unrest a number of trials related to karma, the fortitude is tested by being banished (like and new intellectual ideas turned many nature of duality, and faith in fi lial piety, Rama) and having his material wealth and hierarchical aspects upside down, Naowarat as well as the steadfastness of love and family taken away from him. His constancy Phongphaiboon published a landmark devotion to duty and truth. In the past, in the face of adversity leads to the return of modern poem refl ecting tradition as well major portions of this poem were oft en all that was lost. Th is tale is also performed as the mood of this tumultuous time in chanted by roving (blind) troubadours, who in annual ceremonies.
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